The Gospel
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23
The gospel is the good news about what Jesus Christ has done to reconcile sinners to God. Here’s the whole story:
1. The one and only God, who is holy, made us in his image to know Him. (Gen. 1:26-28)
2. However, we sinned and cut ourselves off from God. (Gen. 3; Rom. 3:23)
3. In His great love, God sent his Son Jesus to come as king and rescue His people from their enemies—their most significant enemy is their own sin. (Ps. 2; Luke 1:67-79)
4. Jesus established His kingdom by acting as both a mediating priest and a priestly sacrifice. As mediating priest, He lived a perfect life, fulfilling the Law. As priestly sacrifice, He died on the cross, taking on Himself the punishment for the sins of many. (Mark 10:45; John 1:14; Heb. 7:26; Rom. 3:21-26, 5:12-21) Then He rose again from the dead, showing that God accepted His sacrifice and that God’s wrath against us had been spent. (Acts 2:24, Rom. 4:25)
5. He now calls us to repent of our sins and trust in Christ alone for our forgiveness. (Acts 17:30, John 1:12) If we repent of our sins and trust in Christ, we are born again into a new life—an eternal life with God. (John 3:16) Now that’s good news!
What's a Disciple?
All who trust in Christ are His disciples. We believe disciples do these four things:
Worship Christ
Worshipping Christ means offering God the glory He deserves in spirit and in truth (John 4:23–24). At Vertical Church, our songs and services align with Scripture as our authority (Colossians 3:16). We pursue worship that is both truthful and heartfelt—adoring Him with reverence (Psalm 29:2) and rejoicing with passion (Psalm 100:1–2). Whether gathered together or walking daily with Christ, we exist to magnify the Lord with genuine, God-centered praise.
Walk with Christ
Walking with Christ means living in a daily, intentional relationship with Him (Ephesians 4:1). It is steady, step-by-step growth through His Word (2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 2:2), and prayer (1 John 1:9; James 5:16). As we walk in the light together (1 John 1:7), we grow in love for God and His people through small groups, knowing Christ is with us every step.
Work with Christ
Working with Christ means every disciple uses their God-given opportunities for His kingdom (Luke 19:13). Life is not our possession but a trust from God (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). Even the smallest act of service matters when offered to Him (1 Corinthians 12:4–7). At Vertical Church, this looks like serving in teams, caring for one another, and engaging in outreach—because disciples grow as they shoulder weekly kingdom responsibility together (Ephesians 4:11–16).
Witness about Christ
At Vertical Church, we believe disciples are made when the gospel is boldly proclaimed (Romans 10:14–15). Sharing the good news with boldness means every believer speaks of Jesus with clarity and sincerity (2 Corinthians 2:14–17), trusting God to use our words to spread Christ’s fragrance everywhere. Through small groups, training, and prayer, we encourage one another to live unashamed (Acts 4:29), declaring the only hope of salvation in Christ (Acts 4:12)
What we believe about...
The Scriptures
We believe the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments to be the full record of God’s self-disclosure to mankind. Different men, while writing according to their own styles and personalities, were supernaturally moved along by the Holy Spirit to record God’s very words, inerrant in the original writings. Therefore, those applying themselves to study its literal, historical-grammatical context can accurately understand God’s Word. Scripture is fully trustworthy as our final and sufficient authority for all of life (2 Timothy 3:16-17;
2 Peter 1:20-21).
The Triune God
We believe in the one living and true God, eternally (John 17:3) existing in perfect unity as three equally and fully divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19-20). Each member of the Godhead, while executing distinct but complementary roles in redemptive history, has precisely the same nature, attributes, and being, and is equally worthy of the same glory and honor and obedience (John 1:1-4; Acts 5:3-4).
God the Father
We believe God the Father created all things in six literal days for His glory according to His own will (Revelation 4:11), through His Son, Jesus Christ. He upholds all things by the Word of His power and grace, exercising sovereign headship over all creation, providence, and redemption (Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 1:3).
God the Son
We believe that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, moved by love in accordance with the will of the Father, took on human flesh (John 1:1, 14, 18). Conceived through the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit, He was born of the Virgin Mary. He, being fully God and fully man (John 14:8-9), lived a sinless life and sacrificially shed His blood and died on the cross in our place accomplishing redemption for all who place their faith in Him. He arose visibly and bodily from the dead three days later and ascended into heaven, where, at the Father’s right hand, He is now Head of His Body the Church, the only Savior and Mediator between God and man, and will return to earth in power and glory to consummate His redemptive mission (1 Timothy 3:16).
God the Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ during this age. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He draws the unredeemed to repentance and faith, and at salvation imparts new spiritual life to the believer, bringing that person into union with Christ and the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit sanctifies, seals, fills, guides, instructs, comforts, equips, empowers, permanently indwells at salvation, and bestows spiritual gifts to the believer for Christ-like living and service (John 16:8; 13:15; Titus 3:5; Ephesians 1:22; 4:11-12; Romans 8:9-17; 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 12:4-5, 11-13, 19; Galatians 5:25;
Hebrews 2:1-4; 2 Corinthians 12:12).
Mankind
We believe that God created mankind—male and female—in His own image and likeness, free of sin, to glorify Himself and enjoy His fellowship. Tempted by Satan, but in the sovereign plan of God, man freely chose to disobey God, bringing sin, death and condemnation to all mankind. All human beings, therefore, are totally depraved by nature and by choice. Alienated from God without defense or excuse, and subject to God’s righteous wrath, all of mankind is in desperate need of the Savior (Genesis 3:1-6; Romans 3:10-19; Romans 1:18, 32).
Salvation
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as the substitutionary atonement in our place, and that salvation is found in none other than Jesus Christ. Before Creation, God chose those who would be saved and granted this unearned grace solely based on His sovereign good pleasure. Jesus Christ’s death on the cross was the sole and complete payment for sins, fully satisfying God’s righteous wrath, for each person that turns from sin in repentance and places their faith in Christ alone by grace alone. At salvation, each person is made a new creation by the Holy Spirit, declared righteous before God, and secured as an adopted child of God forever. Genuine faith continues in obedience and love for Jesus Christ with a life eager to glorify God and persevere to the end (Romans 8:37-39; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 12:13).
The Church
We believe that upon placing one’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, the believer is made part of the Body of Christ, the one universal Church, of which Jesus Christ is the Head. The Scriptures command believers to gather locally in order to devote themselves to worship, prayer, teaching of the Word, fellowship, the ordinances of baptism and communion, service to the local body through the development and use of talents and spiritual gifts, and outreach to the world to make disciples (Ephesians 1:22-23; Acts 2:42-46; 1 Corinthians 14:26; Matthew 28:18-20). Wherever God’s people meet regularly in obedience to this command, there is the local expression of the Church under the watchful care of a plurality of elders. A church’s members are to work together in love and unity, intent on the ultimate purpose of glorifying Christ (Ephesians 4:16).
Baptism and Communion
We believe that Christian baptism is a public declaration of the believer’s salvation in Christ, identifying with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection symbolized by immersion in water. The Lord’s Supper is the united commemoration by believers of Christ’s death until He comes and should be preceded by a careful self-examination (Acts 2:41; Romans 6:3-6; 1 Corinthians 11:20-29).
Missions
We believe it is the aim, duty, and privilege of every believer and local church fellowship to glorify God by responding as active participants in the Great Commission call of Jesus Christ to go and make disciples of all nations. We believe the primary focus and priority of this call is centered on efforts that establish, strengthen, and reproduce biblically-based churches, which will then plant churches that plant churches for future generations and God’s glory. (Matthew 16:18; 1 Timothy 3:15; Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 2:19-22; Revelation 5:9)
Things to Come
We believe in and expectantly await the glorious, visible, personal, premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blessed hope of His return has vital bearing on the personal life, service, and mission of the believer (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost. The lost will be raised to judgment and experience eternal wrath in hell. The saved will be raised to eternal joy in the new heaven and new earth in the manifested presence of God (Acts 1:3, 9; Hebrews 7:25-26).
