about BETHEL CHURCH - RICHLAND
our vison
Every person, in any location, facing any challenge, would be equipped to be a disciple and make disciples.
Simply put, a disciple is a person who is following Jesus, being transformed by Jesus, and committed to the mission of Jesus in the world.
our values
At Bethel Church, we value God, the Bible, the Gospel, and people. We find these values in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. In His ministry on Earth, we see Jesus living and working in three primary relationships: God, Church, and World.
STAFF & ELDERS
Meet our Staff and Elders and view contact information for different ministry teams.
OUR CORE BELIEFS
Bethel is very much a “come as you are” place. We eagerly welcome anyone who is interested in knowing God to worship and fellowship with us. For those who are led to belong to the Bethel family in a more meaningful way, Bethel offers membership.
The Bible describes Christians as committed to local assemblies or churches with common beliefs, values, and authority. Although the Bible doesn’t prescribe membership in these local churches very specifically, it is apparent that these churches were local gatherings of believers bound together for community, commitment, and coaching.
GOD
GOD AND THE TRINITY
We believe in one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While its members possess individual, personal attributes, the Trinity is without division of nature, essence, or being.
GENESIS 1:1; MATTHEW 28:19; JOHN 10:30; 4:24; II CORINTHIANS 13:14; I JOHN 4:13
JESUS CHRIST
We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, born of the Virgin Mary, sinless in life, who atoned for the sins of the world by His substitutionary death on the cross. We believe in His bodily resurrection, His ascension into heaven, and His High Priestly intercession for His people.
MATTHEW 1:18-25; LUKE 1:35; JOHN 1:1, 14; ACTS 1:9-11; II CORINTHIANS 5:21; HEBREWS 4:15; 7:25; 9:24; I JOHN 2:1-2
THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe the Holy Spirit to be the third person in the Trinity, whose ministry is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. During this age, the Holy Spirit draws men unto God; convicts men of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and indwells, guides, instructs, and empowers the believer for godly service.
JOHN 14:16-17, 26; 16:8-15; ROMANS 5:5; 8:9-11; I CORINTHIANS 3:16; 12:12-14; II CORINTHIANS 13:14; EPHESIANS 1:13-14; MATTHEW 28:19-20
THE BIBLE
We believe the Bible and only the Bible to be God’s infallible Word and the Christian’s supreme authority in all matters of faith and practice. We affirm our belief in the verbal and plenary inspiration of the Scripture in their original autographs.
II TIMOTHY 3:16-17; II PETER 1:20-21; I PETER 1:25
THE GOSPEL
MAN
We believe that Adam was created in the image of God but fell into sin and that all men are sinners by nature and by choice and therefore, lost. However, we believe that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). We believe that those who accept Christ as Savior and Lord shall be forever in God’s presence and those who reject Christ as Savior and Lord will be forever separated from God and be cast into the lake of fire for eternal punishment.
GENESIS 1:26-27; MARK 9:43-44; JOHN 3:36; ROMANS 3:23; ROMANS 5:12; EPHESIANS 2:1-3, 12; II THESSALONIANS 1:9; REVELATION 20:15
SALVATION
We believe that the shed blood of Jesus Christ provides the only ground for salvation for all who believe. Only those who receive Jesus Christ and are born of the Holy Spirit can thus become children of God.
JOHN 1:12; 3:16; ACTS 13:38-39; ROMANS 5:1; 8;14-17; EPHESIANS 1:7; PHILIPPIANS 1:5-8; HEBREWS 9:22; I PETER 1:18-19; 2:24
CHURCH
CHURCH
We believe that the true Church is composed of all persons who, through saving faith in Jesus Christ, have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and are united together in the body of members of the true Church. These shall be eligible for membership in the local church.
ACTS 2:41; I CORINTHIANS 12:12-13; II CORINTHIANS 6:14; EPHESIANS 4:4-6,15-16
ORDINANCES
We believe that baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in testimony of a person’s faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Christ. It is a confession that the believer is dead to sin and risen to newness of life in Christ Jesus. We believe that the Lord’s Supper is a commemoration of the Lord’s death “until He comes.”
MATTHEW 28:19; 26:26-30; ACTS 8:35-38; ROMANS 6:3-5; I CORINTHIANS 11:23-26
PRIESTHOOD OF THE BELIEVER
We believe all people who are born of God have equality of direct access to God’s ear and heart, and there is no distinction between people in their exercise of that priesthood in their personal relationships with the Lord.
I PETER 2:5, 9; HEBREWS 4:14-16; 2:10-18; REVELATION 1:6
LAST THINGS
LAST THINGS
We believe in “that blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) the personal, visible, pre-millennial return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, the everlasting blessedness of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost.
ZECHARIAH 14:4-11; MATTHEW 25:46; JOHN 5:28-29; 11:25-26; ACTS 1:11; I THESSALONIANS 4:16-18; REVELATION 20:4-6, 11-15
SATAN
We believe in the reality of Satan as a personal angelic being who has fallen from his original state of heavenly glory and is now the prince of the corrupt, anti-God world-system. We believe in Satan’s final and eternal judgment in the Lake of Fire.
REVELATION 20:10; EPHESIANS 2:2; II CORINTHIANS 4:4; EZEKIEL 28:11-19; JOHN 14:30; JOB 1:12; 2:6