At CFAN We Believe...
What are you willing to die for? You know, that is what a conviction is. That is what a core belief is. At CFAN we have 11 core beliefs. It is easy to read them and say, “Oh yeah Bill, I would die for all those things,” but let’s break them down for a minute.
- The Bible is the only inspired, infallible and authoritative Word of God
(2 Timothy 3:16, 17) - There is one God, eternally existent in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
(Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19) - In the deity, virgin birth, miracles and sinless life of our Lord Jesus Christ
(Matthew 1:23; Acts 2:22; Hebrews 7:26) - In the vicarious death of Jesus and in atonement through His shed blood
(1 Corinthians 15:3) - In the bodily resurrection of Jesus
(Matthew 28:6) - In Jesus' ascension to the right hand of the Father and in His soon-coming return in power and glory
(Acts 2:33; Hebrews 1:3; Matthew 24:27, 30) - That justification by faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and regeneration by the Holy Spirit are absolutely essential for the salvation of lost and sinful man
(Luke 24:47) - That the prime agency for the work of God's Kingdom is the local Christian church functioning under the sovereignty of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the ordinances of Believer's Baptism and the Lord's Supper have been entrusted to the church
(Mark 16:16; 1 Corinthians 11:26) - That tithing, giving ten percent of our income for the work of the Lord in the local church, is the Biblical standard, and entitles us to give to God and experience His promise to supply all our needs
(Malachi 3:8-12; Philippians 4:19) - In the present ministry of the Holy Spirit which includes: the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as an experience distinct from regeneration, His indwelling by which the Christian is enabled to live a Godly life, His supernatural gifting and empowering of the church for work, life and worship
(1 Corinthians 12; Acts 8:12-17)
The real question we ask is, “Is this a hill worth dying on?” Somebody once asked me, Bill what are your core convictions. I think I wrote about 22 or 23 down.
Then they asked, “Are you willing to die for them?” I said, “Well what do you mean?”
He said, “Convictions: you are like a convict for them, you are cuffed to them, you are willing to go down with the ship for them. Are you willing to die with this thing.”
I said, “Well, wait. Let me get back to you.”
By the time I got through, you could fit my actual convictions on a bazooka bubble gum wrapper. Once I realized I had to die for this thing, my true convictions were put into perspective. At CFAN we often ask ourselves this one question, “Is this a hill worth dying on?” The reality is, there are convictions that we have that if push comes to shove, they are worth dying for. But that is not difficult, once they put the bullet in your head, it is, “Hi Jesus, I’m home, where’s my reward?”
The real issue is not, can you die for a conviction, it is can you live the rest of your life for that conviction? It CFAN we are not just an events center. We are not just a place where you can come and have a great time, though we are an events center and you will have a great time. The reality is we are a principle-driven church. There really is a “Why” behind the what of everything we do here. So when you look at our core values, that is the rudimentary, foundational corner stone of who we are. That’s how you can say, “Is this the church for me?” I assure you, it took us over three and a half years to hammer out these core values. They are not just well thought out, they are not just well prayed out, they are well researched in the word of God. And that is really all that matters.
So, we not only encourage you to embrace the core values here at CFAN, but let them be the spring board to the values you establish for your own life and your family’s life; Because in the final analysis, if you don’t have something worth dying for, you don’t have anything worth living for.
