Our Beliefs

Junction Church Core Values

Welcoming and inclusiveness – We welcome others without judgement and hold safe space for each person to journey authentically with God (Mark 2:15).

Unity – We understand that there is diversity of thought within the Christian faith and prioritize unity in our diversity (John 17:20-23).

Authority of Jesus Christ - We know who God is by primarily looking at the life, teaching and example of Jesus. God’s character looks like Jesus (John 1:18).

Grace - We do not earn our favor with God. He loves us even in our mess and inaction. We have unmerited favor and total peace with God through Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1)

The priority of love – “What counts more than anything else is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6). When we realize God loves us no matter “what,” we will love others no matter “who.”

Prayer – We believe prayer really does change things (Luke 11:9).

Youth and children – Jesus welcomed the presence of young people, so do we (Mark 10:13-16).

Being led by the Spirit of God – We desire to know and follow God’s Heart as revealed in the life, teaching and example of Jesus Christ.

Experiencing the presence of God – We believe intentional time in the presence of God transforms us (Eph. 3:19).

Beyond the building – We work for the betterment of our surrounding community (Jer. 29:7).

Vulnerability – Bring your hurts, mess, questions and doubts. They are welcome in the conversation (Gal 6:2).

Spirit lead, intellectually honest teaching – With the help of the Spirit and good scholarship we bring the Bible - an ancient text - into dialogue with our modern life by working to understand history, context, and ancient practices in the light of Jesus (1 Cor. 2:4-5, 2 Tim. 2:15).

Generosity - Freely you have received; freely give (Matt 10:8).

The Trinitarian Vision

From all eternity, God is not alone and solitary, but lives as Father, Son and Spirit in a rich and glorious and abounding fellowship of utter oneness. There is no emptiness in this circle, no depression or fear or insecurity. The trinitarian life is a great dance of unchained communion and intimacy, fired by passionate, self-giving and other-centered love, and mutual delight. This life is good. It is right, unique, full of music and joy, blessedness and peace. Such love, giving rise to such togetherness and fellowship and oneness, is the womb of the universe and of humanity within it.

The stunning truth is that this Triune God, in amazing and lavish love, determined to open the circle and share the trinitarian life with others. This is the one, eternal and abiding reason for the creation of the world and of human life. There is no other God, no other will of God, no second plan, no hidden agenda for human beings. Before the creation of the world, the Father, Son and Spirit set their love upon us and planned to bring us to share and know and experience the trinitarian life itself. Unto this end the cosmos was called into being, and the human race was fashioned, and Adam and Eve were given a place in the coming of Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son himself, in and through whom the dream of our adoption would be accomplished.

Before creation, it was decided that the Son would cross every chasm between the Triune God and humanity and establish a real and abiding relationship with us—union. Jesus was predestined to be the mediator, the one in and through whom the very life of the Triune God would enter human existence, and human existence would be lifted up to share in the trinitarian life.

When Adam and Eve rebelled, ushering in chaos and misery into God’s creation, the Father, Son and Spirit never abandoned their dream, but wonderfully incorporated darkness and sin into the tapestry of the coming incarnation. As the Father’s Son became human, and as he submitted himself to bear our anger, and bizarre blindness, and as he gave himself to suffer a murderous death at our hands, he established a real and abiding relationship with fallen humanity at our very worst—and he brought his Father and the Holy Spirit with him. It was in Jesus himself, and in his death at our bitter hands, that the trinitarian life of God pitched its tent in our hell on earth, thereby uniting all that the Father, Son and Spirit share with all that we are in our brokenness, shame and sin—adoption.

In the life and death of Jesus the Holy Spirit made his way into human pain and blindness. Inside our broken inner worlds the Spirit works to reveal Jesus in us so that we can meet Jesus himself in our own sin and shame, and begin to see what Jesus sees, and know his Father with him. The Holy Spirit takes of Jesus and discloses it to us, so that we can know and experience Jesus’ own relationship with his Father, and we can be free to live in the Father’s embrace with Jesus. As the Spirit works we are summoned to take sides with Jesus against our own darkness and prejudice, and take simple steps of trust and change. As we do Jesus’ own anointing with the Spirit—his own fellowship with his Father, his own unearthly assurance, his own freedom and joy and power in the Spirit—begin to form in us, while not diminishing but augmenting and freeing our own uniqueness as persons. The Spirit’s passion is to bring his anointing of Jesus to full and personal and abiding expression in us as unique persons, and not only in us personally, but in our relationship with the Father in Jesus, and in our relationships with one another, and indeed with all creation, until the whole cosmos is a living sacrament of the great dance of the Triune God. - C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.

Theological Affirmations of the covenant Denomination

The Junction Church is part of the Evangelical Covenant Denomination. To allow for freedom in Christ, the Covenant Denomination does not have a detailed doctrinal statement. The Covenant simply holds to 6 affirmations:

1. We affirm the centrality of the word of God.

"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work."  2 Timothy 3:16-17

We believe the Bible is the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct. The dynamic, transforming power of the word of God directs the church and the life of each Christian. This reliance on the Bible leads us to affirm both men and women as ordained ministers and at every level of leadership. It is the reason we pursue ethnic diversity in our church and is the inspiration for every act of compassion, mercy, and justice.

2. We affirm the necessity of the new birth.

"Jesus replied, 'Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.'" John 3:3

The Apostle Paul wrote, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV). New birth in Christ means committing ourselves to him and receiving forgiveness, acceptance, and eternal life. It means being alive in Christ, and this life has the qualities of love and righteousness, joy and peace. New birth is only the beginning. Growing to maturity in Christ is a lifelong process for both individuals and communities of believers. God forms and transforms us—and it is through people transformed by Christ that God transforms the world.

3. We affirm a commitment to the whole mission of the Church.

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you." Matthew 28:19-20

The early Covenanters were known as “Mission Friends”— people of shared faith who came together to carry out God’s mission both far and near. Mission for them and for us includes sharing the message of Jesus, Christian formation, and ministries of compassion, mercy, and justice. We follow Christ’s two central calls. The Great Commission sends us out into all the world to make disciples. The Great Commandment calls us to love the Lord our God and our neighbours as ourselves.

4. We affirm the Church as a fellowship of believers.

"For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many." 1 Corinthians 12:13-14

We believe in the priesthood of all believers—that is, we all share in the ministry of the church. We believe that ministry and leadership are based on gifting not gender. God calls both men and women into areas of serving the church and community. The church is not an institution, organization, or building. The church is to be a grace-filled fellowship of believers who participate in the life and mission of Jesus Christ. It is a family of equals: as the New Testament teaches that within Christian community there is to be neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, but all are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

5. We affirm a conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit.

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Our Church affirms the Trinitarian understanding of one God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The New Testament tells us that the Holy Spirit works both within individuals and among them. We believe it is the Holy Spirit who instills in our hearts a desire to turn to Christ, and who assures us that Christ dwells within us. It is the Holy Spirit who fills us with power and life and enables our obedience to Christ and conforms us to his image, and it is the Spirit in us that enables us to continue Christ’s mission in the world. The Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to us as individuals and binds us together as Christ’s body.

6. We affirm the reality of freedom in Christ.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” Galatians 5:1

This freedom is a gift of God in Christ, and it manifests itself in a right relationship with God and others. It is not a private gift to be used selfishly, but is given to serve the community and the world. For Paul, this freedom means that we are set free from the power of those things that on their own tend to divide. United in Christ, we offer freedom to one another to differ on issues of belief or practice where the biblical and historical record seems to allow for a variety of interpretations of the will and purposes of God. We in the Covenant Church seek to focus on what unites us as followers of Christ, rather than on what divides us.