First Christian Church in Mountain City was founded in 1909 as a part of the first truly American Christian Movement which began in the early 1800s. The Christian Church began as a response to those who were moving away from the Bible as their ultimate source of authority.
The Christian Church is a unity movement. We believe that all those who follow the Word of God are Christian brothers and sisters. One of our early slogans was "In essentials Unity, in nonessentials freedom, an in all things love".
What are the essentials? The essentials can easily be broken down into two categories: Who is God? and who are we?
We believe God is the creator of all things and the giver of life (Genesis 1), Perfect, Holy, and Just.
We believe this same God put on the flesh of humanity in the form of Jesus Christ (John 1). Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born through the womb of the Virgin Mary, lived a perfectly sinless life, and willingly gave Himself up as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of all humanity. Jesus, however, did not remain sealed in a grave, but on the third day rose out of the tomb and appeared to the disciples and various individuals over the next 40 days. Jesus then ascended into heaven and today sits at the right hand of the Father, advocating for His followers.
We believe God sent the Holy Spirit as a counselor, protector, guide and comfort for His people. It is this Spirit that fell on the first followers of Christ in Acts 2 and gave them to ability do miraculous things recorded throughout the book of Acts.
We believe God has given us His Word, the Bible, through the pen of men and the power of His Spirit. The Bible is useful for teaching, correcting, and training and will prepare us and equip us for the works God has set before us (2 Timothy 3).
We believe we are all sinners and constantly fail to do right in the eyes of God (Romans 3). Because of this, we are destined for an eternity of punishment without a relationship with Jesus Christ (Romans 6).
We believe, as sinners, we must be in relationship with Jesus to receive the gift of salvation and eternity in Heaven.
We believe to receive this salvation, we must repent (turn, and continually turn, from our lives of sin) and be baptized. In response to this, God will forgive us of our sins and give us the gift of Holy Spirit (Acts 2).
We believe we have a responsibility, as followers of Jesus Christ, to strive for a closer relationship with Him and to share the Gospel with those around us (Matthew 28).