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WHO ARE WE
The church in Marlboro is centered
on Christ and the Bible. We are called out from the world by God. We have
received the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. He is living in us as our
life, and He is everything to us. We love Him, we serve Him, and we are seeking
to bring many others to have a living knowledge of Him. We are not sectarian,
nor denominational, nor nondenominational, nor interdenominational. It is our
sincere and earnest desire that we stand on the ground that all regenerated
Christians are one. According to Ephesians 1:22 and 23, the Church is Christ’s
Body, we greatly value the fellowship among the members of the Body.
We seek fellowship with all brothers and sisters in Christ.
OUR BELIEFS
The Bible itself is the sole and
final source of all that we believe.
We do believe, however, that the following statement of faith accurately
represents the teaching of the Bible, and therefore, is binding upon all
members: The Bible is the inspired word of God. God is triune; He is uniquely
one, yet at the same time, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit co-existing
equally from eternity to eternity. God was incarnated and became a man, Jesus
Christ. He died and shed His blood to accomplish redemption for our sins, and
resurrected as the life-giving Sprit to regenerate us with the life of God. He
ascended to the right hand of the throne of God as Lord and Christ. Today as the
Spirit, He is building up the church. One day He will return in glory. All who
repent and believe in Him are saved and are regenerated (born-again) with the
life of God. The church is the Body with Christ as the Head; the church is the
fullness of Christ to be His expression. At the end of this age Christ will come
back to take up His members, to judge the world, to take possession of the
earth, and to establish His eternal kingdom. Christ will reign with the
overcoming saints in the millennium and that all the believers in Christ will
participate in the divine blessings in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and
new earth for eternity. (Matthew
28:19; II Corinthians 13:14; John
1:1, 14, 18; Hebrews 1:6-8; I John 5:20; Matthew 1; Luke 1; Matthew 28:19; Titus
3:5; Romans 8:9; I Corinthians 6:19-20; 12:13; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18.
Ephesians
OUR COMMITMENT
The church in Marlboro feels the
Lord has committed us with four main items:
(1) Make disciples of all nations -In
Matt 28: 18-20 Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given
to me. Therefore go 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 I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the
very end of the age."
(2) Grow up in Christ- “Instead,
speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the
Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by
every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does
its work.” (Ephesians 4:15-16)
(3) Build up Christ’s Church-“Consequently,
you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people
and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole
building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And
in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives
by his Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19-22)
(4) Fight the spiritual warfare-“Finally,
be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so
that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is
not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the
day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done
everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around
your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet
fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to
all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the
flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions
with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always
keep on praying for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:10-18)
OUR PRATICE
The headship of Christ:
We honor the headship of Christ. The church is the life of the Body in
miniature; we are the Body, and He is the unique Head of the Body. (Ephesians
2:22-23) No one and nothing can presume to usurp Christ's headship. We will not
support any system, organization, or leadership that compromises the headship of
Christ. We recognize no subheads, no intermediaries between Christ and the
members of His Body. All the members of the Body are encouraged to have direct
fellowship with the Head and receive from Him all directions concerning their
life and movements.
Oneness: We care for
the oneness. In order to maintain this oneness, we meet as believers on the
ground of oneness, we receive all believers according to the common faith, and
we seek to grow in Christ so that we may be with Him in the Father and in the
Father's glory, where we are perfected into one. We believe that the Lord's
prayer in John 17 will be answered on earth and that as we are perfected into
one, the world will believe and know that the Father has sent the Son.
Build up one another:
We care for the saints, the believers in Christ, in a practical way. We delight
to bear one another's burdens, to extend hospitality to visitors, to open our
homes for fellowship, and to meet the practical needs of the brothers and
sisters through loving service in the name of Christ. We encourage one another,
refresh one another, minister Christ as life to one another, and build up one
another (Ephesians
The word of God: All
those in the
Our meetings: We have
meetings several times a week. Every Sunday we have the Lord's Table meting (1
Cor.
Our financial affairs:
The members are encouraged to give in a way that
is hidden and not ostentatious, according to the commitment they have with the
Lord. No offerings are taken in the meetings, and there is very little talk of
financial matters. Financial statements are available for examination by
members. As far as financial affairs are concerned, we are properly registered
with the government as non-profit religious corporations.
Our attitude toward the government:
According to the Bible, human government has been ordained of God to preserve
peace and to maintain order. For the sake of conscience, all Christians are to
be subject to the civil authorities. Therefore, we submit to all governmental
authorities and are obedient to them, living as good citizens of our nation,
state, and community. We are prepared to fulfill all our responsibilities toward
the human government ordained of God (Romans 13:1~7).
CONCERNING SALVATION
In Christ, God has provided for man
a full and complete salvation. This full salvation includes our whole being:
spirit, soul, and body. In God's salvation, man's spirit is regenerated, his
soul is being transformed, and his body will be transfigured.
In order to be saved, one must have
a living faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Every
genuinely saved one has what the Bible calls the "common faith" (Titus 1:4),
which includes what we must believe in order to be saved: we must believe that
the Bible is the complete divine revelation wholly inspired by God; that there
is a unique Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit; that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God incarnated to be a man; that Christ died on the cross for our
sins, shedding His blood for our redemption; that on the third day He was bodily
raised from the dead; that He has been exalted to the right hand of God and made
the Lord of all; and that He is coming again for His own and to set up His
kingdom on earth.
Eternal salvation is by grace
through faith, not by our works. Once a person has been saved, he may have both
the assurance of salvation and the security of salvation. Once we are saved, we
are saved forever. (Mark 16:16; Rom. 10:13; 1 John 5:12-13; Rom. 8:16;1 John
5:1; 1 John 3:14.)
CONCERNING CHURCH GOVERNMENT
“Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ
Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in
CONCERNING SPIRITUALGIFTS
In I Corinthians 12:1~ 11, Paul
gives nine illustrations of the manifestation of the Spirit. The gifts of the
Spirit are unlimited. In verse 7 Paul says, “But to each one is given the
manifestation of the Spirit for profit.” All the different gifts are the
manifestation of the Spirit; that is, the Spirit is manifested in the believers
who have received the gifts. Such manifestation of the Spirit is for the profit
of the church, the Body of Christ. For profit means for the growth in life of
the members of the Body of Christ and for the building up of Christ’s Body.
Of these nine, speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues are
listed as the last two because they are not as profitable as the other items for
the building up of the church (I Corinthians 14:2-6, 18-19). Of these nine gifts
and those listed in verses 28 through 30, prophecy as prediction, faith, gifts
of healing, works of power, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues
are miraculous. These miraculous gifts do not require any growth in life.
In I Corinthians
CONCERNING THE LORD’S SECOND COMING
We believe that at the end of this
age Christ will come back to take up His members, to judge the world, to take
possession of the earth, and to establish His eternal kingdom. The overcoming
saints will reign with Christ in the millennium and that all the believers in
Christ will participate in the divine blessings in the New Jerusalem in the new
heaven and new earth for eternity.
Concerning Tribulation:
The word “tribulation” is a special term in the study of prophecy. It denotes a
period of time at the end of the church age. At the end of the church age there
will be a period of seven years, the last of the seventy weeks prophesied in
Daniel 9. Daniel 9 speaks of seventy weeks of years concerning the history of
Concerning Rapture:
There are three main schools concerning
the Lord’s coming and the rapture of the believers. One of these schools is
called the pretribulation school. This is the teaching that the coming of the
Lord Jesus will take place before the great tribulation. According to their
understanding, the whole of the last week of Daniel’s seventy weeks will be the
period of the great tribulation. They teach that Christ will come back to
rapture the believers before this time of tribulation, that is, before the last
seven years of this age. For this reason, this school of teaching is called the
pretribulation school. A second
school is the school of post-tribulation. This is the teaching that Christ’s
coming will be after the great tribulation. Those who teach that the coming of
Christ will be after the tribulation use many verses from the Bible as a strong
basis for their teaching. Those of this school teach that Christ will come back
at the very end of the tribulation. Therefore, their teaching is called the
post-tribulation school. According
to the third school, Christ’s parousia (presence) will probably begin a little
before the middle of the last seven years and will last nearly to the end of
this period. Christ will leave the throne in the third heaven and descend to the
air concealed in a cloud and remain there for about three and a half years.
During this period of time, a number of things will happen. The man-child in
Revelation 12 will be raptured just before Antichrist begins to persecute every
kind of religion and he will exalt himself above every object of worship. The
man-child will be raptured not to the air but to the throne of God. Furthermore,
according to Revelation 14, the one hundred forty-four thousand will also be
raptured during this time as the firstfruit, before the second half of the last
seven years. We should not make the mistake of regarding the one hundred
forty-four thousand in Revelation 14 as identical to the man-child in Revelation
12. These are two different groups of overcomers. The man-child and the one
hundred forty-four thousand will be raptured to the throne of God. Then the Lord
Jesus will begin His parousia; He will descend from the throne of God to the
air. It seems certain that the man-child and the one hundred forty-four thousand
will descend with Him. Then at the end of the last seven years, the Lord Jesus
will come to earth. Second Thessalonians 2:8 refers to this: “And then the
lawless one shall be revealed (whom the Lord Jesus will slay by the breath of
His mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of His coming).” The Greek word
rendered “coming” is parousia, presence. The appearing of the Lord’s parousia
will be at the end of the last seven years, after Antichrist, the lawless one,
has been revealed.
Concerning
the Bema Seat
Judgment: The concept of the Bema Seat comes
from the ancient Olympics, where a judge would sit on the Bema Seat at the
finish line. The judge's purpose was to determine what position the runners came
in-first, second, and so on-and then to give out the appropriate rewards. That
is the imagery behind what is known as the Bema Seat.
Also known as the Judgment Seat of Christ, in 2 Corinthians 5:10 "For we
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive
what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."
Paul is teaching us that all Christians will stand before the Judgment Seat of
Christ. At the Judgment Seat of Christ, believers are rewarded based on how
faithfully they served Christ (1 Corinthians 9:4-27; 2 Timothy 2:5). The things
we will likely be judged on are how well we obeyed the Great Commission (Matthew
28:18-20), how victorious we were over sin (Romans 6:1-4), how well we
controlled our tongue (James 3:1-9), etc. The Bible speaks of believers
receiving crowns for different things based on how faithfully they served Christ
(1 Corinthians 9:4-27; 2 Timothy 2:5). The various crowns are described in 2
Timothy 2:5; 2 Timothy 4:8; James 1:12; 1 Peter 5:4; and Revelation 2:10. James
Concerning the White Throne Judgment:
The Great White Throne judgment is at the end of the millennium (Revelation