Our Beliefs

Our Beliefs at a church in Clarendon Hills

Essentials

We believe God has asked us to be unified and show love to each other. At Avenue, we do this by asking everyone to be united in our essential beliefs, accept and give liberty in non-essential matters and to show love in all situations. Listed below is a concise summary of our "Essential Beliefs." These are not intended to be a creed, but simply serve to present our essential beliefs in brief. For further details or Scripture references supporting our beliefs, please contact our church office.

  • God

    We believe in one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is God the Father Almighty, Creator of all things visible and invisible.

  • Jesus

    We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s one and only Son, our one and only Savior, who was born Jesus of Nazareth, both fully human and fully divine, conceived of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, who suffered and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, who died and was buried, and who rose again bodily from the dead on the third day, who ascended into Heaven and now sits at the right hand of the Father and who will return to earth to judge both the living and the dead.

  • Holy Spirit

    We believe in the Holy Spirit, who is an active and operative part of the triune God and who indwells every Christian.

  • The Bible

    We believe in the Bible, God’s Holy Word, Scripture. We believe God inspired the autographs (original writings) of Scripture and those autographs were consequently without error. We accept the Bible as the final authority for all matters of faith and practice.

  • The Fall

    We believe the Bible teaches that human beings, created by God, willfully sinned against God and are consequently lost and without hope apart from Jesus Christ.

  • Salvation

    We believe the Bible teaches that salvation and the forgiveness of sins is only by grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. We believe the Bible teaches that one receives God’s grace by putting faith in Christ, repenting of sin, confessing Christ and being immersed into Christ, but that none of these is sufficient in and of itself for the assurance of salvation.

  • The Church

    We believe in the Church of Jesus Christ, founded on the Day of Pentecost and consisting of all Christians everywhere. We believe the Bible teaches that the Elders are to exercise authority over the local congregation.