Are you Charismatic or Pentecostal? (Please check out our beliefs/controversial issues section)
Those words mean different things to different people and usually only evangelical Christians (in the U.S.) worry about them. We prefer to think of ourselves as fully Trinitarian or Spirit-filled. Or as one Alliance theologian puts it, we are "cautiously charismatic."
We are Pentecostal in the broadest sense of the word. We agree with the majority of worldwide pentecostals who do not believe that the gift of languages/tongues is "the initial physical evidence" of Holy Spirit baptism.
Please note that worldwide pentecostal/charismatic Christianity is much bigger than the smaller U.S. led 'classical pentecostal' denominations, which invented and stick with the "initial physical evidence" doctrine. That is good news for Alliance Pentecostals--we can redeem the "p" word! We used it frequently before there were "classical pentecostal" denominations, so we don't fear using it again.
At Mercy Church we welcome and worship God as a triune God. This includes the person of the Holy Spirit. We believe 1 Cor. 12-14 is valid for today and that gifts of the Holy Spirit will be with us until the end of the world as we know it. This would put us in the Pentecostal/charismatic/spirit-filled/historic Christian spirituality/desert fathers/ancient and orthodox church camps :).
We believe no manifestation of the Spirit should be used as criteria to judge a person's faith. They are GIFTS of the Spirit--therefore not based on our goodness. There are no 1st class and 2nd class Christians.
Are you an Evangelical right-leaning (or left-leaning) church? We are tired of the Gospel of Jesus Christ being co-opted by politics. While we believe that Christians are to vote and engage the culture, that only comes after a solid grasp of the principles of God's Kingdom. We are not a political party, and refuse to act like one. We are not on anyone's side politically. We value being able to minister to people and welcome people wherever they are at on the issues of the day. In fact following Christ for some may require that they give up addictions to the power games of this worldand secret loyalties to political agendas and parties.
Jesus refused to be made a political messiah and even avoided the hot political issues of His day. When the woman caught in adultry was brought before Him by the religious-polical folks he denied their cause and ministered to the woman.
When the crowds and even His followers wanted to make Him their candidate, He refused point blank again and again.
We believe the Bible - including the parts about following God's ways in the world. God is not on anyone's political party's side. There are volumes to be written on this...We are a 3rd way church - Co-opted by Christ!! (read our "about us" section under "controversial issues" for our statement on the issue of abortion. We see the church as the place of healing souls wounded in the wars of sin, culture and politics. We believe our role is to fight spiritual battles like Jesus did, through outrageous love.)
You blend images, liturgies, enthusiastic worship styles, creeds, etc. Why? God created the physical as well as the spiritual. We seek to use the senses to communicate the Gospel. We are not "married" to any one form. Some weeks there will be more or less "stuff". There will always be worship and Word in every church gathering at Mercy. Much of the creative aspects will depend upon the artists that get involved with our worship planning.
I attend another church but want to check out Mercy, how do you feel about "church shopping?" 1) If you are involved in leadership at your church we ask that you talk to your pastor first. The question we ask is: are you called to be at Mercy? If not, you have your answer…
2) If you come to Mercy and want to talk down on your old church, you will be asked to forgive and release them from your judgment. Usually people who leave disgruntled from the last church, will over time feel the same way about the new church. We want healing and restoration to mark our church, you are welcome--if you want to be free.
