WHAT DO WE BELIEVE?
We believe that Jesus is the Christ, God incarnate. He came in human form to sacrifice Himself, once for all, that we might not perish but have eternal life. This is the bedrock of our belief—the spiritual DNA of The Alliance. Our family tree bears the fruit of the deeper life, Fourfold Gospel, and the “living out” of Alliance core values—all fueling our uncompromising call to “go” wherever and whenever God leads. For more information about our denomination, The Christian & Missionary Alliance, click HERE.
The Fourfold Gospel
Alliance founder Dr. A. B. Simpson articulated the core “theology” of The Alliance. As we seek to know Jesus personally, being one with Him, He will reveal Himself as our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King. Simpson called this theology the Fourfold Gospel, the Christological summary on which the spiritual DNA of The Christian and Missionary Alliance is built.
Statement of Faith
What The Alliance believes is foundational in its teachings about God and how He relates to us and how we relate to Him. Based on His written Word, the Bible, we are compelled to serve God and the people of His world. We live and die by these words, and believe they bring the only life worth living—one wholly committed to the King Jesus.
Alliance Perspectives
Discover why The Alliance is blessed as one of the world’s leaders in successful church-planting and missions initiatives. Throughout its history, The Alliance has been recognized by its scripturally grounded views on specific tenets of the Christian faith.
The Great Commission
Jesus’ last words before His glorious ascension into heaven were given as a commission to His disciples. This Great Commission remains a command—a mandate—to every believer in Jesus Christ. His Great Commission is the call of The Christian and Missionary Alliance.
Our Core Values
What we believe determines what we value, and what we value demonstrates how we live. The Alliance has developed seven Core Values that flow out of our passion for Jesus. These Core Values are the motivation behind the mission.
In The Alliance, we believe that our mission blends both the concept of being and doing. In being with Jesus and sitting at His feet, our lives are transformed. As we grow in relationship with Him, we desire to know Him more deeply as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King.
We are ordinary people from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds, obeying Jesus’ command to complete His Great Commission. Empowered by our extraordinary God, we are doing our part to go and make disciples of all nations. Whether at home or overseas, The Alliance is taking faith-filled risks to see Christ’s Kingdom multiplied throughout the world.
THE ALLIANCE STAND
What The Alliance believes about God, how He relates to us, and how we relate to Him is foundational in its teachings. The Alliance wholeheartedly serves God and the people of His world, based soundly on the Bible. We live and die by these words and believe they bring the only life worth living—one wholly committed to the King Jesus.
Our Statement of Faith
There is one God,(1) who is infinitely perfect,(2) existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.(3)
Jesus Christ is the true God and the true man.(4) He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.(5) He died upon the cross, the Just for the unjust,(6) as a substitutionary sacrifice,(7) and all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood.(8) He arose from the dead according to the Scriptures.(9) He is now at the right hand of Majesty on high as our great High Priest.(10) He will come again to establish His kingdom, righteousness and peace.(11)
The Holy Spirit is a divine person,(12) sent to indwell, guide, teach, empower the believer,(13) and convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.(14)
The Old and New Testaments, inerrant as originally given, were verbally inspired by God and are a complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men. They constitute the divine and only rule of Christian faith and practice.(15)
Man was originally created in the image and likeness of God:(16) he fell through disobedience, incurring thereby both physical and spiritual death. All men are born with a sinful nature,(17) are separated from the life of God, and can be saved only through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ.(18) The portion of the unrepentant and unbelieving is existence forever in conscious torment;(19) and that of the believer, in everlasting joy and bliss.(20)
Salvation has been provided through Jesus Christ for all men; and those who repent and believe in Him are born again of the Holy Spirit, receive the gift of eternal life, and become the children of God.(21)
It is the will of God that each believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit and be sanctified wholly,(22) being separated from sin and the world and fully dedicated to the will of God, thereby receiving power for holy living and effective service.(23) This is both a crisis and a progressive experience wrought in the life of the believer subsequent to conversion.(24)
Provision is made in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ for the healing of the mortal body.(25) Prayer for the sick and anointing with oil are taught in the Scriptures and are privileges for the Church in this present age.(26)
The Church consists of all those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are redeemed through His blood, and are born again of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the Head of the Body, the Church, (27) which has been commissioned by Him to go into all the world as a witness, preaching the gospel to all nations.(28) The local church is a body of believers in Christ who are joined together for the worship of God, for edification through the Word of God, for prayer, fellowship, the proclamation of the gospel, and observance of the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.(29)
There shall be a bodily resurrection of the just and of the unjust; for the former, a resurrection unto life;(30) for the latter, a resurrection unto judgment.(31)
The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent(32) and will be personal, visible, and premillennial.(33) This is the believer’s blessed hope and is a vital truth which is an incentive to holy living and faithful service.(34)
[1] Deuteronomy 6:4, [2] Matthew 5:48, [3] Matthew 28:19, [4] Philippians 2:6–11, [5] Luke 1:34–38, [6] 1 Peter 3:18, [7] Hebrews 2:9, [8] Romans 5:9, [9] Acts 2:23–24, [10] Hebrews 8:1, [11] Matthew 26:64, [12] John 14:15–18, [13] John 16:13; Acts 1:8, [14] John 16:7–11, [15] 2 Peter 1:20–21; 2 Timothy 3:15–16, [16] Genesis 1:27, [17] Romans 3:23, [18] 1 Corinthians15:20–23, [19] Revelation 21:8, [20] Revelation 21:1–4, [21] Titus 3:4–7, [22] 1 Thessalonians 5:23, [23] Acts 1:8, [24] Romans 6:1–14, [25] Matthew 8:16–17, [26] James 5:13–16, [27] Ephesians 1:22–23, [28] Matthew 28:19–20, [29] Acts 2:41–47, [30] 1 Corinthians 15:20–23, [31] John 5:28–29, [32] Hebrews 10:37, [33] Luke 21:27, [34] Titus 2:11–14
CORE VALUES
What we believe determines what we value, and what we value defines how we live. Scripture-based core values are the key to successful Kingdom living.
Alliance people share seven core values that flow from the Fourfold Gospel—the driving force behind our desire to know Jesus Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King.
As you read through these values ask God how He would have you apply them in your daily walk with Him.
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Lost People
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Lost people matter to God. He wants them found.
In the formative years of our movement, the Holy Spirit instilled within A. B. Simpson a passion to reach people with no knowledge of Jesus Christ in his “Jerusalem” and around the world. That passion still lives within The Alliance today.
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Prayer
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Prayer is the primary work of God’s people.
We believe that nothing of lasting value can be done unless it is bathed in prayer. So passionate was his belief that prayer undergirds all ministry, Alliance founder A. B. Simpson was compelled to create a prayer league to focus on the world’s evangelization. He believed that the Prayer Alliance would “prove to be the mightiest force in the spread of missions;” that force still drives The Alliance today.
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Stewardship
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Everything we have belongs to God. We are His stewards.
This core value is intrinsic to the nature and structure of The Alliance—we teach and practice the blessing and effectiveness of the faith principle of giving as Scripture encourages us to remember that it’s not the amount of money we have or how much we give—it’s recognizing that everything we have comes from God (Luke 21:14).
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God’s Word
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Knowing and obeying God’s Word is fundamental to all true success.
If The Alliance had a “life application” verse, it would be Matthew 28:19: 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—AKA The Great Commission!
But the next verse is equally important: “. . . and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
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Great Commission
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Completing the Great Commission will require the mobilization of every fully devoted disciple.
In The Christian and Missionary Alliance the first priority of every minister, congregation, and believer is to work for the evangelization of the world.
Healthy churches producing healthy disciples devoted to reaching lost people—this is what will hasten the completion of the Great Commission and the return of Jesus Christ.
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Empowered
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Without the Holy Spirit’s empowerment, we can accomplish nothing.
The Apostle Paul said, My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power (1 Corinthians 2:4-5). This is the fiber of our being as believers and the sixth of our Alliance core values.
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Faith-Filled Risk
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Achieving God’s purposes means taking faith-filled risks. This always involves change.
For more than a century, Alliance workers have braved harsh and dangerous territory—often at great personal risk—to take the good news of Jesus to a lost world. These workers experienced this Alliance Core Value—“Achieving God’s purposes means taking faith-filled risks. This always involves change.” Because of the selfless dedication of Alliance workers who were willing to lay down their lives for the gospel, entire people groups now know Jesus.
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