We believe that Satan, originally a great, good angel, rebelled against God, taking a host of angels with him. He was cast out of God’s presence and, as a usurper of God’s rule, established a counter-kingdom of darkness and evil on the earth.

We believe that God created mankind in His image, male and female, for a relationship with Himself and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan, our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin, sickness, and God’s judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access to God’s good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam’s original sin. Human beings are born in sin, subject to God’s judgment of death, and captive to Satan’s kingdom of darkness.

We believe that in the fullness of time, God honored His covenants with Israel and His prophetic promises of salvation by sending His Son, Jesus, into the world. Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, as fully God and fully human in one person, He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God’s Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, inaugurating God’s kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead. Gathering His disciples, He reconstituted God’s people as His Church to be the instrument of His kingdom. After dying for the sins of the world, Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day, fulfilling the covenant of blessing given to Abraham. In His sinless, perfect life Jesus met the demands of the law, and in His atoning death on the cross, He took God’s judgment for sin, which we deserve as law-breakers. By His death on the cross, He also disarmed the demonic powers. The covenant with David was fulfilled in Jesus’ birth from David’s house, His Messianic ministry, His glorious resurrection from the dead, His ascent into heaven, and His present rule at the right hand of the Father. As God’s Son and David’s heir, He is the eternal Messiah-King, advancing God’s reign throughout every generation and throughout the whole earth today.

We believe that the Holy Spirit inspired the human authors of Holy Scripture so that the Bible is without error in the original manuscripts. We receive the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments as our final, absolute authority, the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

We believe in the one, holy, universal Church. All who repent of their sins and confess Jesus as Lord and Savior are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and form the living Body of Christ, of which He is the head and of which we are all members.

Lakes Area Vineyard Church is committed to a biblical understanding of marriage, sexuality, and gender. Even though confusion exists regarding these topics in culture, scripture provides clarity. We believe the Bible is clear about the foundational truths that God created both males and females in His image and that marriage is intended as a covenantal union between one male and one female. (Genesis 1:27, Genesis 2:24) All sex outside of marriage is sin. (Hebrews 13:4) And lastly, sin causes confusion about God’s original intent for human sexuality. Because of sin, all people experience corruption in their sexuality and are dependent on Jesus for redemption. (Romans 3:23) Regarding the LGBTQ+ community, our position is welcoming but not affirming. This means that we as the Church, in the love of Christ, remain welcoming to all. At the same time, Christians are called to “teach and admonish one another with all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16). We all come to Christ as sinners, but by His grace are being transformed into His likeness (2 Corinthians 3:18). This means that as we grow in our faith, we are supernaturally transformed by the presence of God in our lives and must have repentant hearts toward sin as we help one another walk in truth and love.

We believe that God’s kingdom has come in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it continues to come in the ministry of the Spirit through the Church, and that it will be consummated in the glorious, visible, and triumphant appearing of Christ – His return to the earth as King. After Christ returns to reign, He will bring about the final defeat of Satan and all of his minions and works, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment and the eternal blessing of the righteous, and eternal conscious punishment of the wicked. Finally, God will be all in all and His kingdom, His rule and reign, will be fulfilled in the new heavens and the new earth, recreated by His mighty power, in which righteousness dwells and in which He will forever be worshipped.