What We Believe

The following are the core beliefs of The Potter's House Fort Mead based on the foundational truths taught in the Bible.  All of our teaching and ministry is rooted in and flows out of these biblical doctrines.

There is one eternally existing God who has three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is the creator of all that exists, both visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy of all glory and praise.  God is perfect in love, power, holiness, goodness, knowledge, wisdom,  justice, and mercy. He is unchangeable and therefore is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

God has revealed himself to us through his son, Jesus Christ, who is the visible image of the invisible God, the holy scriptures, and through all of creation itself.  Jesus Christ is eternally God. He was together with the Father and the Holy Spirit from the beginning and through Him all things were made. He left Heaven and became incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary; henceforth, He is forever one Christ with two natures--God and man--in one Person.

The Holy Spirit is God, the Lord, and giver of life, who was active in the Old Testament and given to the Church in fullness at Pentecost. He empowers the saints for service and witness, cleanses man from the old nature and conforms us to the image of Christ.

Humans, both male and female, were created in God's image for His glory. The first humans, Adam and Eve, were created without sin and appointed as caretakers of the rest of God's creations.

When Adam and Eve chose not to obey God, they ceased to be what they were made to be and became distorted images of God. This caused them to fall out of fellowship with God, and fractured all of creation ever since that time.

Jesus Christ came to reconcile us with God. He lived a life without sin and willingly died on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of the whole world. Its benefits of healing (body, soul, and spirit) are provided for in the atonement as well. God raised him from the dead and now, by grace, offers as a free gift eternal life to all who follow Christ, by faith, as their Lord and Savior. That is why salvation can be found in Christ alone.  Salvation is effected by personal repentance, belief in the Lord Jesus (justification) and personal acceptance of Him into one's life as Lord and Savior (regeneration).

The Church is meant to be the visible body of Christ, sent into the world to glorify God and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Church is the Body of Christ, the habitation of God among the saints through the Spirit. Every believer born of the Spirit has a place in the church designated by God. A place where Christ is working in the lives of the called-out ones and calling ministers to the great commission to go into all the world and make disciples of every nation.  

Baptism in water is a necessary step in the Christian’s life. Baptism is the outward sign of what God has already done in the individual's life and is a public testimony that the person now belongs to Christ. It is identifying with the death and resurrection of Jesus and is done in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  

Jesus Christ is returning one day to judge both the living and the dead and to usher in the fullness of God's kingdom on earth.  In the bodily, personal, second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the saints, the millennium and the final judgment. The final judgment will determine the eternal status of both the saints and the unbelievers, determined by their relationship to Jesus Christ.