Sound Doctrine: Truth That Transforms
In an age where feelings often trump facts and personal preference overshadows propositional truth, we’ve rediscovered something revolutionary: absolute truth exists, and it has the power to set people free.

At ChristAlive Church, sound doctrine isn’t an academic exercise but the essential foundation for authentic Christian experience. Without biblical truth, spiritual experiences can lead to confusion rather than spiritual stability, growth and transformation. Without doctrinal clarity, seeming manifestations of the Spirit can actually contradict His nature revealed in Scripture.

“Watch your life and doctrine closely,” Paul instructed Timothy. “Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16). This inseparable connection between sound teaching and spiritual wellbeing shapes our approach to ministry.

Our commitment to sound doctrine begins with these fundamental truths:

The Gospel:
At the center of our theology stands the cross where Jesus died as our substitute, bearing the penalty for our sins. Salvation comes by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone—not by religious works or moral effort. This gospel truth forms the bedrock of our church.

The Authority of Scripture:
We believe the Bible is God’s inspired, inerrant Word—our final authority for faith and practice. While we value the Spirit’s ongoing revelation through prophecy and other gifts, all such revelation must completely align with Scripture’s clear teaching.

The Person and Work of Christ:
Jesus is fully God and fully man, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died sacrificially for our sins, rose bodily from the grave, ascended to heaven, and will return physically to judge the living and dead. We proclaim the complete Christ in all His offices—Savior, Lord and King.

The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit:
The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force but the third Person of the Trinity who continues Christ’s work on earth. He convicts of sin, regenerates believers, indwells them permanently at salvation, and is available to baptize them in power for supernatural ministry.

The Church:
The church is Christ’s body on earth—it is both an organization and a supernatural organism empowered by the Spirit to continue Jesus’ ministry of preaching, teaching, healing, and deliverance until He returns.

We cultivate sound doctrine through spiritual disciplines that engage both mind and spirit:

Scripture Immersion:
We approach the Bible not merely for information but for transformation, allowing the Spirit to illuminate God’s Word through careful study and prayerful meditation. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

Doctrinal Teaching:
Our pulpit ministry prioritizes systematic exposition of Scripture, helping believers understand both the content of faith and its practical application. We believe theological truth is meant to be lived, not merely learned.

Discernment Development:
In an age of spiritual counterfeits, we train believers to “test everything” (1 Thessalonians 5:21), distinguishing between genuine and spurious manifestations of the Spirit. This discernment comes through biblical knowledge, spiritual maturity, and the gift of discerning of spirits.

Apologetic Preparation:
We equip Christians to articulate and defend their faith with “gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15) in an increasingly skeptical and hostile society. This includes understanding not only what we believe but why we believe it.

Sound doctrine doesn’t stifle spiritual experience but provides the channel through which authentic experience flows and is safeguarded. When biblical truth and spiritual power unite, the result is a life-transforming ministry that changes both individuals and communities.

This commitment doesn’t mean we have everything figured out. We embrace “mystery” alongside certainty and questions alongside answers. We distinguish between essential doctrines where we require unity and secondary issues where we allow diversity. But we never compromise on the fundamental truths that define historic, orthodox Christianity.

If you’re tired of spiritual experiences without biblical grounding, or biblical teaching without spiritual power, we invite you to discover with us the dynamic integration of sound doctrine and a Spirit-empowered life.

The Holy Spirit: Power for Today
In many churches, the Holy Spirit is acknowledged in theology but absent in experience. At ChristAlive Church, we believe in both the doctrine of the Spirit and the dynamic experience of His presence and power for today.

Jesus promised His followers would receive “power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8), and this promise extends to all believers throughout the church age. The dramatic events of Pentecost in Acts 2 weren’t a temporary historical phenomenon but the inauguration of a new era in which God’s Spirit would be poured out on “all flesh” (Acts 2:17).

We embrace the full biblical teaching on the Holy Spirit:

The Person of the Spirit:
The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force or divine influence but the third Person of the Trinity—fully God and equal with the Father and Son. He possesses personality with intellect, emotions, and will. He can be grieved, resisted, and blasphemed. He deserves our worship, obedience, and surrender.

The Indwelling of the Spirit:
At salvation, every believer is regenerated by the Spirit who comes to permanently indwell them (Romans 8:9). This indwelling presence guarantees our salvation and begins the process of inner transformation into Christ’s image.

The Baptism in the Spirit:
Beyond conversion, we believe in a subsequent experience Scripture calls the “baptism” or “filling” with the Holy Spirit for supernatural empowerment in witness and ministry (Acts 1:5, 8). This distinct experience is available to all believers who seek it (Acts 2:38-39).

The Initial Evidence:
While we acknowledge various manifestations of Spirit baptism, we believe speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence of this empowering experience, following the pattern seen throughout Acts (2:4, 8:10:46, 19:6).

The Gifts of the Spirit:
We believe all spiritual gifts mentioned in the New Testament—including prophecy, tongues, interpretation, healing, miracles, discernment, and others—remain valid and essential for the church today (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). These supernatural gifts are distributed by the Spirit for the edification of the church and evangelistic witness to the world.

The Fruit of the Spirit:
Alongside supernatural gifts, the Spirit produces Christlike character in believers through progressive sanctification. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are the evidence of genuine spiritual maturity (Galatians 5:22-23).

Our commitment to Spirit-filled living expresses itself through specific spiritual disciplines:

Prayer in the Spirit:
We cultivate prayer both in understood language and in tongues, which Scripture describes as spiritual edification (1 Corinthians 14:4) and prayer aligned perfectly with God’s will (Romans 8:26-27).

Spirit-led Worship:
Our gatherings create space for spontaneous, Spirit-directed expressions including prophecy, tongues with interpretation, and other manifestations that follow biblical parameters for order and edification (1 Corinthians 14:26-33).

Healing Ministry:
Following Jesus’ example and commission, we regularly pray for the sick expecting divine healing through the Spirit’s power. We believe healing is provided in Christ’s atonement (Isaiah 53:5) and remains God’s normative will for His people.

Deliverance Ministry:
We recognize the reality of demonic influence and provide ministry to those seeking freedom through the authority Christ has given His church over unclean spirits (Mark 16:17).

Spiritual Sensitivity:
Through practices of listening prayer, waiting on God, and yielding to divine promptings, we develop sensitivity to the Spirit’s guidance in daily life and ministry decisions.

The baptism in the Holy Spirit isn’t a status symbol or the mark of spiritual elitism, but equipment for more effective service. Jesus Himself, though sinless, ministered through the Spirit’s anointing rather than His inherent divine power (Acts 10:38). If the sinless Son of God chose to depend on the Spirit’s empowerment, how much more do we?

This Spirit-filled dimension of Christianity isn’t optional or supplemental but essential for the church to fulfill its mission. Without the Spirit’s supernatural power, we cannot effectively witness to a supernatural gospel.

We invite you to experience this empowered life—not just to receive a spiritual blessing but to become a conduit of blessing to others through supernatural gifts and anointed ministry.

Worship: Encountering God’s Presence
True worship transcends music styles, cultural expressions, and personal preferences. At its core, worship is our response to God’s revelation of Himself—particularly the revelation of His love and holiness at Calvary. The cross stands at the center of authentic Christian worship, for it is there we see God most clearly.

Jesus defined true worship with striking simplicity: “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). This foundational statement guides our approach to worship at ChristAlive Church:

Worship in Spirit:
We create space for the Holy Spirit to move freely in our gatherings—sometimes in planned liturgy, often in spontaneous expressions. We believe the same Spirit who filled the upper room at Pentecost continues to fill yielded worshipers today, enabling supernatural dimensions of praise, intercession, and ministry.

When the Spirit moves in worship, we may experience:

1. Prophetic songs and guidance that reveal God’s heart.
2. Moments of deep repentance and surrender.
3. Supernatural manifestations including speaking in tongues with interpretation.
4. Divine healing and miracles.
5. Overwhelming awareness of God’s presence that transcends emotional experiences.

Worship in Truth:
Our expressions of worship are anchored in biblical revelation rather than subjective feelings or cultural trends. The content of our worship matters profoundly—we declare truth about who God is and what He has done, particularly through Christ’s atoning sacrifice and resurrection power.

Our worship focuses on:

1. The holiness and majesty of God the Father.
2. The finished work of Christ on the cross.
3. The present ministry of the Holy Spirit.
4. The truth of Scripture that shapes our understanding and response.

This Spirit-and-truth worship manifests through several spiritual disciplines:

Reverence:
We cultivate holy awe before God’s transcendent majesty. While we approach God with the intimacy of beloved children, we never forget we stand before the Holy One of Israel. This reverence isn’t religious stiffness but wonder-filled adoration.

Expressive Praise:
Scripture commands us to praise God with our whole being—lifting hands (Psalm 134:2), clapping (Psalm 47:1), dancing (Psalm 150:4), shouting (Psalm 47:1), kneeling (Psalm 95:6), and even using musical instruments (Psalm 150:3-5). We embrace these physical expressions not as ritual obligations but as natural responses to God’s greatness.

Contemplative Worship:
Alongside exuberant praise, we value quietness before God—creating space to hear His still, small voice. “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) remains an essential discipline in our worship practices.

Spirit-Enabled Worship:
We recognize that genuine worship requires supernatural enablement. Romans 8:26 tells us the Spirit “helps us in our weakness,” particularly in prayer, and this principle extends to all worship. Through the baptism in the Holy Spirit and ongoing fillings, we experience dimensions of worship beyond natural capacity.

Sacrificial Offering:
True worship always costs something. Following King David’s example, we refuse to offer to God “that which costs me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24). This sacrifice includes our time, attention, comfort, resources, and surrender of personal preferences—indeed our entire lives for the sake of His glory. We understand worship essentially then to mean living all of life as an offering to Him.

Our worship gatherings are designed with purpose and expectation. We come not merely to sing songs or hear teaching but to encounter the living God corporately. We believe something supernatural happens when God’s people gather in His name that cannot be duplicated through individual worship alone.

While we value excellence in music, technology, and presentation, we measure successful worship not by performance quality but by God’s manifest presence and people’s transformation. We’ve witnessed lives radically changed through worship encounters, conviction, repentance, renewed love, guidance, physical healings, restoration, freedom from demonic oppression, and renewed focus and purpose.

Whether you’re comfortable with expressive praise or prefer quieter reflection, whether you’re familiar with charismatic worship or new to Spirit-filled experience, we invite you to come with an open heart to encounter God in ways perhaps you’ve never experienced before.

Community: United in the Spirit
In a world fragmented by division and isolation, genuine Christian community stands as a powerful testimony to the gospel’s reconciling power. At ChristAlive Church, we believe the Holy Spirit creates supernatural unity that transcends natural boundaries of ethnicity, social class, political affiliation, and personal preference.

Jesus prayed for this distinctive unity: “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me” (John 17:23). This wasn’t wishful thinking but divine design—the Trinity’s own perfect community extending to Christ’s body on earth.

The early church demonstrated this supernatural community immediately after Pentecost: “All the believers were together and had everything in common… They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts” (Acts 2:44, 46). This wasn’t merely social connection but Spirit-created fellowship (koinonia)—the sharing of life at its deepest level.

Our approach to community builds on several foundational principles:

Unity in Diversity:
We celebrate the variety of gifts, perspectives, backgrounds, and expressions the Spirit brings together in Christ’s body. Unity isn’t uniformity that erases differences but harmony that honors distinctiveness while maintaining essential oneness. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them… different kinds of service, but the same Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:4-5).

Cross-Centered Identity:
While we acknowledge our various cultural backgrounds, we affirm that our primary identity isn’t found in nationality, ethnicity, social status, or political party, but in our shared redemption through Christ’s blood. At the cross, all human distinctions lose their dividing power as we stand equal in our need for grace and equal in our receipt of mercy.

Spirit-Enabled Love:
Human effort cannot create genuine Christian community. The supernatural love required to build authentic fellowship comes only through the Holy Spirit who “has poured out his love into our hearts” (Romans 5:5). This Spirit-enabled love transcends natural affinity and extends even to those difficult to love.

Interdependent Function:
Every member has essential gifts and contributions for the body’s health. We reject both unhealthy dependency where few do everything and unhealthy independence where individuals’ function in isolation. “From him the whole body… grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:16).

We cultivate this Spirit-filled community through intentional spiritual disciplines:

Covenant Commitment:
Beyond casual association, we make intentional commitments to walk together through life’s joys and sorrows. In a culture of convenient relationships and easy exits, covenant community provides stability, accountability, and belonging that reflect God’s faithful commitment to us.

Authentic Vulnerability:
We create safe spaces for honest sharing about struggles, doubts, and failures without fear of rejection or judgment. “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). This vulnerability creates depth impossible in superficial relationships.

Spiritual Gift Exchange:
We encourage the regular exercise of spiritual gifts within community—not just during formal services but in daily interactions. Exhortation, mercy, leadership, service, generosity, prophecy, words of knowledge, healing prayer, and other manifestations become natural expressions of care within authentic Spirit-filled community.

Reconciliation Practice:
Conflict is inevitable in genuine community. Rather than avoiding it or allowing division, we embrace biblical processes for confession, forgiveness, and restoration. Matthew 18:15-20 provides our pattern for administering church discipline with both grace and truth.

Burden-Bearing:
When members experience crisis, illness, loss, or need, we provide tangible support through prayer, presence, and practical assistance. “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

This counter-cultural community becomes one of our most powerful witnesses in a fragmented world. Jesus said people would recognize His disciples by their love for one another (John 13:35). When the world sees people from diverse backgrounds united in supernatural love, it provides compelling evidence of the gospel’s transforming power.

Our community isn’t perfect—we’re still growing, still learning, still making mistakes in loving each other well. But the Spirit continues to knit us together in ways that human effort alone could never accomplish.

If you’re longing for connection deeper than social media friendships or casual acquaintances can provide, we invite you to experience the healing power of authentic Christian community shaped by the cross and empowered by the Spirit.

Discipleship: Transformed into Christ’s Image:
Discipleship at ChristAlive Church isn’t about behavior modification or religious rule-following. It’s about supernatural transformation into the image of Jesus Christ through the power of His Spirit.

This transformation begins at salvation but continues throughout our earthly lives as Paul describes: “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Jesus’ call to discipleship remains startlingly direct: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). This call transcends cultural contexts and historical periods—it’s the non-negotiable core of authentic Christianity.

At the heart of our discipleship approach stands the cross. True discipleship flows from understanding and applying what Christ accomplished at Calvary:

1. The cross defeats our sin nature through identification with Christ’s death.
2. The resurrection empowers new life through the Spirit’s indwelling presence.
3. The ascension grants us heavenly authority through our position in Christ.
4. Pentecost equips us with supernatural power through Spirit baptism.

Our discipleship pathway guides believers through several essential spiritual milestones:

Salvation:
Through repentance and faith, a person passes from death to life, receiving forgiveness of sins and new birth by the Spirit. This miraculous conversion initiates the discipleship journey.

Water Baptism:
Through immersion, new believers publicly identify with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection—declaring their old life buried and new life begun. This isn’t merely symbolic but a powerful spiritual transaction.

Spirit Baptism:
Beyond initial conversion, disciples seek the supernatural empowerment Jesus promised through the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This distinct experience, evidenced initially by speaking in tongues, equips believers for effective witness and ministry.

Word Foundation:
Disciples develop biblical understanding through systematic teaching, personal study, and Scripture memorization. Sound doctrine provides the essential foundation for spiritual growth and protection against deception.

Prayer Development:
Disciples cultivate intimate communion with God through various dimensions of prayer—adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, intercession, and spiritual warfare.

Gift Discovery:
Disciples identify and develop their spiritual gifts through ministry opportunity and mentoring. These supernatural abilities—including prophecy, healing, discernment, tongues, interpretation, and others—allow believers to participate in Christ’s ongoing ministry.

Character Formation:
Through progressive sanctification, disciples develop Christlike virtues—the fruit of the Spirit—that authenticate their spiritual gifts and ministries. Character transformation happens through both Spirit empowerment and intentional cooperation.

Mission Engagement:
Mature disciples participate in Christ’s Great Commission through evangelism, compassion ministry, and cross-cultural missions. This outward focus prevents discipleship from becoming self-absorbed spiritual development.

We facilitate this discipleship journey through several coordinated approaches:

Biblical Preaching:
Our pulpit ministry systematically unfolds God’s Word with both doctrinal depth and practical application. We teach the full counsel of Scripture—not avoiding difficult truths or controversial passages.

Small Group Discipleship:
In weekly home gatherings, believers study Scripture, practice spiritual gifts, pray for one another’s needs, and build accountable relationships. These groups provide the primary context for personal spiritual growth.

Mentoring Relationships:
Following Paul’s model of spiritual parenthood, mature believers intentionally invest in newer Christians through one-on-one relationships focused on character development, ministry training, and life application.

Ministry Deployment:
We quickly involve new believers in appropriate service opportunities where they can discover and develop their spiritual gifts while experiencing the joy of kingdom contribution.

Supernatural Impartation:
Beyond knowledge transfer, we believe in the biblical concept of spiritual impartation through prayer, laying on of hands, and prophecy. Mature leaders release gifts, anointing, and blessing to emerging disciples.

Throughout this process, we maintain both patience with human development and expectation of divine acceleration. The Spirit sometimes transforms areas of character or gifting suddenly, while other aspects develop gradually through faithful discipline.

Our ultimate goal is disciples who reflect Jesus in:

1. Character –displaying the fruit of the Spirit in daily life.
2. Ministry–participating in Christ’s ongoing ministry in the church through the operation of the gifts of the Spirit for the edification of the Body as God’s dwelling place.
3. Vocation–participating in Christ’s ongoing ministry in the world through spirit empowered vocation in both active evangelism and work. For us, the ultimate goal of work is to put the redemptive Glory of Jesus on display through faithful, productive labour at our workspaces. Like Moses before the “burning bush,” it is Christ at work in using our service to draw the unsaved, and as they “turn to look,” we may share the Gospel with them. Accordingly, for us, work goes beyond looking for money. It is a part of our missionary responsibility as stewards and witnesses of the living Jesus to our world.
4. Reproduction–discipling others who will disciple who disciple others.

This comprehensive approach creates mature believers who don’t just know about Jesus but genuinely think, love, and minister like Him—transforming their families, workplaces, and communities through supernatural witness.

Missions: Empowered to be Witnesses:
The final words Jesus spoke before His ascension continue to drive our church’s global vision: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

This statement reveals several critical dimensions of authentic biblical missions:

Supernatural Source:
Effective mission flows from supernatural empowerment, not merely human effort or strategy. The baptism in the Holy Spirit isn’t primarily for personal blessing but for gospel witness through a powerful proclaiming of the Gospel and supernatural demonstrations of God’s power.

The Sequential Scope:
Mission expands in concentric circles—from local (“Jerusalem”) to regional (“Judea”) to cross-cultural (“Samaria”) to global (“ends of the earth”). Each dimension remains essential; none can be neglected.

The Comprehensive Nature:
Being “witnesses” involves both proclaiming the gospel message and demonstrating its power through Spirit-enabled signs, compassionate service, and transformed lives that verify our verbal testimony.

At ChristAlive Church, missions isn’t a department or program but the fundamental reason we exist. Everything we do—worship, discipleship, community, ministry—ultimately serves our mission to proclaim Christ globally through Spirit-empowered witness.

Our missions commitment expresses itself through several strategic approaches:

Local Evangelism:
Every believer is equipped and expected to share Christ within their sphere of influence—family, workplace, neighborhood, and social networks. We provide ongoing training in personal evangelism, including both relational approaches and supernatural witness through healing, deliverance, and prophetic ministry.

Community Transformation:
Beyond individual conversions, we seek comprehensive renewal in our local community through targeted outreaches, compassion ministries, and prayer initiatives. We address both spiritual needs through evangelism and physical needs through practical service.

Church Planting:
Following the apostolic pattern, we multiply our impact by establishing new congregations locally, regionally, and globally. These churches embody New Testament principles of being self-supporting (through biblical stewardship), self-governing (through qualified leadership), and self-propagating (through evangelism and further church planting).

Cross-Cultural Missions:
We prioritize unreached people groups who have little or no access to the gospel message. Through sending missionaries, supporting indigenous workers, strategic partnerships, and short-term teams, we extend Christ’s kingdom where His name remains unknown.

Targeted People Movement Focus:
Rather than scattering resources broadly, we concentrate on specific unreached people groups through sustained prayer, sending, support, and strategic initiatives aimed at catalyzing indigenous church-planting movements.

We cultivate missions involvement through specific spiritual disciplines:

Mission-Focused Intercession:
Regular prayer for unreached peoples, persecuted believers, missionary workers, and strategic gospel breakthroughs forms the foundation of our missions engagement. We cannot accomplish through human effort what must first be won in spiritual warfare.

Supernatural Evangelism:
We train believers to minister healing, deliverance, and prophetic words as Jesus taught His disciples—demonstrating the kingdom’s power alongside its message. “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:4).

Sacrificial Giving:
Beyond conventional tithes, we practice generous, sacrificial giving to support missionaries, fund indigenous workers, and resource strategic initiatives worldwide. This includes both regular missions giving and special offerings for urgent needs or opportunities.

Cross-Cultural Experiences:
Through short-term mission trips, cross-cultural partnerships, and international relationships, we expand our global perspective and develop firsthand understanding of different cultures, challenges, and ministry approaches.

Kingdom Vocation:
We encourage believers to view their careers through the lens of Great Commission purpose—considering how God might use their professional skills, business connections, or geographic mobility to advance His kingdom globally.

Our missions vision is informed by biblical prophecy: “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9). Every tribe and tongue will be represented in heaven’s worship—which means every people group must hear the gospel before Christ returns.

This urgency compels us to strategic action. Whether through praying, giving, going short-term, or committing to career missions, every believer has a vital role in fulfilling the Great Commission. The only question is not whether you’re called to participate in this global mission, but how and where.