About Us
Mission Statement
The Bend Ministerial Association exists:
- To promote the ministry of the Gospel, which is to call men, women, and children to repent and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, to belong to His Body, the Church, and to be His disciples.
- To build and express the unity of the Church, the Body of Christ in Central Oregon; By developing personal relationships of friendship, ministry, and accountability among the pastors and other leaders in the Body of Christ in Central Oregon. By providing opportunities to study together and increase our understanding of the Scriptures. By providing opportunities for common worship and prayer; e.g. Thanksgiving, Easter, National Day of Prayer, etc.
- To provide opportunities to work together to minister Scripturally to spiritual, social, political and ethical issues that affects the Body of Christ in Central Oregon.
Statement of Faith
- We affirm that the Bible is the written Word of God, without error in the original manuscripts, and of divine and infallible authority in all matters of faith and life. We deny any view that diminishes or rejects the divine, infallible authority of the Bible, or that sets up human reason, experience or tradition as independent authorities not subject to the Bible.
- We affirm that there is only one true and living God, Who is a Person, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe; Who is eternal, infinite, self-existent and independent, omniscient and omnipotent, absolutely distinct from the creation which He has made, yet Who is intimately involved with and concerned for His creation. We deny any notion of God which makes Him non-personal, limited, finite, or temporal; that makes Him one with the creation order, or that makes Him utterly transcendent and unknowable.
- We affirm that God exists eternally in three distinct Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; each of whom fully possesses all the divine attributes. We deny that there is any other deity than the one true triune God.
- We affirm that the entire universe was created by God out of nothing by His powerful Word, and that the universe is totally dependent upon Him for its continued existence. We deny that the universe is uncreated, or that it was created from the substance and being of God, or that it was created out of pre-existing material, or that it operates independently of God’s control.
- We affirm that man as male and female was created by God, in His image, and that all human beings are thus endowed by God with dignity and worth from the time of conception. We deny that man evolved from or is genetically derived from lower forms of life, and we deny any view which demeans or diminishes the dignity and worth with which God has endowed all human beings from the time of conception.
- We affirm that God’s standard for sexual conduct set forth in the Bible is celibacy for unmarried persons, and faithfulness in marriage between husband and wife. We deny any view that seeks to legitimize any form of sexual conduct outside of marriage between husband and wife.
- We affirm that since the Fall of Adam, all human beings are rebels against God, in need of redemption by God, and unable to save themselves from God’s just judgment. We deny any view that human beings can redeem themselves, or that man or society can be perfected by natural or human agencies alone.
- We affirm that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, Who entered the world and history and became man, and Who lived and died and bodily rose again to atone for the sins of those who trust in Him alone for salvation. We deny any view that rejects either the true humanity or the true deity of Jesus Christ, or that rejects His atonement for the sins of mankind as the only way of salvation.
- We affirm that human beings are saved by God’s sovereign grace alone, through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus’ blood and His glorious resurrection victory over sin, Satan and death. This gracious salvation wrought by God is offered freely to all human beings. All who repent and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior receive eternal salvation; all who refuse to repent and believe remain under the judgment of God. We deny that human beings can save themselves through works of merit or by any other means, or that there is any other way of salvation than through Jesus Christ, Who is the way, the truth and the life, through Whom alone men may come to the Father.
- We affirm that Jesus Christ is coming again in history, personally, bodily, and visibly to bring the final consummation of God’s plan of salvation. We deny any naturalistic, cyclical, dialectical, reincarnational or other unbiblical view of history, and any view that denies the personal, visible, bodily, return of Jesus Christ in history.