LWF is a nondenominational, Bible-believing church. We believe Jesus is Lord and God’s Word is the final authority on all matters pertaining to life and godliness. In the church world, we would be known as a Christian, Spirit-filled church.

By definition, a “Christian” is a Christ-follower; a believer. As Christians, we believe that Jesus is Lord and that through His shed blood and death on the cross, His burial, and His resurrection, we received forgiveness from sin and eternal life. Jesus’ blood is God’s only remedy for man’s sin. We believe that Jesus was raised from the dead and those who believe and confess Him as Lord are born-again saved and redeemed and will also be raised from the dead and will spend eternity with God in heaven.

By definition “Spirit-filled” means to be full of the Holy Spirit. A  Spirit-filled or charismatic church would be a church that is full of God’s grace and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that Jesus is the Head of the Church and He has delegated the primary responsibility for leading and feeding a local church to the Senior Pastor.

Living Word Fellowship is a pastor-led, elder governed, staff, deacon, and volunteer-run church. Pastor Doug Brady is, as the senior pastor, ultimately responsible to teach the Word, obtain the vision for LWF, and providing spiritual, strategic, and organizational leadership to the church at large. He is responsible to follow Jesus, the Head of the Church, and to do this effectively; he has surrounded himself with many dynamic and gifted people including a Board of Elders who are responsible for governing the church by providing financial oversight of the ministry through annual budget approval and salary structure definition. Our elders also monitor the overall results of the church’s ministry to ensure that what is being implemented by the staff and volunteers is consistent with the vision God has given. Our elders help to protect the senior pastor’s schedule (making sure he has adequate time to rest) and ensure that he is being ministered to himself. There is also a Board of Deacons that meets monthly with the pastor and the elders to discuss different aspects of the ministry. Our staff and volunteers are responsible for implementing the vision defined by our senior pastor and confirmed by our elders. Without the involvement of our many volunteers, the ministry at Living Word Fellowship would be greatly limited. The faithful and sacrificial giving of our members—who obediently respond to God as they give their time and resources– gives us the ability and resources to effectively minister.

Yes! We believe there is a real heaven to gain and a real hell to shun. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ – so that whoever would believe in Him and receive Him as Lord and Savior would not perish in a place called hell; but would have eternal life in a place called heaven. Jesus said that unless a person is born-again he or she could not enter the kingdom of God. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.” (John 14:6)

We believe that God is Sovereign and Almighty. He is the Creator and Most High God and above Him, there is no other. In His sovereignty, He has given us His Word and in His Word, He has established spiritual laws that require man’s cooperation.

These laws, such as the law of sowing and reaping, the law of sin/death, and life/liberty in Christ along with several others, do not just automatically or arbitrarily happen; we must appropriate His Word by faith to experience all that our Sovereign God has promised us. Thankfully, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can know His Word, His will, and His ways. We believe the Lord expects us to study His Word and to proactively appropriate His Word in our daily lives through acts of faith and obedience.

It’s true, at LWF we definitely believe in being filled with the Spirit and praying and speaking in a heavenly language. We have found it to be one of God’s wonderful gifts for enjoying heart-to-heart communion with Him and as a supernatural resource for the joy-filled, power-packed victorious Christian life.

We do not believe the gifts of the Spirit or the gift of speaking in tongues has ceased. We believe God is still very much in the business of giving His people the gifts of the Spirit, including a divine spiritual language and He expects all of His gifts to operate in and through our lives in a manner that is decent and orderly. There is no Bible evidence to suggest that these things have passed away at this time. We believe the Holy Spirit and all of His gifts are truly some of God’s greatest blessings to believers.

We believe that there are two experiences for every believer – to be “born of the Spirit”, the Holy Spirit comes to live within the believer (salvation) and to be “filled with the Spirit”, the Holy Spirit comes upon a believer and endues them with power (empowerment) and various gifts of the Spirit. In the Bible, we see these two experiences may happen in the life of a believer at practically the same time…or months or years apart. (John 3, Acts 2:4, 8:15-21, 10:44-46, 11:15-17, 19:1-6, 1 Corinthians 14:2, 4, 14-15).

The more important question is, “What is God’s view on the gay, lesbian or homosexual lifestyle?”

If you listen to some people you’d get the idea that God hates homosexuals. The reality is that God loves everyone. He created sex as a good thing and He knew what He had in mind when He created men and women and the whole sexual process. God is not confused on the subject.

God loves every person, no matter what their sexual gender, views, experience or orientation may be. God’s desire is that every person on the planet comes into a personal relationship with Him, continues to grow, and be conformed to His image. That’s the plan. While God loves every person, He does not condone everything a person believes or does. God loves everyone and so do we. God does not condone the things He calls sin and neither do we.

When it comes to sexual relations; we believe God sanctions sex solely within the context of marriage. The Bible recognizes marriage as exclusively the legal union of one man and one woman (Titus 1:6). Therefore, LWF does not condone any sexual behavior outside of marriage; and does not perform, or condone any marriage between individuals of the same gender or between more than one man and one woman. Sexual activities, such as but not limited to, adultery, fornication, incest, homosexuality, pedophilia, and bestiality violate the teachings of the Bible and the Church. Further, we believe that lascivious behavior, the creation and/or distribution and/or viewing of pornography, and efforts to alter one’s gender, are sinful and incompatible with Christian behavior. (I Corinthians 6:9-10; Leviticus 18:22; Leviticus 20:13).

The bottom line: God loves people and we love people – all people. The lifestyle someone lives do not determine their value in the eyes of the Lord nor in our eyes. While we are not against those who live or profess to be homosexual; we do not believe that homosexuality is the way God created men and women to relate to one another – the Bible says it is “against nature” and we agree with the Word. While we do not condone homosexuality; we do not condemn anyone who has ever struggled with this issue or who has called themselves gay. Jesus said, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved [healed and delivered]. (John 3:17) We’re working together with the Lord in the saving, healing, and delivering business. For some, homosexuality is a complex issue – spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically – and yet, we have seen God’s love and power set people with the most complex issues free. There are countless testimonies of formerly homosexual people who decided to allow God to do what only He can do – transform them into the image of His Son by His amazing power working in them.

For further study, these Scriptures respond to the basic question: What does the Bible say about homosexuality? Romans 1:24-27, Leviticus 18:22, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Genesis 19:4-7, Leviticus 20:13

The ordinances of baptism in water and the Lord’s Supper are symbolic, physical ceremonies testifying to spiritual truths.  They do not instill grace, nor are they conditions of salvation.  Only believers have the right to practice the ordinances.  Baptism in water is by immersion and is a direct commandment of our Lord.  The ordinance is a symbol of a believer’s identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord.  The Lord’s Supper is a proclamation of the substitutionary death of the Lord and the initiation of the New Covenant.  It should also be viewed as a memorial service for Him until He comes again. (Matthew 28:19, Acts 8:36-39, Acts 10:47, 48, Romans 6:1-6, Colossians 2:12);(Luke 22:19,20, 1 Corinthians 11:26).