Who We Are

MISSION

We are an alliance of leaders and churches fully engaged in the life and mission of Jesus.

The pastoral leaders and churches that make up Alliance NW are all about following Jesus. Our mission flows from his life and is compressed into his last words to the first church. We work together to balance both the “being” and “doing” sides of leadership, and we know that our efforts to influence in our region and specific places internationally are multiplied when we work together. Our mission, history, convictions, and theological beliefs all shape our core practices. 

History

The Alliance NW belongs to an international evangelical movement called The Christian & Missionary Alliance (cmalliance.org). We began at the turn of the century when a Presbyterian pastor named Albert Simpson began organizing people to meet the neglected needs of immigrants flooding into New York City. With a deep commitment to the life and mission of Jesus and a heart to proclaim Him to the world, Simpson’s work quickly expanded. It attracted followers of Jesus from a wide range of backgrounds who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, began to train leaders and start churches across the United States and around the world. Today the Alliance is working in over 50 countries meeting in over 17,000 churches. Our call has not changed. Our passion is to introduce people to Jesus, train leaders, start churches, and send church planters to unreached and receptive people worldwide.

Convictions:  Periodically, we articulate values we most want to guide us as leaders and churches. They represent what we believe is most important given our current circumstances – and they drive us stay focused. Our core convictions are:

Jesus: We must find our life and mission in relation to Jesus and recover God’s passion for a lost and broken world.

Spiritual Formation: A leader’s health and effectiveness demand the practice of intentional spiritual formation both personally and in community.

Leadership Development: A leader’s capacity and influence require life-long learning and the mastery of specific skills.

Mission: A healthy church is actively and relationally engaged in establishing new churches both regionally and internationally.

Church Renewal: Churches in need of renewal are called to rediscover full engagement in the life and mission of Jesus. They typically need outside perspective to identify their issues and move toward full engagement.

Next Generation: Our best future is assured when the next generation is empowered and released into ministry.

Theology

There is one God, who is infinitely perfect, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ is the true God and the true man.  He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.  He died upon the cross, the Just for the unjust, as a substitutionary sacrifice, and all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood.  He arose from the dead according to the Scriptures.  He is now at the right hand of Majesty on high as our great High Priest.  He will come again to establish His kingdom, righteousness and peace.

The Holy Spirit is a divine person, sent to indwell, guide, teach, empower the believer, and convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

The Old and New Testaments, inerrant as originally given, were verbally inspired by God and are a complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men. They constitute the divine and only rule of Christian faith and practice.

Man was originally created in the image and likeness of God: he fell through disobedience, incurring thereby both physical and spiritual death. All men are born with a sinful nature, are separated from the life of God, and can be saved only through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The portion of the unrepentant and unbelieving is existence forever in conscious torment; and that of the believer, in everlasting joy and bliss.

Salvation has been provided through Jesus Christ for all men; and those who repent and believe in Him are born again of the Holy Spirit, receive the gift of eternal life, and become the children of God.

It is the will of God that each believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit and be sanctified wholly, being separated from sin and the world and fully dedicated to the will of God, thereby receiving power for holy living and effective service.  This is both a crisis and a progressive experience wrought in the life of the believer subsequent to conversion.

Provision is made in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ for the healing of the mortal body.  Prayer for the sick and anointing with oil are taught in the Scriptures and are privileges for the Church in this present age.

The Church consists of all those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are redeemed through His blood, and are born again of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the Head of the Body, the Church, which has been commissioned by Him to go into all the world as a witness, preaching the gospel to all nations.  The local church is a body of believers in Christ who are joined together for the worship of God, for edification through the Word of God, for prayer, fellowship, the proclamation of the gospel, and observance of the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

There shall be a bodily resurrection of the just and of the unjust; for the former, a resurrection unto life; for the latter, a resurrection unto judgment.

The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent  and will be personal, visible, and premillennial.  This is the believer’s blessed hope and is a vital truth which is an incentive to holy living and faithful service. (taken from http://www.cmalliance.org/about/beliefs/doctrine)