STATEMENT OF FAITH
Unreachable International Missions is a Christian ministry dedicated to bringing the Gospel to unreached people through local missionaries, equipping pastors in persecuted countries, and providing education and basic needs to Christians who face religious discrimination.
THE BIBLE
We believe the Bible in its entirety of the 66 books which constitute the Old and New Testaments, in the original manuscripts, is the infallible, inerrant, and inspired Word of God. We believe God has faithfully preserved His Word such that it is fully reliable and trustworthy today. The Bible is divine revelation that carries the full weight of God’s authority and to which we are obliged to submit. We believe in the literal and historically consistent interpretation of the Scriptures.
Matthew 5:18; John 16:12-13; John 17:17; II Timothy 3:16-27; Hebrew 4:12; II Peter 1:20-21
THE GODHEAD
We believe in the one living triune God, eternally existing in three Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - coeternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. These three Persons of the Trinity are one true, eternal God, each fully and equally God.
Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; John 1:1 & 14; John 4:24; II Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 4:5-6
GOD THE FATHER
We believe in God the Father who is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and love. God is fully omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. We believe that He infallibly foreknows and ordains all that shall come to pass, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.
Exodus 34:6-7; Matthew 23:9; John 3:16; I Timothy 2:5-6; I Peter 1:3
JESUS CHRIST
We believe Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man, having two natures inseparably united in one divine Person without confusion, mixture, separation, or division. Each nature retains its own attributes. In the incarnation, Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, lived a perfect sinless life on earth, was crucified and died on the cross for the sins of mankind. He was buried, rose to life on the third day, ascended to heaven, and will come again in glory and judgment. Jesus Christ is the only Mediator between God and man. He came that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a voluntary representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice atoning for the sins of the world, and our justification is verified by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead. As Jesus Christ is now exalted at the right hand of God in heaven, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate.
Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25, 20:28; Luke 1:35, 24:39; John 1:1-2 & 14, 10:30, 20:27-31; Acts 1:9-11; Romans 3:24-25, 5:6-8, 6:9-10, 8:34; I Corinthians 15:3-4; Ephesians 1:4 & 7; Hebrews 2:9, 4:14-16, 7:25, 9:24 & 28; I Timothy 3:16; I Peter 1:3-5, 2:24; I John 2:1-2
THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe the Holy Spirit is of one substance with the Father and the Son He is the Person of the Godhead who in this present age convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement; who regenerates and baptizes into the body of Christ those who believe in Jesus Christ; and who indwells and seals them unto the day of redemption. We believe the Holy Spirit is the Divine Teacher who guides believers into all truth; and it is the privilege of believers to be filled with, and their duty to walk in, the Holy Spirit.
We believe the baptism, indwelling, and filling of the Holy Spirit are to be distinguished. The baptism of the Spirit is that one-time event at conversion whereby the believer is placed into the body of Christ. The indwelling of the Spirit also occurs at salvation and refers to the believer as the temple of the Spirit in which He lives. The filling of the Spirit is a recurring event that happens frequently in the life of the believer whereby he/she consciously and willingly surrenders to the control of the Spirit.
John 3:5-8, 14:15-26, 15:26-27, 16:8-14; Romans 8:1-9; I Corinthians 3:16, 6:19, 12:1-3 & 12-14; II Corinthians 3:6; Galatians 5:16 & 22-23; Ephesians 1:13-14, 5:18; I John 2:20 & 27
CREATION
We believe that the triune God, by the power of His Word as a free act and for His own glory, created from nothing the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. We believe He created the whole visible and invisible universe immediately and instantaneously in 6 literal days, that He directly created Adam from the dust of the ground and Eve from his side, and that Adam and Eve were the historical parents of the entire human race - created male and female equally in the image of God, without sin, to glorify God. God further preserves and governs all His creatures and all their actions according to His most holy, wise, and powerful providence.
Genesis 1:1-27, 2:7 & 17-22, 5:2; Exodus 20:11; Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 33:6; Isaiah 40:21-31; John 1:1-5; Acts 17:25; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 11:3
THE FALL & TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN
We believe that although mankind was created morally pure, Adam sinned, falling away from original innocence and communion with God, causing he and all humanity as his decedents to enter a state of moral corruption and becoming alienated from God, thus deserving the penalty of physical and spiritual death. We believe that mankind is totally depraved, unable to do that which is acceptable to God, and hopelessly lost apart from the salvation which is found only in Jesus Christ. All people - Jesus Christ being the exception - are sinners by nature and by choice.
Genesis 3:1-13; Psalm 14:1-3; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:10 & 22-23, 5:12-21, 6:23, 8:7-8; I Corinthians 15:21-22; Ephesians 2:1-3 & 12; James 2:10
ATONEMENT, SALVATION, & SECURITY
Because all have sinned, atonement must be made for man to be reconciled to God. Jesus Christ, according to the Scriptures, made a complete atonement for His people through His substitutionary sacrificial death on the cross. By His perfect obedience to God and by His suffering and death as the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ obtained forgiveness of sins and the gift of perfect righteousness for all who trusted in God prior to the cross and all who would trust in Christ thereafter. Through living a perfect life and dying in our place, the just for the unjust, Christ absorbed our punishment, appeased the wrath of God against us through propitiation, vindicated the righteousness of God in our justification, and removed the condemnation of the law against us. He imputes His righteousness to all believers, securing full redemption for all who repent of their sin and trust in Him alone for salvation. Salvation is completely by the grace of God, and people's salvation is not contingent upon his/her goodness, works, or merit. All who trust in Him are saved by grace through faith for God's glory, accepted in the beloved, kept by God's power, and secure in Christ forever.
We believe every saved person is a new creation with provision made for victory over sin through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We believe that the ongoing work of sanctification, which comes by the Spirit through faith, is incomplete in this life. Although slavery to sin is broken, and sinful desires are progressively weakened, there remains remnants of corruption in every heart until perfection in the age to come. This perseverance is the promise of the New Covenant, obtained by the blood of Christ, and worked in us by God Himself. We believe it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of salvation through the testimony of God's Word, which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh.
John 1:12 & 29, 3:16, 6:37-40, 10:27-30; Romans 3:9 & 19-28, 6:1-23, 8:1 & 12-13 & 38-39, 13:13-14; I Corinthians 1:4-8; II Corinthians 5:17 & 21; Galatians 2:16-21, 3:13-14, 5:13 & 16-25; Ephesians 1:7, 2:8-10, 4:22-24; Philippians 1:6, 2:13; Colossians 3:10; Titus 2:11-15; Hebrews 10:14; James 2:14-26; I Peter 1:5 & 14-19, 2:13-20; I John 1:9, 2:2, 3:5-9
THE CHURCH
We believe the Church, which began with the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, is the body and bride of Christ. It is the spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons of the past and present. The local church consists of a company of believers in Jesus Christ, baptized on a credible profession of faith, and associated for worship, prayer, fellowship, discipleship, service and evangelism. We believe the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. We believe that God has established the local church to live in the power of the Holy Spirit under the regulation of the authority of Holy Scripture, preaching the gospel of Christ, administering the sacraments, and exercising discipline.
Mathew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8, 2:1-36 & 42-47, 14:27, 20:28-32; I Corinthians 12:13-14; II Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22-23, 2:19-22, 4:15-16, 5:19-27; Colossians 1:18; I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11; Hebrews 10:23-25
ORDINANCES
We believe the Lord Jesus Christ established two ordinances for the Church in this present age, which each local church should practice. These ordinances are believer’s water baptism, practiced by immersion, and the Lord’s Supper, observed as a memorial of His death. These ordinances are for those who have repented and come to faith in Christ Jesus, and are not meant to be a means of salvation but a sign of the salvation that Christ has attained for us and established within us. Baptism is a sign of belonging to the new covenant people of God, and a symbol of burial and cleansing, signifying death to the old life of unbelief, and purification from the pollution of sin. The Lord's Supper is a sign done by gathered believers in remembrance of Jesus Christ, eating bread which signifies Christ's body given for His people, and drinking of the cup which signifies the New Covenant in Christ's blood.
Matthew 3:13-17, 26:26-29, 28:19; Luke 22:19-20; Acts 2:38, 8:12 & 35-39, 10:47-48; I Corinthians 10:16-17, 11:23-34
MISSIONS
We believe that Christ commissioned individuals in the church to make disciples from among all nations, to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and to teach them to observe all things whatsoever He has commanded. We believe the church is called to support missions both locally and globally - as Christ commissions His disciples to declare His Gospel message to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; II Corinthians 5:19-20
THE MINISTRY & SPIRITUAL GIFTS
We believe the Lord Jesus Christ gives the Church evangelists and pastor-teachers. These gifted men are to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. We believe the Holy Spirit bestows spiritual gifts upon believers for glorifying God, Christian service, and the edification of the Church The Holy Spirit may distribute whatever gifts He sees necessary for today – however, we believe that no one person has all the gifts, nor is any single gift possessed by all. We believe the church age was initiated through the ministry of the apostles and prophets accompanied by sign gifts to confirm their message. These sign gifts gradually ceased by the time of the completion of the New Testament.
We believe God hears and answers prayer in accord with His own will for healing of the sick and afflicted. Power for healing originates not from our own faith or from using just the right words; it comes to us from the cross and empty tomb of Jesus Christ because that is the place where sickness and death met their ruin. While we affirm the gift of healing, we deny faith healers and faith healing; we affirm divine healing. While God may choose to heal His children, His choice to do so or not to do so lies within His sovereign will and is always best for His children.
Isaiah 53:4-5; Matthew 4:23-24, 8:14-17; John 9:1-3, 14:13-14, 15:7; Romans 12:3-8; I Corinthians 12:4-11 & 28-31, 13:8-10, 14:1-28; II Corinthians 12:7-9 & 12; Galatians 4:13-14; Ephesians 2:19-22, 4:7-16; Hebrews 2:3-4; James 5:13-16; I Peter 4:10-11; I John 5:14-15
SATAN
We believe Satan is a created being, the author of sin, the tempter in the fall, the declared enemy of God and man, and the god of this age. He shall be eternally punished in the lake of fire.
Job 1:6-7; Isaiah 14:12- 17; Matthew 4:2-11, 25:41; Revelation 20:10
THE LAST THINGS
We believe in the blessed hope: the personal, visible, and premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of His kingdom. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, the eternal joy of the righteous, and the endless suffering of the wicked.
Matthew 16:27; Mark 14:62; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; I Corinthians 4:5, 15:1-58; Philippians 3:20; I Thessalonians 4:15; II Thessalonians 1:7-10; II Timothy 4:1; Titus 2:13; Revelation 20:4-6 & 11-15
HUMAN SEXUALITY
We believe that sexual intimacy is a wonderful gift of God that is only to be expressed between a man and a woman within the love and bonds of marriage. Therefore, we believe that any other form of sexual intimacy is both immoral and a perversion of God’s gift.
Genesis 2:24-25; Leviticus 18:1-30; Proverbs 5:18, 6:32; Romans 1:26-27; I Corinthians 6:18, 7:5; I Thessalonians 4:3-5; Hebrews 13:4
UNITY & SEPARATION
We believe the saved should be separated unto the Lord Jesus Christ, necessitating holy living in all personal and ecclesiastical associations and relationships. We believe the Scriptures teach us to cooperate wherever possible with Christians, churches, and organizations that hold to the historic doctrines of the Christian faith and have a philosophy of ministry that is compatible with ours. It is the servant-leader’s responsibility to endeavor to maintain the unity of the faith and the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and love while separating from those who, though professing Christ, have clearly deviated from the historic doctrines of the Christian faith or are engaging in unethical or immoral behavior.
We believe the Scriptures teach that disciples of Jesus Christ should be holy and consecrated to the Lord Jesus Christ and obedient to His commands, being spiritually insulated from the world system but not isolated from unbelievers. Further, Christians must not misuse their liberty in violation of their consciences, as a stumbling block to others, or as a license for fleshly impulses or ensnaring habits.
Matthew 18:15-17; Romans 12:1-2, 14:13, 16:17; I Corinthians 5:7-11, 6:12 & 19-20, 9:19-23; II Corinthians 6:14-18; Galatians 5:13; Ephesians 4:1-3, 13; Colossians 3:12-17; II Thessalonians 3:11-14; II Timothy 3:1-5; Titus 2:14, 3:10; James 4:4-5; I Peter 2:9 & 16-17, 3:8-9; I John 2:15-17; II John 9-11