WHAT WE BELIEVE
Our Vision
Heritage Winchester exists to help people in Winchester, Frederick County, and the world KNOW, FOLLOW, SHARE and GLORIFY Jesus Christ
Our Core Values
WE PREACH THE BIBLE
At Heritage, we believe that the hope for our lives is the message of truth that God has given us in His Word, the Bible. In all of our ministries, we will pursue to present and promote the truths of the Bible and not our opinions and thoughts. God’s thoughts are what matters!
WE MAKE DISCIPLES
At Heritage, we understand that our calling is to make disciples who make disciples. We do this through sincere evangelism, helping new believers learn to take the initial steps to follow Jesus and teaching them what the Christian life is all about.
WE UNIFY ON THE ESSENTIALS
At Heritage, we understand that no two people in our congregation are just alike. We come from diverse backgrounds and experiences. We choose to unite as a church family around the essential truths taught in the Bible. When we have disagreements in areas of less importance, we extend understanding, grace and love!
WE LOVE WINCHESTER AND FREDERICK COUNTY
At Heritage, we are thrilled to embrace the role of loving the community where God has called and placed us! Winchester and Frederick County are an amazing place to live and is full of wonderful people. But, the people in this place are also loved by God and He wants to have a relationship with them through Jesus Christ. So, our church is here to love this city on behalf of Jesus.
WE PRIORITIZE FAMILY
At Heritage, we know that before God ever established the church, he created the family! As a church, we are committed to honoring the importance of helping families grow in their faith and in their love for one another. Our goal is to never get in the way of family, but to come alongside each family that God sends our way and help them live for Christ!
WE PLANT CHURCHES
At Heritage, we believe in the importance of the local church. In the New Testament, we see that the local church was always reaching out beyond themselves to multiply churches by seeing new faith communities established all over their local area and region. We desire to do the same thing! Heritage Baptist will never be a megachurch but will always strive to see new churches planted out of ours.
WE SERVE THOSE WHO HAVE NEED
At Heritage, we know that pure religion that is undefiled before God is to care for those who have no one to care for them. The work of God is accomplished through the generous giving and sacrificial living of the people of God. We know that money isn’t a god to be served, but the gift of the one true God to meet our needs and to flow through our hands as stewards to meet the needs of the needy and fund the ministry of the Gospel. We believe that a tithe is a good start, but we strive to give out of our love for God above and beyond 10%. God will always bless a generous life!
WE SEND THE GOSPEL TO THE NATIONS
At Heritage, we believe that we serve a God with a heart to love and redeem people from every tribe, tongue and nation. He has given the task of reaching them to the local church, OUR local church. We desire to pray, give and go to accomplish the Great Commission that God has given us to preach the Gospel, baptize those who believe and disciple them in all the truths that God has given us in His Word. It is vital that we reflect in our church the heart of our Missionary God!
Statement of Faith
THE BIBLE
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God- breathed. (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21; Mt. 5:18; Jn. 16:12-13)
SALVATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST
We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to every man by grace and received by personal, volitional faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from works, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. (Matt. 12:31-32; John 1:12; Eph. 1:7; 2:8-10; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:9)
SALVATION IS SECURED FOREVER
We believe that all the redeemed are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Rom. 8:1; 38-39; 1 Cor. 1:4-8; 1 Pet. 1:4-5)
THE CHURCH
We believe that the local church, is solely made up of born-again persons Scripturally baptized by immersion. (1 Cor. 12:12-14; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25-27; Revelation 21) We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. (Acts 14:27; 20:17, 28-32; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11)
MARRIAGE AND SEXUALITY
We believe that the term “marriage” has only one, legitimate meaning, and that is marriage sanctioned by God, which joins one man and one woman in a single, covenantal union, as delineated by Scripture. (Gen. 2:24; Eph. 5:22-23; Mark 10:6-9; I Cor. 7:1-9) We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of marriage as defined above. We believe that any other type of sexual activity, identity or expression that lies outside of this definition of marriage are contradictory to God’s natural design. (Gen. 2:24; Gen. 19:5; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom. 1: 26-29; 1 Cor. 5:1; 6:9-10; 1 Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4) We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two-distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God and the rejection of one’s biological gender is a rejection of the image of God within that person. (Gen 1:26-27)