Before providing you with the specifics, two qualifications:

1. This Statement of Faith, written by our Pastor, summarizes the beliefs of the spiritual leadership of VCC. You can expect it to be regularly taught and reinforced during every aspect of the teaching ministries to be found at VCC.
2. This is not meant to be a comprehensive statement of what VCC believes; rather, it is simply an introduction to key elements. The reason for its intentional simplicity is that there are literally hundreds of messages and dozens of our own publications, readily available on our website or at the church, which detail in great specificity what the spiritual leadership of the church believes. If you want to know what the Pastor believes, listen to what he has taught and read what he has written.

In summary, what you will find below is a brief introduction to our theology which we in turn believe to be firmly grounded in the Scriptures. We trust it will draw you to investigate us more thoroughly and, of course, you are always invited to sit down with one of the pastors and open the Word of God for further discussion.

The Pastor and Spiritual Leadership of Vistoso Community Church believe:

1. In the one true God, the triune God revealed in the Bible—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All three persons of the Trinity are co-eternal, co-equal, and one in essence. As a place to start, it can be helpful to understand the Father as the One who plans, the Son as the One who reveals the Father and executes His plan, and the Holy Spirit as the One who convicts the world of its need while enabling those who respond.
2. That the Bible is God’s Word, unique among spiritual literature. The entire Bible is  God-breathed and, therefore, completely sufficient to address all matters of faith and practice. The truths and promises contained in the Word of God are meant to guide in partaking of the divine nature and in escaping the corruption of this world. For that reason, just as we received God’s gift of salvation by faith; so too, we are to continue daily in the Christian Life, by faith, in the truths and promises of God’s Word at the point they intersect our daily circumstances.
3. That all are lost and in need of salvation for mankind is born into a helpless, hopeless, and hell-bound condition! 

• Hell-bound (actually Lake of Fire bound) because all are born “dead in Adam” and with a nature to sin—thus on the Broad Road headed to destruction. 
• Hopeless because, apart from the intervention of our Creator-God, we are destined to eternal damnation.
• Helpless because there is nothing man can do from his lost condition to change his eternal destiny.
  

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4. That the initiative in providing the only means of salvation for lost mankind lies completely on God’s side. The Father chose a way whereby lost mankind could be saved and sent the Son to carry it out. The Son set aside His rightful place in glory and took on humanity, in union with His divinity, in order to execute the Father’s plan whereby the sinless Son of God and Son of Man would bear the sin of mankind, receiving upon Himself the wrath of God for humanity’s sin and thereby paying its required penalty and satisfying the righteousness and justice of God. We believe the work of Jesus in providing a means of salvation for mankind to be complete, sufficient, and efficacious.

• Complete in that the sin of all mankind was dealt with at the cross.
• Sufficient in that no further work is required for lost mankind to be saved.
• Efficacious in that all who will come to the Father through the Son will be saved.

Since the work of salvation is complete, all that remains is for lost mankind to receive God’s gracious gift of salvation through faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is man’s one response, possible as a creature made in the image and likeness of God, and the result of the Father’s drawing, the Son’s drawing, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

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5. That when a person responds in faith to the person and work of Jesus Christ, such an individual is justified forever before the Holy God who provided their salvation. The ones who believe have received the imputed righteousness of God which will allow them to withstand the scrutiny of our perfectly holy God. Not only that, they have a share in the life of Christ, His eternal home, His inheritance, and, in fact, every spiritual blessing by virtue of their identification with the One who saved them! This justification is the basis for our reconciliation with our heavenly Father, eligibility for all the grace necessary to live God-pleasing lives from that point forward, and the forever removal of any wrath to come. Such a salvation is secure and can never be lost!
6. That standing justified before God is only the beginning of the Christian Life. There is also an expectation on God’s part of a quality of life to come for the new creation in Christ that can only be described as the Abundant Life! This call to life covers every day we spend on this earth as a child of God and falls under the concept of the believer’s sanctification—where our sanctification includes progressive conformity to the image and likeness of Christ by means of our separation from the power of sin, abiding in the very life of Christ and walking by His Spirit. As the Bible clearly portrays, the Cross of Christ, the Life of Christ and the outpouring of His Spirit are the grace means by which the child of God can live a quality of life that finds commendation from our heavenly Father and leads to the bearing of fruit to His glory.
7. That our faith is firmly grounded in the hope of the glory to come, which in turn should motivate our daily choices. Our hope of glorification includes our confidence of receiving a resurrection body like that of our Lord, a home in His heaven and an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs the challenges and trials we might face in this life. In fact, our motivation to glorify God in this life is wrapped up in our confidence of sharing in the glory of our Savior at His future appearing.
8. That when it comes to God’s plan for the future, we believe that His Second Coming is every bit as certain to occur as was the historical reality of His First Coming! Although there are many different views as to the details of His return, we are of the belief that the Bible teaches that Jesus will return to gather His Bride, the Church, to Himself. Further that He will as well return as Israel’s King to reign from David’s throne in Jerusalem over an earthly kingdom that will be transformed into an eternal one where we will enjoy being in the presence of God forever. In short, God’s plans and purposes will stand, and He will accomplish all that He desires!