Mission–Alexandria Community Church exists to glorify God and produce fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ who transform the world.

ACC Beliefs and Distinctives

Alexandria Community Church is based in the Wesleyan/Methodist tradition and aligns with the historic creeds of the church (the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, & Chalcedonian Definition). Below are ten distinctives that give you a glimpse of what we believe and teach as a church. You can also view our Bylaws, Governance, and our fuller Doctrine and History.

#1 How To Know God–One of the most important questions to begin with is: How does God speak? How does he communicate? We believe God communicates in four ways, which you can remember through the acronym STER:

• Scripture–The Bible is the inspired, infallible, most authoritative way we can know God.

• Tradition–While not infallible, the tradition of the church gave us creeds, teachings, and inspiring examples of what it means to live for Christ.

• Experience–Everyone is called to experience a personal relationship with Jesus. We experience God in worship, prayer, service, study, fellowship, and outreach. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through our life experiences and encounters with God.

• Reason–We can know God through thoughtful reflection, and can glean aspects of God’s truth from the sciences, the arts, technology, the business world, and more. 

#2 God–We believe that God exists as a Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), is the Creator of all existence, is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient, and whose chief attribute is love. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all worthy of worship and service. 

#3 Creation–God created the world good according to Genesis 1-2. This implies humans are to be good stewards of animal and plant life. Human beings are made in God’s image as the chief of all his creation, and they uniquely reflect something of God’s character, abilities, and power, and were made for communion with and service to God. In light of humans being made in God’s image, human life is sacred and valuable from conception onward.

#4 Sin–Sin is the primary problem in all existence. Sin is portrayed as a force that corrupts our nature, darkening our mind (thoughts), heart (desires), and will (choices). Sin is also portrayed as rebellious, disobedient choices we make, which bring more chaos and damage into our lives. Sin damages and breaks apart relationships. Apart from God’s grace, we would be totally dominated by sin and depravity.

#5 Grace and Salvation–Grace is God’s undeserved, unmerited good action on our behalf. Salvation is a gift of grace from God, and comes through Jesus alone. Salvation is made possible by Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection as the way of overcoming the guilt, isolation, and bondage caused by sin, and is applied to our lives by the Holy Spirit. Prevenient/Preceding Grace is how God acts in grace toward those who are not yet followers of Jesus. Justifying Grace is how God acts in grace toward someone who converts and “gets saved,” and the way to receive justifying grace is through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Sanctifying Grace is how God acts in grace toward someone who already follows Jesus to make them more like Christ. We believe in what John Wesley termed “Christian Perfection” or “Entire Sanctification,” where the Holy Spirit can empower people to no longer intentionally sin, though they can still unintentionally sin. It is possible to backslide and lose salvation in Christ after beginning in it, though it is also possible to repent and be welcomed back into saving grace. “You are not eternally secure until you’re securely in eternity.”

#6 Last Things–Jesus is returning to raise the dead and judge the world. Those who have given their allegiance to Jesus and have been saved by his grace will go to eternal life with glorified, resurrection bodies. The return of Jesus will also bring about the purification and healing of the rest of the earth from its bondage to decay, leading to a new heavens and a new earth. Those who reject Jesus’ Lordship will be punished by God and sent to hell. We are open to understanding hell as either eternal conscious suffering (the majority view throughout history) or as a finite amount of suffering that leads to eternal annihilation.

#7 Sacraments–Like many Protestants, we believe in two sacraments: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe God is truly active in the sacraments and gives people his grace through them. For baptism, we practice several different modes (immersion, pouring, or sprinkling), we practice infant baptism for children in believing families who are committed to the church, and we believe in one baptism (we don’t re-baptize people who’ve been baptized in another Christian church in the Triune name). We believe the Lord’s Supper is open to everyone who seeks to live in love with God and their neighbor, not just church members.

#8 Singleness, Sexuality, and Marriage–We believe that singleness is a privileged status that both Jesus and Paul say is a preferable state over marriage to those who can accept it. Marriage is also a gift from God, designed to be between a man and a woman, and meant to be maintained for life if all is going as it should. Premarital sex (fornication) is a sin and is less than God’s best for how people should approach relationships. Viewing pornography is sinful and causes unfaithful lust. Divorce is not God’s intention for marriages and should not be approached lightly, but is sometimes a justifiable option for a spouse who has been deeply betrayed or harmed. People who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) should be treated with grace and hospitality. We believe God’s best for people who experience same-sex attraction (people who are lesbian or gay) is that they live a life of singleness and celibacy while also being knit into the fellowship and family of the church. We reject homophobia–the condemning, punishing, or mistreatment of people purely because of unchosen same-sex desire–as antithetical to the gospel and Jesus’ call to love our neighbors. We also believe pursuing a same-sex sexual experience or marriage is sinful. All positions of leadership in the church, including being clergy, are available to same-sex attracted persons based on their gifts and graces on the condition that they live in celibacy. People who identify as transgender represent a wide diversity of experiences and stories. We believe the church is called to show compassion toward people experiencing the pain of gender dysphoria. In light of God calling female and male bodies good in Genesis 1, we believe it is God’s best that people identify as their biological sex. We believe church members and staff should not cross-dress. Hormone therapy and sexual reassignment surgeries cause irreversible bodily damage, infertility, increased risk for negative health conditions, and shave time off people’s lifespan. People who are intersex (which is very rare) deserve the love and compassion of the church.

#9 Women and Men Clergy/Leaders–We believe Jesus calls women and men to all levels of leadership in the church and to be clergy. We believe Paul speaks to cultural and local issues in his restrictions on women in 1 Timothy 2:8-15 and 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, and that the wider biblical picture showcases women walking in spiritual authority, with Paul also saying prophecy and apostleship are more authoritative gifts than pastoring and teaching (1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11). Examples: Miriam—Prophet & leader, Exodus 15:20-21; Micah 6:4; Deborah—Judge over all Israel & prophet, Judges 4:1-5:31; Huldah—Prophet, 2 Kings 22:14-20; 2 Chronicles 34:22-28; Isaiah’s Wife—Prophet, Isaiah 8:3; Anna—Prophet, Luke 2:36; Daughters of Philip—Prophets, Acts 21:8-9; Women in the Corinthian Church—Prophets, 1 Corinthians 11:5; Priscilla—Evangelist and teacher with her husband Aquila. Taught a man, Apollos, in Acts 18:24-26.; Phoebe—Deacon (diakonos in Greek), Paul likely trusted her to be able to explain the letter of Romans as carrier of letter, Romans 16:1-2; Junia—Apostle, most likely Andronicus and Junia were a husband and wife apostle team, Romans 16:7; Euodia and Syntyche—Labored with Paul in spreading the Gospel, Philippians 4:2-3. 

#10 Good Works and Love of Neighbor–A relationship with Jesus by necessity leads to acts of compassion, service, mercy, and justice. “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).