CORE CONVICTIONS

God’s Purpose

To glorify Himself by lovingly calling out, restoring, and reconciling a rebellious people to His image according to His will for His name’s sake.

 

CBC's Mission—What we are doing

To glorify God by living the gospel and declaring the gospel together in South Bend and individually where God has placed us.

 

CBC’s Vision—Where we are going

To be a Word-centered church that accurately represents God and His purpose for this world.

​

Speaking the Gospel

Sincere Worship

Worship is the right response to God’s Truth with a sincere heart. At CBC we are committed to gathering weekly on Sunday for the purpose of worshiping God according to revealed truth found in the Holy Scriptures. In all gathered worship, we believe God and His character are the focus, with a special emphasis on the redemption that God has provided through His Son Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, while culture and practice shift and change with time, we believe that worship at CBC should be characterized by believers who demonstrate the unity of Christ’s body through giving, praying, and singing and speaking God’s Truth both to God and to one another.

 

Expository Preaching

We believe that the proclamation of the Word should be the center of the worship service. We believe that the best way to feed the flock of God is through a consistent diet of expository preaching. This preaching should be done prayerfully with Christ as the center and the gospel as the goal with the intended response of every person submitting to God’s revealed Truth.

 

Personal Discipleship

We believe that the church’s primary endeavor on this earth is to glorify God by making disciples. Discipleship is coming alongside another believer for the purpose of prayerfully speaking truth into his/her life. Biblical discipleship is built on relationships and is the responsibility of every genuine believer. We believe that God’s Word, illumined by God’s Spirit, is the catalyst for spiritual growth. Through God’s empowering grace, every person can live a victorious Christian life.

 

Redemptive Relationships

We believe that it is the responsibility of genuine believers to share the good news of the gospel with the world through redemptive relationships. This is motivated by 1) a love for God; 2) a love for people, understanding that every person is born into the kingdom of darkness, totally depraved, enslaved to sin, and unable to earn salvation; and 3) the good news that God has offered redemption through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son Jesus.

 

 

Living the Gospel

Loving God and Others

We believe that the main identifying characteristic of genuine believers is the presence of measurable actions of love towards God and others. Those who love God will love each other. One of the primary ways that a believer is called to evidence his love is through covenanting with other believers in local church membership by using every person’s spiritual gifts for the good of the saints.

 

Serving our Community

We believe that South Bend’s greatest need is the gospel. In a self-sacrificing way, we serve our community by meeting the spiritual needs of the people and by being actively involved in pursuits that reflect Scripture's morality and beliefs. In our relationships with both the secular and Christian world around us, we understand that cooperation is not the same as endorsement and fellowship is not the same as partnership.

 

Leading Towards Christ

We believe that biblical leadership is influencing others towards Christ by serving them and evidencing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We believe that God has given leadership opportunities for each person in the church as he/she lives out his/her spiritual gifts, and that God has set apart qualified men to fill offices of spiritual authority.

 

Growing in Holiness

We believe that every believer has been called to live a life of holiness. This call to holiness is not merely external conformity or behavioral modification; rather, we believe Scripture calls for an inward transformation. This transformation comes as we learn to know God and love God in a deeper way. The more we understand this holy, infinite God, the more we realize our shortcomings; thus, each believer is called to a lifetime pursuit of holiness and conformity to Christ-likeness.