Love
Chief and foremost, we believe that love is the most important thing.  When asked what the Greatest Command was, Jesus’ answer was simple, yet profound; love God and love people (Matt. 22).  Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10) which illustrates that having the proper theology and position within religious institutions is not nearly as important as loving other people.  Paul echoes this sentiment in 1 Cor. 13:2 when he states that understanding mysteries, having knowledge, and possessing faith all pail in comparison to love.  It is a relentless pursuit of love that drives the Compass Fellowship. 

As we strive to study and understand the Bible, we have come to certain beliefs.  For the sake of understanding and clarity we offer these statements of belief to you.  We are embarrassed that many who follow Christ have used doctrinal statements as weapons of hate and division.  While we believe God and His Word to be perfect, we are not.  Our understanding is not.  What we present here is our best understanding of what God has revealed.  However, our goal is not indoctrination.  Our goal is love.  Our doctrine is merely our attempt to understand and “know” the unknowable God we seek to love (Rom. 11:33; Eph. 3:19).

The Scriptures
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God (Matt. 5:18; 2 Tim. 3:16-17). We hold the Bible to be inerrant in the original writings, infallible, God-breathed, and the final authority for faith and practice (2 Peter 1:20-21).

The Godhead
We believe in one Triune God (Deut. 6:4), Creator of all (Col. 1:16), eternally existing in three distinct persons--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14), yet one in being, essence, power, and glory, having the same attributes and perfections (John 10:30).

The Person and Work of Christ
We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is very God, the express image of the Father, who, without ceasing to be God, became man in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man (Matt. 1:21; John 1:18; Col. 1:15).

We believe that God the Son became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ; that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and was born of the virgin Mary (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23); that He is truly God and truly man; that He lived a perfect, sinless life; that all His teachings and utterances are true. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for all mankind (1 John 2:2) as a representative, vicarious, and substitutionary sacrifice (Isa. 53:5-6). We hold that His death is efficacious for all who believe (John 1:12; Acts 16:31); that our justification is grounded in the shedding of His blood (Rom. 5:9); and that it is attested by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Matt. 28:6; 1 Peter 1:3).

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven in His glorified body (Acts 1:9-10) and is now seated at the right hand of God as our High Priest and Advocate (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25).

The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
We believe in the deity (Acts 5:3-4) and the personality of the Holy Spirit.  We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8-11). He regenerates sinners (Titus 3:5) and indwells believers (Rom. 8:9). He is the agent by whom Christ baptizes all believers into His body (1 Cor. 12:12-14). He is the seal by whom the Father seals believers unto the day of redemption (Eph. 1:13-14). He is the Divine Teacher who illumines believers' hearts and minds as they study the Holy Scriptures (Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 2:9-12).

Angels, Good and Evil
We believe in the reality and personality of angels. We believe that God created an innumerable company of these sinless, spiritual beings who were to be His messengers (Neh. 9:6; Ps. 148:2; Heb. 1:14).

We believe in the personality of Satan. He is a fallen angel who led a great company of angels into rebellion against God (Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:12-15). He is the great enemy of God and man, and his angels are his agents in the prosecution of his unholy purposes. He shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20:10).

Man
We believe that man came into being by creation of God and that man is made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26-27).

Sin
We believe that the human race sinned in Adam (Rom. 5:12), that sin is universal in man (Rom. 3:23), and that it is exceedingly heinous to God. We believe that man inherited a sinful nature, that he became alienated from God, and that of himself, he is utterly unable to remedy his lost estate (Eph. 2:1-5, 12).

Salvation
We believe that salvation is a gift of God's grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross (Eph. 2:8-9). Christ shed His blood to accomplish justification through faith, propitiation to God, redemption from sin, and reconciliation of man. "Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8-9) and "bore our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24).

We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God's power and are secure in Christ forever (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Rom. 8:1, 38-39; 1 Peter 1:5; Jude 24).

The Church
We believe that the Church, which is the body and espoused bride of Christ, began at Pentecost and is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons of this present age (1 Cor. 12:12-14; Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25-27).

We believe in the ordinances of believer's water baptism by immersion as a testimony and the Lord's Supper as a remembrance in this age of Christ's death for the Church (Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; 18:8; 1 Cor. 11:23-26).

We believe in the Great Commandments as the primary mission of the Church (Matt. 22:36-40). It is the obligation of the saved to love God and enjoy Him forever and to share that love with all mankind as a means of demonstrating their love for God and as a witness to the world that they are of God (Matt. 25:40; John 13:35; James 1:27; James 2:15-17; 1 John 2:9).

Things to Come
We believe in that "blessed hope" (Titus 2:13), the personal and imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to rapture His saints and receive His Church unto Himself (1 Thess. 4:13-18).

We believe in the physical resurrection of all men--the saints to everlasting joy and bliss, and the wicked to conscious and eternal torment (Matt. 25:46; John 5:28-29; 11:25?26; Rev. 20:5-6, 12-13).