What we believe
Confident about Jesus. Humble about the rest.
Here's what we hold to, in plain words. The first part is the historic Christian faith. The second is the seven commitments that make TheWay what it is.
Part one
What Christians have always believed
None of this is original to us. It’s the foundational Christian faith — what followers of Jesus have confessed for two thousand years — written down here in ordinary words. Our doctrine is foundational and our practice is Baptist; both words are explained further down, because we mean something specific by each. If you’re not sure about any of it, you’re still welcome — bring the question.
- 01
Scripture
We believe the Bible — all sixty-six books — is God's Word. We hold to what's called verbal, plenary inspiration. Verbal means God inspired the actual words, not just the ideas behind them. Plenary means all of it — every book, every passage, not a core with optional extras. So the whole Bible is God-breathed, trustworthy, without error in what it teaches, and the final authority for what we believe and how we live. We preach through it, not around it, including the parts that make us uncomfortable.
- 02
God
We believe in one God, eternally existing as three persons — Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit — equal in every way, one in being. He holds everything together, and He is good.
- 03
The Father
We believe in God the Father: the first person of the Trinity, eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, and good. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and through Jesus He becomes the Father of everyone who trusts His Son. He isn't a distant force. He hears prayer, provides, disciplines those He loves, and knows how to give good gifts to His children.
Matthew 6:9 · John 1:12 · Matthew 7:11 · Hebrews 12:5–11 · 1 John 3:1
- 04
Jesus
We believe Jesus is fully God and fully human. He was born of a virgin, lived without sin, and physically died on a cross — His blood shed in our place, paying for our sin. On the third day He physically, bodily rose from the dead, and He is alive right now. He is the way, the truth, and the life — the only way to the Father.
John 1:1–14 · John 14:6 · 1 Corinthians 15:3–8 · Colossians 1:15–20
- 05
The Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit is God — a person, not a force — living in every person who trusts in Jesus. Jesus told His disciples it was better for them that He go away, because the Holy Spirit would come, and He named three things the Spirit would do when He came: convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He also promised the Spirit would teach us, remind us of what Jesus said, and guide us into all truth. That's exactly what He does. He comforts, empowers, and gives gifts to every believer for the good of the church.
- 06
Spiritual Gifts
We believe the Holy Spirit gives a gift to every believer, and that every gift is for the good of the whole body. We believe in the fullness and continuation of all the gifts of the Spirit — none of them expired. Scripture commands us to pursue spiritual gifts, so we will, to the best of our ability. And everything we do in the Spirit will be tested by, and grounded in, the Bible.
1 Corinthians 12:4–11 · 1 Corinthians 14:1 · Romans 12:6–8 · 1 Peter 4:10–11
- 07
Spirit and Truth
We are a church of Spirit and truth. The activity of the Holy Spirit isn't contrary to Scripture; it's commanded by it. The Spirit and the Word never disagree — they complement each other, and we don't have to trade one for the other. Jesus said true worshipers worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. We want both.
John 4:23–24 · John 16:13 · 1 Thessalonians 5:19–21 · 2 Timothy 3:16
- 08
The Spirit-Filled Life
We believe the mature believer is a Spirit-filled believer. Growing up in Christ isn't about trying harder or working harder; it's about walking in the Spirit rather than the flesh. The one who walks in the Spirit will not fulfill the desires of the flesh — that's a promise, not a program.
- 09
People
We believe every person is made in the image of God and has dignity nobody can take away. We also believe every person — every one of us — has turned from God in ways big and small, and that this is the root of what's wrong with the world and with us.
- 10
Salvation
We believe salvation is by grace, through faith — a gift. You can't earn it, perform for it, or clean yourself up enough to deserve it. It's received by trusting Jesus: what He did, not what we do. Anyone who turns to Him is forgiven, born again into the family of God, and made new.
- 11
The Church
We believe the church is people, not a building — everyone who belongs to Jesus, gathered locally to worship, learn, eat, forgive each other, and carry the good news to their neighbors. We practice baptism and the Lord's Supper as Jesus told us to.
- 12
Creation
We believe God made the universe — on purpose, by His word, out of nothing. Creation is His act, not an accident. We reject evolution as the explanation for how we got here, and we think the world looks exactly like something Someone made.
- 13
Baptism
Baptism is like a wedding ceremony. The marriage is made in the vows; the ceremony is the public display of it. Salvation happens the moment you trust Jesus. Baptism comes after, as the public announcement that you've been joined to Christ. So we baptize believers — people who have already trusted Jesus — not infants, and never as a way of being saved. It's the outward picture of an inward decision.
- 14
Gifts and Offices
We believe gifts and offices are two different things. A gift is something the Holy Spirit gives; an office is a position of responsibility the church recognizes. The Bible names two offices in the local church: elder (also called bishop or overseer — three words for one role) and deacon. Ephesians 4 lists apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher — those can function as offices, but as Ephesians names them they are gifts. Scripture reserves the offices of elder and deacon, and positions of leadership in the church, for qualified men. Women are fully gifted by the Spirit and use those gifts in the church; Scripture also specifically calls older, spiritually mature women to teach younger women, and to teach children. Every believer, man or woman, has a gift the body needs.
1 Timothy 3:1–13 · Titus 1:5–9 · Ephesians 4:11–12 · 1 Timothy 2:12 · Titus 2:3–5 · 1 Corinthians 12:7
- 15
How the Church Is Governed
TheWay is an autonomous, independent church. We're governed internally, by biblically qualified elders, under Christ and Scripture — not by a denomination, a convention, or any outside body. No headquarters tells us what to preach. That keeps accountability local: to God, to His Word, and to each other.
- 16
The End of the Story
We believe Jesus is coming back — personally, physically, visibly — to judge the living and the dead and to make everything new. Death doesn't get the last word. He does.
Part two
Seven things we think church should be.
Every church says it’s about Jesus. These are the seven foundations TheWay is being built on — and we’d be glad for you to hold us to them.
Encouraging
You should leave more able to keep going than when you came in. That's not a mood we manufacture — it's what happens when people actually show up for each other.
Romans 14:19 · Hebrews 10:24–25 · 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Read more →Engaging
Nobody's an audience. Everybody has something the rest of us need, and part of our job is helping you find out what yours is.
1 Corinthians 12:4–7 · Ephesians 4:11–16 · 1 Peter 4:10
Read more →Everyone
Multi-generational on purpose. The church is the whole body, not sections of it. Kids, teens, college students, young families, middle age, and seniors worshiping together changes all of them.
Psalm 145:4 · Acts 2:42–47 · Galatians 3:28
Read more →Enjoyable
Warm, not stiff. Following Jesus is the best news a person can get, and it's strange how often church makes it feel like a weight.
Psalm 122:1 · Romans 15:13 · John 10:10
Read more →Evangelistic
The gospel gets said out loud every time we gather — clearly enough that someone hearing it for the first time can follow it.
Matthew 28:19–20 · Romans 1:16 · 1 Corinthians 15:1–4
Read more →Expositional
We preach through the Bible rather than around it. The text sets the agenda, including the parts that make us uncomfortable.
2 Timothy 3:16–17 · 2 Timothy 4:2 · Nehemiah 8:8
Read more →Exaltation
Worship that magnifies Christ. The preaching points at Him, and our hope is that you leave talking about Jesus.
Psalm 95:1–7 · Colossians 3:16 · Hebrews 13:15
Read more →Foundational
We build on the foundation that was already laid.
Paul says the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20). That foundation was laid once, and it doesn’t need replacing. When we say our doctrine is foundational, we mean we build on what the apostles laid down — the things drawn straight from Scripture that Christians have always held: the inspiration of Scripture, creation by God, the virgin birth, the blood atonement, the bodily resurrection, and the physical return of Jesus.
We say it plainly because not every church still holds those things. Over the last century or so a way of thinking sometimes called theological modernism made its way into a lot of churches — quietly setting aside the miracles, the resurrection, creation, and the trustworthiness of Scripture, and keeping the vocabulary while letting go of the substance. We understand the appeal, but we don’t go along with it. A faith with the supernatural taken out isn’t the faith the apostles handed down. So we hold the foundation as it was given, and we try to hold it with humility.
A note on labels. Put “independent” and “Baptist” next to a word like “fundamental” and a lot of people hear a particular movement, with its own culture and its own reputation. We’re not describing a movement. We’re describing how we’re governed, what we believe, and how we baptize — each explained on this page in plain words. Hold us to those definitions rather than to anyone’s assumptions.
A fair question
Are you a non-denominational church?
Yes, in the sense people usually mean it: no denomination or convention has authority over TheWay. We are self-governing — led by our own biblically qualified elders, calling our own pastor, owning whatever building we one day own. Nobody appoints leadership here from an office in another city.
But “non-denominational” is a word about structure, and it tells you almost nothing about what a church believes. Some churches use it to avoid saying anything at all. We’d rather be specific: our practice is Baptist, our doctrine is foundational, and both are defined above in plain words rather than left to your imagination.
So if you’re searching for a non-denominational church in Big Rapids, you’ve found one. Read the rest of this page before you decide it’s the right one.
Baptist
What we mean when we say “Baptist.”
“Baptist” describes a set of convictions about the church that come straight from the New Testament. Here they are, in the order that happens to spell the word.
Biblical authority
Scripture is the final authority for everything we believe and do. Not tradition, not a denomination, not a creed — the Bible.
Autonomy of the local church
Each local church governs itself under Christ. TheWay is independent — no denomination, convention, or outside office directs us. We're led by our own biblically qualified elders.
Priesthood of every believer
Every Christian has direct access to God through Jesus. No one stands between you and Him, and every believer has a part in the work of the church.
Two ordinances
Jesus gave the church two: baptism and the Lord's Supper. Both are pictures, not means of salvation, and both are for believers.
Individual soul liberty
Every person is free — and responsible — to come to God for themselves. Faith can't be coerced or inherited; it has to be your own. And everyone has direct access to God through Jesus, with no need of a priest in between.
Saved membership
The church is made up of people who have trusted Jesus and been baptized. Membership follows conversion, not the other way around.
Two offices
The New Testament names two: elder (also called bishop or overseer) and deacon. Elders lead and shepherd; deacons serve.
Separation of church and state
The church is not an arm of the government and the government is not the head of the church. We honor authority and pray for it, and we answer to Christ.
One more thing worth saying: we’re not Protestant or Reformed in the way those words are usually meant. We understand our faith as a line that runs straight back to Jesus and the apostles rather than through the Roman church, and we hold it the way the New Testament describes it.
The honest footnote
What we hold loosely
Christians have disagreed for centuries about plenty of things: the exact timeline of the end, what music is appropriate, how to read every last verse in Revelation, a hundred questions of practice and preference. Good, faithful people land in different places.
We have views. We’ll tell you what they are if you ask. But we won’t make them a test of whether you belong, and we won’t pretend the Bible is clearer on them than it is.
And politics: we don’t belong to a party, and the pulpit won’t become one. But a faith that’s real is active — it reaches every part of a life, including how we think about right and wrong in public. We favor truth and righteousness: the sanctity of marriage, life from conception, freedom and liberty, and the other things Scripture is clear about. No party lines up with the Bible. When one lands on Scripture’s side of an issue, we’re thankful; when it doesn’t, we say so.
Confident about Jesus. Humble about everything else. That’s the posture.
One more thing
This page isn’t the whole of it.
What’s written here doesn’t exhaust our doctrine. It’s a plain summary of what we’re building on, written so a person can actually read it — not a complete statement of faith.
The Bible is our final authority. Not this page, not a tradition, not a preference of ours. Where anything we’ve written here is out of step with Scripture, Scripture wins and we’ll change what we’ve written.
As TheWay develops we’ll publish a fuller and more detailed doctrinal statement and statement of faith. Until then, if you have a question this page doesn’t answer, ask it — dillon@bigrapids.church or +1 231-279-1900. We’d rather answer it than have you guess.
Be here early
Not sure about some of it? Come anyway.
You don't have to agree with us to be welcome, and you won't be cornered about it. Get on the list and bring the question.