Our Mission Statement
Our mission is to become and lead others to become fully devoted followers of Christ.

The Bible
The sole basis of our belief is the Bible – God’s infallible written Word – the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments.We believe it was uniquely, verbally, and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that it was written without error (inerrant) in the original manuscripts. It is the supreme and final authority in all matters on which it speaks.

The Nature of God
There is one true God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – each of whom possesses equally all the attributes of Deity and the characteristics of personality (Deuteronomy 6:4; John 1:1-3, 18; Acts 5:3,4; Matthew 28:18).

Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is God, the living Word, who became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. Hence, He is perfect deity and true humanity united in one person forever (John 1:1,14; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:30-37; Colossians 2:9; Philippians 2:6-11).

Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and voluntarily atoned for the sins of men by dying on the cross as their substitute, thus satisfying divine justice and accomplishing salvation for all who trust Him alone (1John 3:5; 1Peter 3:18; John 10:17,18; 2Corinthians 5:21; 1John 4:10; Romans 3:24-26).

Jesus Christ rose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He had lived and died (1Corinthians 15:4,14-20; Luke 24:36-43; John 20:24-29).

Jesus Christ ascended bodily into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father, where He, the only mediator between God and man, continually makes intercession for His own
(Acts 1:9-11; Ephesians 1:20; 1Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 7:24,25; 1John 2:1,2).

Salvation
The salvation of man is wholly a work of God’s free grace and is not the work, in whole or in part, of human works or goodness or religious ceremony. God imputes His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, and thereby justifies them in His sight (Ephesians 2:8-10; Romans 3:21-26; 9:30-33; Galatians 3:11-14, 22-24). It is the privilege of all who are born again of the Spirit to be assured of their salvation from the very moment in which they trust Christ as their Savior. This assurance is not based upon any kind of human merit, but is produced by the witness of the Holy Spirit, who confirms in the believer the testimony of God in His written word
(1Thessalonians 1:5; John 1:12,13; 1John 5:9-13; Romans 8:14-17,28-39; John 10:27-29).

Mankind
Man was originally created in the image of God. He sinned by disobeying God; thus, he was alienated from his Creator. The historic fall brought all mankind under divine condemnation (Genesis 1:26, 27; 2:15-17; 3:1-24; Romans 5:12-21; 1Corinthians 15:21,22). Man’s nature is corrupted, and he is thus totally unable to please God. Every man is in need of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit (Romans 3:9-20; Ephesians 2:1-7; Mark 7:20-23; John 3:1-21;
Titus 3:5-7).

The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit has come into the world to reveal and glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to men. He convicts and draws sinners to Christ, imparts new life to them, continually indwells them from the moment of spiritual birth and seals them until the day of redemption. His fullness, power and control are appropriated in the believer’s life by faith. The Spirit sovereignly distributes spiritual gifts (such as serving, leading, giving, teaching and others) to believers, for significant ministries in the building up of the church (John 16:7-15; Titus 3:5; John 3:5-8; Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13,14; 1Corinthians 12:13). God is all-powerful and works miracles as he desires. However, we believe the "sign gifts" (such as speaking tongues) are not normative for the church today.

The Church
Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, His body, which is composed of all people in this dispensation who have been joined to Him through saving faith (Colossians 1:18;
Ephesians 1:22-23;5:23-32; 1Thessalonians 4:13-18).

God admonishes His people to assemble together regularly at local churches for worship, for participation in ordinances (water baptism and the Lord’s supper), for edification through the Scriptures and for mutual encouragement. The Leadership of the local church is entrusted to biblically designated officers serving under Christ. These leaders are called elders and deacons and must meet biblical qualifications (Hebrews 10:23-25; Acts 2:41,42; 20:7; Ephesians 4:11-16;
1Timothy 4:13; 2Timothy 3:16 – 4:2; 1Timothy 3:1-13).

Baptism
At Alderwood, we believe water baptism is an important step of obedience for a Christian to take in following the Lord.  Baptism symbolically illustrates our new life in Christ (Romans 6:4) and was modeled for us by Christ himself (Matthew 3:17).  Alderwood follows the New Testament example for baptism which is by immersion and reserved for those that have placed their trust in Christ as Savior.  “Then they that gladly received his Word were baptized” ( Acts 2:41).

We typically schedule baptisms during our quarterly LIFE TOGETHER SUNDAYS. (Click HERE to see when our next LIFE TOGETHER SUNDAY is.) The process includes filling out a 'request for baptism' form which you can download below. After completing the form and turning it in to the church office, a pastor will interview the person requesting baptism.

CLICK HERE to download a Baptism Form

Death
At physical death the believer enters immediately into eternal, conscious fellowship with the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his body to everlasting glory and blessing (2Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23,24; Luke 23:39-43; 1Corinthians 15:12-58; 1Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1John 3:2; Philippians 3:20,21).

The 2nd Coming of Christ
Jesus Christ will come again to the earth – personally, visibly and bodily – to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. We teach the personal imminent return of Christ for all believers, followed by seven years of tribulation, and then the coming of Christ to establish his earthly kingdom for a thousand years. The unsaved will then be raised and judged according to their works and be separated forever from God. The saved, having been raised, will live forever in heaven, in fellowship with God (Acts 1:9-11; 3:19-21; Matthew 24:44; Revelation 19-22; 1Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 3:10; 1Corinthians 15:50-54; Revelation 20:1-6; Zechariah 14:4-11).

The Great Commission
The Lord Jesus Christ commanded all believers to proclaim the gospel throughout the world and to disciple men of every nation. The fulfillment of the Great Commission requires that all worldly and personal ambitions be subordinated to a total commitment to "Him who loved us and gave Himself for us" (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-49; Acts 1:7,8; Romans 12:1,2;
Galatians 2:19,20; Philippians 3:7-21).