Doctrinal Statement
A newsletter is not a church. But a newsletter that addresses Christian faith, Scripture, and the life of the church is accountable to something beyond its own opinions. Making that accountability explicit is an act of honesty — toward the reader, toward the tradition, and toward the God who sits at the center of all of this. THE THRESHOLD is written by one person with one perspective, shaped by particular experiences and inevitable blind spots. A public confession names what this writing is trying to serve, and invites correction when it falls short. The statement below is not a comprehensive systematic theology. It is a threshold — an entrance that says: this is what we confess, this is where we stand, come in knowing that.
On God: We confess one God, eternally existing in three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — equal in essence, distinct in person, one in will and work. This is the Trinitarian faith delivered once for all to the saints.
On Jesus Christ: We confess that the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, took on human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary — fully God and fully human, two natures without confusion, mixture, separation, or division, united in one person. He was born, lived without sin, suffered, was crucified, died, was buried, and on the third day rose bodily from the dead.
On the Holy Spirit: We confess the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who convicts the world, regenerates the believer, indwells the church, and guides the people of God into all truth.
On Scripture: We confess the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired, authoritative Word of God — sufficient for faith and life, the final court of appeal for doctrine and conduct, best understood within the living tradition of the church.
On the Creeds: We receive the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed as faithful and enduring summaries of the faith once delivered — not as Scripture, but as the church’s tested confession, precious precisely because they were hammered out under pressure over centuries.
On the Church: We confess one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church — the body of Christ, gathered across centuries, cultures, and continents. The church is not the property of any one nation, tribe, or tradition. It belongs to the triune God.
On salvation: We confess that sinful humanity is reconciled to God through the atoning work of Jesus Christ alone — received by grace through faith, issuing in repentance, new life, and love for the neighbor.
On the resurrection: We confess the bodily resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, and the renewal of all things — a new creation in which God will be all in all.
On the Councils: We affirm the theological conclusions of the first four ecumenical councils — Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381), Ephesus (431), and Chalcedon (451) — as defining boundaries of orthodox Christian confession, not because councils are infallible, but because these particular conclusions have proven their faithfulness across fifteen centuries and six continents.
On the global church: We affirm that the Holy Spirit has not been confined to the Western church. The body of Christ in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East is not a mission field waiting for the West’s approval — it is the church, our sibling, our teacher, and our correction.
This statement was composed by Sunny Gandham and is subject to review by the elder board of his local congregation. Questions or concerns may be directed to the reply address of any issued newsletter.