Beliefs

Who is God?

God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). God made the world and called it good (Genesis 1:31). God created us in love, gave us purpose, and invited us to live in relationship with God and one another (Genesis 1:27). When humanity turned away, God kept reaching for us. God called a people (Genesis 12:1–3), made promises, spoke through prophets (Hebrews 1:1), showed mercy, and forgave again and again (Psalm 103:8–12). The Bible clearly says that God is love (1 John 4:8). God holds all things together (Colossians 1:17) and is making all things new (Revelation 21:5).

Who is Jesus?

Jesus is God with us (Matthew 1:23), fully God and fully human (John 1:14). “Christ” means Messiah, the one God sent to rescue and renew the world. Scripture is clear about what Jesus came to do. He brought good news to the poor, healed the sick, and set the oppressed free (Luke 4:18–19). He welcomed the people everyone else pushed aside (Luke 15:1–2). He broke down the walls that divide us (Ephesians 2:14) and stood up to religious pride and violence (Matthew 23). Through his death and resurrection, Jesus forgives us and brings us back to God (Romans 5:8). Then he calls us to follow him. The Bible clearly says what that looks like. Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly (Micah 6:8), and welcome the stranger (Matthew 25:35).

What is the Bible?

The Bible is the inspired Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16). Christians have read it, prayed it, and lived by it for generations. It tells one big story. God creates, calls a people, speaks through prophets, comes to us in Jesus, gathers the church, and promises to make all things new. The Bible holds stories, laws, poems, prayers, gospels, and letters, written by real people in real places over centuries. Because it is holy, we don’t read it carelessly or twist it to serve ourselves (2 Peter 3:16). We read it with humility, pay attention to its history and context, and trust it to shape us into people who actually follow Jesus.

What is the church?

The church is the community God gathers and sends (1 Peter 2:9–10). Jesus gathered disciples, formed them into a community, and sent them into the world (Matthew 28:19–20). At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit filled that community with power (Acts 2). Ever since, the church has gathered for worship, teaching, prayer, communion, generosity, and care for the world (Acts 2:42–47).

Where did church traditions come from?

In its first two centuries, the church spread across the Roman Empire and far beyond. Over time, distinct streams took shape in the East, the West, and in ancient communities like Egypt, Syria, Armenia, and Ethiopia. These grew into the great historic families of the church, including Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and the Church of the East. Here’s why that matters. The Bible you hold today was gathered, copied, and recognized within these early communities. Core beliefs like the Trinity are rooted in Scripture, but the church worked out the words for them over centuries of worship, debate, and creeds. So no church appeared out of nowhere. Every church has ancestors. Every church inherited its way of reading the Bible, worshiping, and talking about salvation from somebody.

What is Protestant Christianity?

In the 1500s, reform movements inside the Roman Catholic Church grew into what we call the Reformation. From it came the Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, and evangelical traditions that shaped most of American Christianity. Even churches that call themselves “non-denominational” or “Bible churches” stand in this Protestant stream. They inherited their Bible, their preaching, and their view of salvation from it. No church exists outside history. The honest question isn’t whether a church has a tradition. It does. The question is whether it names that tradition honestly and stays humble enough to be corrected by Scripture, the Spirit, and the wider body of Christ.

What is Niner United?

Niner United is the church on campus. We bring four historic Protestant traditions together to help students follow Jesus in worship, discipleship, justice, mercy, and hope. These traditions don’t agree on everything, but they share a deep commitment to Scripture, grace, worship, service, and community.

What are Niner United’s four traditions?

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The Lutheran tradition began in 1517, when Martin Luther, a Catholic priest, publicly challenged abuses in the church. His conviction came straight from Scripture. We are saved by grace through faith, a free gift that can’t be earned or bought (Ephesians 2:8–9). Lutherans still bear witness to grace as God’s free and unconditional gift.

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Presbyterians trace their roots to John Calvin in Geneva and John Knox in Scotland. They share Luther’s emphasis on grace and Scripture, and they care deeply about how the church is ordered. They stress God’s sovereignty, faithful preaching, and shared leadership between pastors and elders chosen from the congregation (1 Timothy 5:17).

The Episcopal Church. Episcopalians come from the Church of England, which separated from Rome during the Reformation. They hold the same Reformation convictions about Scripture, grace, and worship in the language of the people, while keeping the riches of Catholic worship through the Book of Common Prayer, one of their defining gifts to the church.

The United Methodist Church. Methodism is the youngest of the four. It began as a renewal movement led by John Wesley, a Church of England priest who wanted faith to become real in people’s everyday lives. Its great gift is the conviction that God’s grace shows up in how we grow, serve, and work for justice (James 2:17).