About Richards Christian Academy

MISSION

In a world that is fast asleep, we need to awaken one another to live the dreams of our King.

STATEMENT OF BELIEF

The universe was created by God to be good, beautiful, and purposeful. Adam and Eve are God's unique representatives on earth, bearing his name and extending his rule while living in a dynamic relationship with him. (Genesis 1-2; see also Psalm 8:1-9)

Adam and Eve, however, chose to sin when they heeded the voice of evil and betrayed God, hurling all humanity and the good world in which they lived into devastating cycles of shame, guilt, and fear—culminating in death. (Genesis 3; see also Romans 8:18-25)

But God chose not to abandon his rebellious creation. Instead, he graciously called another couple, Abraham and Sarah, to lead a faithful family and promised that through them all the nations of the earth would be blessed. (Genesis 12, 15, 18; see also Romans 4:1-25, Galatians 3:1-29, and Hebrews 11:8-22)

Throughout history, God has continued to work toward redemption through his people in spite of their habitual inability to live according to his ways. (See, especially, Exodus 32-34, the books of Judges, Amos, Hosea, John 8:31-59, and Romans 3)

We believe that in the fullness of time, God sent Jesus Christ, his eternal Word and true Son, into the world as a man to announce and embody the presence of Godʼs restorative reign—His Kingdom breaking into brokenness.5 Furthermore, he invited a new group of followers (called “disciples”) to imitate his way of life and learn to love both God and neighbor. (For one window into the calling and heart of the disciplesʼ lives, see Luke 5-1)

This same Jesus was crucified like a common criminal, surrendering his sinless life as a ransom for many and drawing all evil onto himself in his death. (Further understanding about Jesusʼ death as a ransom (the “price of release”) can be found in Isaiah 52-53, Matthew 20:26-28, John 11:45-53, 2 Corinthians 5, 1 Timothy 2:5-6, Hebrews 9-10, 1 Peter 2-3.)

On the third day, however, God raised Jesus back to life as the victor over evil and the physical first fruit of Godʼs future for his cosmos. (For the stories of the resurrection and insight into its meaning, see especially Matthew 28, Luke 24, John 20-21, and 1 Corinthians 15. For more about Jesusʼ victory over evil, see Psalm 110, Matthew 12:22-29, Ephesians 6, Colossians 2:13-15, Hebrews 2:14-18, 1 John 3:4-10)

We believe Jesus is now at his Fatherʼs right hand, reigning from heaven as the true King. He is inviting all people everywhere to trust him for forgiveness and freedom from shame, guilt, and fear because he is our unique source of life both now and forever. In addition, he has given his Spirit to supply direction and power so that we might live fully in the special identity and destiny he has prepared for each of us. (See also John 13-17, Acts 1-3, Romans 8, and Ephesians 2-3)

Today, we live as a community of Godʼs people on mission together, seeking to love God and follow Jesus by making disciples in the neighborhoods, nations, and next generation around us. By relying upon the unfailing, active grace of his Spirit and upon his entirely trustworthy Scripture, we embrace the often challenging but always hopeful adventure of sacrificial love, selfless generosity, and healing kindness to which he calls us. (Matthew 28 contains Jesusʼ definitive commission to make disciples, and the book of Acts shows a generation of the early churchʼs efforts to obey that commission. Passages affirming the trustworthiness of Scripture include Matthew 5:17, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, and Hebrews

4:12. Likely the clearest description of a life of love, generosity, and kindness can be found in Jesusʼ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.)

We also believe life in Godʼs Kingdom is joyful, so we like to laugh. (See Deuteronomy 14:26, Isaiah 55:12, Romans 14:17, Philippians 4:4-9, Revelation 5:1-14)

One day in the not-so-distant future, we believe Jesus will return and remake the world, judging and removing every last trace of evil in order to complete the new creation that he began on the first Easter. (For glimpses into Godʼs good future for the cosmos, see Isaiah 60-66, 1 Corinthians 15, and Revelation 21-22)

OUR BELIEFS

GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as outlined by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12, have not ceased and are to be used with joy, wisdom and discernment in the life of the local church. We believe the gifts are given by God for the strengthening of His church and the building up of all believers.

VIEW OF THE BIBLE

We believe the Bible is Godʼs entirely trustworthy, inspired, and authoritative Word to His people, and we take its numerous commands to read, memorize, discuss, teach, and obey it. Of course, doing this well means engaging the text prayerfully and carefully. We believe that Godʼs inspiration worked through human authors whose character and context profoundly shaped the Scriptures we read today. Therefore, we labor to link the living Word of the ancient text to the dynamic circumstances of our daily lives. Ultimately, this means following all of Scriptureʼs prose and poetry as it flows like rainfall toward a single, infinitely deep well of living water: Jesus Christ.

RACIAL EQUITY

We believe that all of humanity is created in the image of God therefore we are passionately committed to racial equity.

OUR GOALS

• To prophetically walk in Jesusʼ Kingdom Dream of unity.

• To continuously learn together about the history of racism in America, the churchʼs role in that history, and what we can do about it today.

• To stand in unity with our Brothers and Sisters of Color against the root of sin that yields the fruit of racism.

• To demonstrate the love of God, by embracing our diversity in unity. • To be a church that is safe for all People of Color.

How do we live out Godʼs heart for justice among peoples of diverse ethnicities, generations, and cultures?

We see our worldʼs profound need for healing among diverse peoples, and we are committed to labor in the present toward Godʼs promised future: a redeemed community bound together by the love of Christ and representing every nation, ethnicity, race and language (Rev. 7:9).

As a school, we recognize we cannot accomplish Jesusʼ command to “make disciples of all nations” without engaging multi-ethnic discipleship and real cross-cultural friendship. These relationships are built upon our recognition of universal human dignity (Gen. 1:26-28) and repentance from our universal rejection of Godʼs design that results in dehumanization, structures of inequality, and even enslavement of others (Is. 53:6, Rom. 3:23). While this may seem

an improbable task, the Apostle Paul tells us that the reconciling work of Jesus Christ tears down hostility and opens the way “to create in himself one new humanity” (Eph. 2:14-15, NIV). Therefore, within our church communities, we refuse to tolerate any kind of racial or ethnic discrimination, bias, or prejudice. Beyond the church, we are compelled by the love of Christ to fight injustice wherever we find it as we serve and speak out on behalf of the poor, oppressed, vulnerable, and forgotten (Luke 4:18-19, Prov. 31:8-9, Is. 58:1-12).

Finally, we will persevere in this work no matter the difficulty because we are confident that in the not-too-distant future Jesus will return to judge justly, wipe away every tear, and make all things new (Rev. 21:1-5).

OUR BELIEFS

VIEW OF MARRIAGE IN THE GRACE FAMILY

Across our churches, we affirm the Biblical design of marriage from the beginning as being a covenant between one man and one woman, and that sexual intimacy is reserved for the marriage relationship. At the same time, we face very real and very complex ministry contexts in which we are learning how best to share the Good News of Jesus with every person, regardless of sexual orientation. All people live in our beautiful but broken world, and all people long to discover love and relationship and wholeness. We unapologetically believe that Jesus is the way (and the truth, and the life) toward that wholeness, and so our primary focus is meeting Christ so that he can be the one to speak into and heal the wounds that are common to human experience.

WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

For us, a fundamental truth of the Bible is that spiritual gifts are not gender-specific. In other words, we believe that the Holy Spirit releases gifts of leadership to both men and women. Our challenge, then, is to disciple and empower both men and women in the areas of their gifting within local contexts for maximum impact for the Kingdom of God.