Hill Country Christians Together is a diverse group of believers who live in the Texas Hill Country and who realize that we are all affiliated through Jesus Christ. We highly value and love the Christian Church in its many different expressions, and we want to encourage united prayer.
What We Believe
We believe that there are profoundly powerful truths that can serve to unite us, that each of us share in common. The following is a fairly straightforward adaptation of the Nicene Creed -- a statement of faith written in the fourth century A.D. in an effort to unite Christians.
We together believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And we each believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, and His kingdom shall have no end.
And together we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.
And we believe that all of us whom God has saved are united in one universal church, which is expressed in great diversity. This church is Christ's body; thus it is one, even though local expressions can vary tremendously. We acknowledge one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
We also believe it is vitally important to unite under a high regard for the Bible, thus we add:
Together, we believe that God is Himself Truth and speaks truth only, and that He has inspired Holy Scripture in order to reveal Himself. The Bible possesses infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God's instruction, in all that it affirms: obeyed, as God's command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God's pledge, in all that it promises. Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all that it states about God's acts in creation, about the events of world history, about its own literary origins under God, and in its witness to God's saving grace in individual lives. Simply stated, the Bible is objective, absolute truth.
We affirm that the point of uniting together is to win others to Christ, make disciples and honor God.
"I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me." (John 17:20-23 NASB).
"Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God." (Philippians 1:27-28 NASB).
Lastly, we sadly acknowledge that our communities have experienced measurable and painful moral decline in the last 50 years -- a decline that perhaps could have been avoided if we Christians had been more united in our hearts and vision and efforts. Brokenness and repentance are part of an appropriate response to this reality.
"If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14 NASB).