The mission of Out of the Box Church is the same mission Jesus gave his followers: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
The vision of Out of the Box Church is create a community of Spirit filled believers that are empowered and equipped to do the work of the ministry. Through our monthly homeless outreach, we plan on having transition back into society ministry on campus in the near future.
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6
WE BELIEVE IN GOD, who has eternally existed as the one living and true God (Deut. 6:4; 1 Tim. 1:17; Rev. 1:8), in three persons of one substance: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—equal in power, glory, and authority (1 John 5:7–8; 1 Cor. 8:6).
His nature and attributes are revealed in part through the Old Testament Law and Scriptures, and in full through the life of Jesus Christ.
He is:
WE BELIEVE IN JESUS, the Son of God, who is the Messiah (Chosen Savior/Deliverer) promised in the Old Testament Scriptures and the Christ (Anointed/Chosen of God) manifested on the earth and revealed in the New Testament Scriptures (1 John 4:14).
Jesus is God’s Son incarnate, born of the Virgin Mary (Matt. 1:21–22). He is the visible image of the invisible God, who existed eternally with the Father as the Word (Col. 1:15–17), through whom all things were created.
In His earthly existence, He was fully man and fully God. He came to earth to redeem mankind from sin (Matt. 1:21) and make a way for God’s created children to be reunited with Him (John 14:6).
Jesus accomplished this restoration through His substitutionary sacrifice by His death on the cross (Matt. 26:28; Rom. 1:3). He lived a sinless life (1 Pet. 2:22), overcame the temptations of Satan, sin, and the flesh (Matt. 4:1–11), preached the good news of salvation and the arrival of the Kingdom of God on earth (Luke 4:43), and reclaimed the keys to hell and death (Rev. 1:18).
He healed the sick (Matt. 4:23), delivered the demonized (Mark 9:25), raised the dead (John 11:43–44), fed the hungry (Matt. 14:16–20), and tangibly loved mankind (John 13:1).
Through His resurrection, He empowers believers to live in newness of life (1 Tim. 4:10; 2 Tim. 1:10). Christ’s earthly life reflects how God intends man to live when empowered by the Holy Spirit.
WE BELIEVE THE GOSPEL (GOOD NEWS) of God is God’s only plan for the salvation of men and their restoration to fellowship with Him (Acts 4:12; John 14:6).
The Gospel is “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:1–5), and was seen by men for a period of 40 days, and then ascended to the right hand of the Father, where He now intercedes for believers (Rom. 8:34).
Jesus Christ came to reconcile us with God. He lived a life without sin and willingly died on the cross to pay the penalty for our transgressions. God raised Him from the dead and now, by grace, offers as a free gift eternal life to all who follow Christ by faith as their Lord and Savior (Luke 24:46–48). He reclaimed the keys to hell and death (Rev. 1:18) and made the way for men to return to God through salvation.
One enters into a state of salvation through application of His death, burial, and resurrection through faith or trust in His redeeming work on the cross. Salvation centers entirely upon the person and the work of Christ. Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant laws and established a New Covenant of grace and faith individually with each believer.
We encounter God through the sacrifice of Jesus. Through Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection, God meets His people, redeems them from sin, and recreates relationship (Rom. 3:21–23; Rom. 10:8–10; Acts 16:31; Acts 2:38–39; Eph. 1:13; Mark 1:14–15).
The purpose of salvation is to restore relationship with God. God desired to rekindle His relationship with His children. Through faith in His work on the cross, we are now restored to our original position as the sons of God and have become the Bride of Christ.
We traded in the old Adamic nature and received a new nature, a new identity as a child of God, an heir of salvation (Gal. 4:4–8).
WE BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT. God’s Spirit was imparted to the church when Jesus breathed upon His disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). This experience of receiving the indwelling Spirit brought eternal life to them.
He becomes our abiding Helper, Teacher, and Guide for spiritual worship, personal sanctification, and building up the Church (John 14:16–17; John 16:7–14; Rom. 8:1–27).
Christ, at His ascension, also instructed His disciples to “wait” for a greater empowerment of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49). These disciples and others later received this promised baptism of fire on the Day of Pentecost, as described in Acts 2. At Pentecost, the Spirit came upon them (baptized them) for power and released the gifts of the Spirit (Acts 1:4–8).
One of the signs indicating the baptism of the Holy Spirit is “speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance” (Acts 2:1; Mark 16:17). This prayer language is used for the individual believer’s edification and communication with God (1 Cor. 14:2).
This baptism also gifts us for doing the works of ministry that Jesus did and resisting the kingdom of Satan to extend the Kingdom of God. Under the power of the Holy Spirit, believers can exercise all biblical gifts of the Spirit.
We, therefore, practice the laying on of hands for the empowering of the Spirit (Acts 8:18), for healing (Mark 16:17), for impartation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and for the recognition and empowering of those whom God has ordained to lead and serve the church (1 Tim. 4:14).
We also recognize that the Bible gives evidence that God empowers people through individual or corporate prayer and waiting upon Him, without the laying on of hands. We value all of God’s ways of impartation and empowerment.
WE BELIEVE THE HOLY BIBLE is the only infallible rule of faith and practice for the Church. We believe that the Holy Spirit inspired the human authors of the Holy Scripture so that the Bible is “God-breathed” (2 Tim. 3:16).
We accept the sixty-six canonical books of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, as the only written Word of God, without error in all it affirms. The Holy Spirit preserves God’s Word in the Church today, and it speaks God’s truth and wisdom to people of every age and is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16–17).
The Bible is also the story of God and His people, the history of our relationship. The Church is commanded to read, study, preach, and teach the Word of God (2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Tim. 4:2).
WE BELIEVE HUMANKIND was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26–27). Humans, both male and female, were created in God’s image for His glory. The first humans, Adam and Eve, were created without sin and appointed as caretakers of the rest of God’s creation.
God’s image in mankind was marred in every part through the disobedience of our first parents, and fellowship with God was broken (often referred to as the fall of man). Their fall into sin passed a sin nature on to all humanity (Rom. 3:23; Rom. 5:12, 14). All of creation now groans under the consequences and effects of Adam and Eve’s original sin (Rom. 8:19–23).
Human beings are born in sin, separated from God’s fellowship (Isa. 59:2), subject to God’s judgment of death (Rom. 6:23), and captive to Satan’s kingdom of darkness—which exists to steal, kill, and destroy. However, the sin nature has been crucified with Christ on the cross (Gal. 2:20), buried in baptism, and should no longer reign in our mortal bodies (Rom. 6:4).
The following verse from Second Peter instructs us how to walk in our new life: through salvation and Christ’s indwelling Spirit, we have been given His divine power to be partakers of the divine nature and have escaped the corruption that is in the world (2 Pet. 1:3–8).
WE BELIEVE THE CHURCH AND KINGDOM OF GOD were established through the coming of Jesus Christ and His ministry. The Kingdom continues to expand through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in partnership with the Church, and it will be consummated in the glorious, visible, and triumphant appearing of Christ as He returns to the earth as King. At His return, He will bring about the final defeat of Satan, his demons, and his works.
The Church is the Body of Christ, the corporate gathering of believers who have received salvation through faith in Christ Jesus and His gospel. Our actions must represent Christ to the world through our assembly, through our relationships with one another, and through our display of love toward the lost.
The Church will become the Bride of Christ (Rev. 21:2; 22:17), and as His bride, she is learning now to partner with her Beloved and operate in unity through the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).
The role of the universal Church today is to:
One of the greatest responsibilities of the Church in society today is to be the “pillar and foundation of the Truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). Individual believers are sent into the world to glorify God, proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, and carry on His mission until the end of the age (Matt. 28:19–20; Mark 16:15–18).
We cooperate with the Holy Spirit in reclaiming the King’s domain by evangelizing the world—proclaiming the Word of Jesus and doing the works of Jesus.
WE BELIEVE in WATER BAPTISM and the HOLY COMMUNION. Jesus Christ committed these two ordinances to the Church. Both are available to all believers. We believe that Water Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, as well as the preached, taught, or read Word of God, are all means by which we can experience God in all His Personhood and provisions.
Baptism of Repentance: Water baptism of repentance was commanded by Jesus (Matt. 28:18–20; 1 Cor. 12:13), baptizing believers into the Body of Christ. It is a symbolic action representing to the world that the believer has been buried in Christ and raised to live a new life in God’s Kingdom for eternity (Rom. 6:4).
Holy Communion / Lord’s Supper: Jesus established the ordinance of taking bread and wine (or grape juice) as symbolic representations of His blood and His body that were sacrificed for believers (1 Cor. 11:23–32; 1 Cor. 10:16). The wine/juice represents His blood, shed for the remission of our sins. The bread represents His body, broken for our healing. The act of taking communion reminds the believer of all the promises purchased by Christ for us. Taking communion does not save us; it is an act of worship and remembrance.
WE BELIEVE in the RETURN of Jesus Christ and the Final RESURRECTION and JUDGEMENT of all humankind. Jesus Christ is returning one day to judge both the living and the dead (Matt. 24:30–32; 1 Pet. 5:4) and to usher in the fullness of God’s Kingdom on earth.
All humankind will experience the resurrection of the dead (1 Thes. 4:16–17; John 5:28–29; Acts 24:15), the final judgments (Rev. 20:12–15), and the eternal blessing of the righteous (Rev. 20:6) or the eternal conscious punishment of the wicked.
Finally, God will be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28) in His new heavens and new earth (Rev. 21:1–3), recreated by His mighty power, in which righteousness dwells and in which He will forever be worshiped (Rev. 5:13).
Out of the Box Church began in 2018 in Blanchard, Oklahoma, with a heart for reaching people and serving our community. From the beginning, our passion has been to share Jesus through discipleship, street evangelism, and outreach—meeting real needs with real love.
A church plant with a burden for people
Discipleship and outreach at the center
Loving God and loving people in action
Our pastors and leaders are committed to loving people, preaching the Word, and helping others grow in Christ. We’d love to meet you in person—stop by the hospitality room after service.
