Statement of Faith

The Chapel at Seaside is a unique worshiping community in the heart of Seaside in Santa Rosa Beach, FL. As a physical building, the Seaside Chapel was established and designed to be a judeo-christian interfaith chapel, though we are the Christ following body of believers that call this place home. As an ecumenical Christian community, we recognize those that worship with us and call this place home come from a variety of faith traditions, denominations and experiences within Christianity. With that, we want to be clear who we are as a community of faith, as a body of believers, what we believe and hold dear. We unite around the idea that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, and we are called to be his disciples as we follow him and his ways. No matter if a person is local, from another community, or worships with us online, we hope that the transformation that happens in following Jesus not only changes us, but transforms the world around us. God’s Kingdom come, God’s Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

We Believe

We believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God. The canonized scriptures (the 66 books of the Old and New Testament) are both true and authoritative as a beautiful and mysterious collaboration between the Spirit of God and the writers who authored them. The divinely inspired scriptures tell the story of our God and the people of God, invite us into a life of faith, provide the truth of our God, and guide our beliefs, practices, and priorities.

We believe the Lord our God is three in one. A personal and knowable everlasting triune God understood as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each distinct, and yet one in essence.

We believe in the Gospel or Good News of God. Since the beginning, God has been partnering with humanity to flourish in God’s Creation. Since the Fall, we have corrupted God’s creation, and yet, God continues to pursue us and work with us. This has been demonstrated throughout history and the scriptures. The Good News culminates in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Redemption through Jesus Christ, brings us into a relationship with him where we experience eternal life and are called to share and embody that Good News of Renewal with others. The Gospel narrative over the course of the Bible is one of Creation, Fall, Redemption and Renewal. As we live now, we continue to proclaim through word and action this same Gospel empowered by the Holy Spirit.

We believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, born of a virgin. The Word became flesh and dwelled among us. He lived a sinless life and demonstrated how we as his followers are called to live. Through his teaching, miracles, death, and resurrection, we experience salvation from our sin that not only impacts our eternity, but informs our lives here and now.

We believe the life, teaching, sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was the greatest example of love, the culmination of prophetic words, and gives the opportunity for all to experience salvation. By grace, through faith, we die to self and come alive in Christ. We have been welcomed into the family of God.

We believe that as Christians we are disciples of Jesus Christ. We follow him, apprentice under him, and strive to live lives that emulate his life for the transformation of the world. The disciplines or practices of Jesus are a vital part of following him. They form us spiritually and guide our life, but those actions do not save us. They are part of our journey towards sanctification or Christian perfection. These actions draw us closer to his likeness with the way we are intended to live, which is to build, proclaim, and expand the Kingdom of God as we transform the world to be what God intends it to be.

We believe salvation was and is offered to all through God. From the amazing grace offered by God the Father, to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, to the work of the Holy Spirit, we see that salvation from the costly wages of sin, which is death, has been offered. As it says in Romans 10; if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

We believe the Holy Spirit is active, dwelling in believers, moving within our midst, giving power, and moving people from death to life, chaos to order, mourning to celebration, and bondage to freedom. We trust and follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance as we live out the will of God, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

We Are

We are a community who gathers for communal worship to give glory to God, studies the scriptures to know the story of God, shares communion to remember the saving work of God, baptizes individuals to celebrate the grace of God, builds relationships with others to be sharpened with one another by and for God, practices the ways of Jesus to be formed in the likeness of God and work to proclaim through word and deed the Good News of God.

We are a community who welcomes all people, all the time, wholly free of condition to experience the transforming love of God. With that, we believe all people can be called to be used by God.

We are a community who recognizes the diverse perspectives culturally, racially, socially, educationally, politically, experientially, and more, and we choose to live lovingly humble and faithful lives because we are a family bound together by love who find common ground as we are united under God. By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, we can be united.

We are a community who chooses to listen, learn, and grow. As it says in James, we are quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; because we know the anger of humanity does not produce the righteousness of God.

We are a community that sees Jesus as our Lord, Savior, Rabbi and Friend. As we follow Jesus we are called to abide in him, be changed by him, and embody his ways for the glory of God and the good of others.

We Remember

As a unique worshiping community with diverse experience, traditions, and denominations, we remember what has united followers of Jesus since shortly after the time of Jesus. The early church created an organized statement of belief or creed that has been the guiding essentials that many varieties of Christian theological perspectives use as their foundational beliefs. Versions of this creed have been the standard of the essentials of an orthodox Christian faith. This summary of Christian doctrine has been used as early as the 3rd century to articulate the tenets of the Christian faith and is commonly known as The Apostles Creed. This creed is what unites us and helps us to remember what we all believe as individual followers of Jesus in community.

We believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. The third day, he rose from the dead. He ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from where He shall come to judge the living and the dead. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic* church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

“catholic” means “universal” church of God’s people.