Mission, History, Beliefs

Vintage Church is a church of doubters, seekers, and followers who are learning to follow and worship Jesus Christ. All are welcome with no prerequisite of church background or prior belief. Bring your faith and your doubt, your joy and your tears, your praise and your selfishness. As a church, we want to emulate Jesus’ call in Matthew 11:28 for all to come to him.

MISSION

Vintage Church exists to make much of Jesus. We do that by making disciples who know the gospel, live the gospel, and advance the gospel.

Doubters, seekers, and followers are invited to become everything God designed them to be and see their city become everything God desires it to be.

OUR STORY

When Vintage Church opened its doors at 515 W. Hargett Street in 2002, it was because God called our church to plant in Raleigh – to live in and love our city.

Tyler and Kimberly Jones moved to Raleigh in 1997 to work with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at NC State. For five years they labored to show college students God’s love, and then shifted focus to the city. They secured a lease in the Warehouse District and Vintage began to thrive.

As God grew Vintage Church, we moved to 209 Oberlin Road and then again to 117 S. West Street in July 2007. The time was full of blessings and growth, and several new projects sprang up. We began a family ministry to reach out to the growing number of families in our church and focused more on kids ministry and community group Bible studies. In the center of the city, we began to focus energy on art shows, concerts and other events that engaged the city.

In January 2009, we opened our first multi-site location in downtown Durham with the hope of sharing God’s love with another community in a culturally relevant way. Our Durham church continues to thrive and engage local residents.

In January 2013, we expanded to Vintage Church North (formerly Midtown), a growing church plant that meets at Trinity Academy with families from the North Raleigh areas.

In December 2014, Vintage Church closed on the purchase of our first property, the third oldest church building in the city. The building is home to flagship Vintage Church Downtown as well as central church offices. The 130-year-old church building is our latest landmark to God’s continued faithfulness and provision.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

We believe that God wrote the Bible, through men, without error.

The Old and New Testaments, in their entirety, constitute the written Word of God and are therefore without error. They were written by men through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and are consequently fully authoritative in all matters for the follower of Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Matthew 5:18)

We believe that God exists eternally in the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

There is one God, inﬁnite, eternal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, love, justice, goodness and truth, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, whose desire is that we should know him intimately and live a life of fulﬁllment through the pursuit of his glory. (Genesis 1:1-3, Genesis 1:26, 2 Corinthians 13:14, 1 John 1:1-4)

We believe that God the Father is the first person of the eternal, triune, God.

God the Father, by means of the Son, is the creator of all things. He spoke the universe into existence, thereby creating the world out of nothing. Through his Word, he sustains all of creation. He is the king of the universe, and his sovereign purposes cannot be thwarted. He cannot lie, he keeps his covenant, and he works all things together for good for those who love him. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, and all-wise. In his unfathomable grace, he gave his Son, Jesus Christ, in order that the world he loved might be saved. He made humanity for fellowship with himself, and intended that all creation should live to the praise of his glory. God the Father is, therefore, the author of eternal salvation, having loved the world and having given his Son for its redemption. (Genesis 1:1, Colossians 1:16, Numbers 23:19, Deuteronomy 7:9, Romans 8:28, 1 Chronicles 29:11, Romans 11:33, John 3:16,17, 1 John 4:7-10, Ephesians 1:12)

We believe that Jesus Christ is the second person of the eternal, triune God who became a man, lived a sinless life, died on a cross, was buried, and physically rose from the grave to redeem sinful humanity.

He is True God of True God, begotten not made. He became human; conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. He made his dwelling among us, living a full life without sin. His life and his death on the cross provide the only atonement that fully satisﬁes the righteous requirements of God for the sinner. The death of Jesus was a full and ﬁnal payment for sin – redemptive, substitutional and efﬁcacious. The historic fact of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is a powerful witness to his deity and is humanity’s ultimate hope in God. Jesus Christ will make a personal and imminent return to Earth. His return is a sanctifying “hope” which has vital bearing on the life of every Christian. (John 1:1-2, 14; Luke 1:35; Romans 3:24; 1 Peter 2:24; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:3-5, Ephesians 2:1-10)

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the eternal, triune God; that the Holy Spirit is the supernatural agent in salvation, birthing all christians into the kingdom of God at conversion, thereby indwelling and sealing them until the day of Jesus’ return.

The Holy Spirit regenerates the lost through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is personal and divine, the third member of the Godhead. He convicts the world of sin and its consequences. He brings repentance and faith to the believer. He indwells the believer with the radical life of Jesus Christ. He gives gifts to every believer for mutual service within the body of Jesus. He unites believers in the Body of Jesus and seals them in that relationship. He bears the fruit of Christian character in the life of every believer. He guides, instructs, and empowers the believer for Godly living and service. He is worshipped with the Father and the Son. (John 16:8-11; 2 Corinthians 3:6; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; Romans 8:9; Titus 3:5)

We believe that God created all humans in his image; he created them uniquely, male and female.

All humans are created in God’s image and as such, all human life is sacred. In creating humans as male and female, God communicated his image through harmonious interpersonal relationships, equality of persons, importance of individuals and the ability to distinguish roles and authority. (Genesis 1:27)

We believe that all humans are sinful and in need of salvation. Salvation is the gift of God, brought to humanity by grace alone, and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians are kept by God’s power, forever.

God has created every person in the image of God, but we have fallen into sin, and are therefore lost, and only through the life-giving regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be obtained. All humans are sinners and face the judgment of God. The shed blood of Jesus Christ and his resurrection provide the only ground for justiﬁcation. Only those who place faith in Jesus will be delivered from the wrath of God toward sin. Those who receive Jesus Christ by faith are said by Holy Scripture to be justiﬁed, sanctiﬁed, and adopted into the family of God as heirs with Jesus. There are no other means of salvation for a person aside from repentance and an honest confession of Jesus Christ as Redeemer and King. We also believe that a true Christian will persevere to the end of their life, or until Jesus returns, meaning that you cannot lose your salvation if you were genuinely saved. (Genesis 1:26-27; John 1:12, 6:37-40, 10:27-30; Romans 3:22-23, 5:12, 8:1, 38-39; 1 Corinthians 1:4-8; Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 2:1-3, 8-10, 12-13; 1 Peter 1:3-5, 18-19)

We believe that the church is a spiritual organism made up of all believers everywhere for all time.

All Christians in all times and in all places have been united into a single body by an operation of God. This resultant union is called the Body of Jesus, the Universal Church. Simply put, we’re not the only true church; we recognize that all who have put their faith in Jesus throughout history are part of God’s true Church. (Ephesians 1:22-23; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14).

We believe that every follower of Jesus is called to be a member of the local church and is called to recognize baptism and the Lord’s supper.

Scripture commands that all Christians band together in assembly for instruction, worship, service, and fellowship. These assemblies are called local churches. As a local church, Vintage embraces the rich and vibrant traditions of the Universal Church. Only those who are members of the Universal Church are eligible for membership in the local church. Baptism of responsible believers and the Lord’s Supper are the two sacraments to be observed by the local church in the present age. These ordinances are not to be regarded as means of salvation. (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; Acts 18:8; 1 Corinthians 3:9; 1 Corinthians 11:23-34).

We believe that Jesus is returning to earth to judge all people and to rule and reign with his saints forever.

All people will be resurrected to give account of their lives before God. The believer in Jesus will be resurrected to everlasting blessedness and joy in the presence of God. The non-believer will be resurrected to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment. (Zechariah 14:4-11; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Revelation 3:10-12; Revelation 19:11-16; 20:1-6)

What’s significant in this statement is that we as a church do not necessarily afﬁrm any single position on Jesus’ return. We do afﬁrm what is clear biblically: that Jesus is returning, that there is a resurrection of the dead to occur and that there will be a judgment after which the believers will live in the presence of God, and non-believers will be resurrected to eternal punishment and judgment. This means we believe in hell and that we believe that it is an eternal punishment.