What Does Bear Creek Community Church Believe About the Holy Spirit?
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These are our answers to the questions we hear most often about the Holy Spirit. The short version: we believe the Holy Spirit is fully God, a real person, and actively at work in the life of every believer today.
Does Bear Creek Community Church believe the Holy Spirit is God?
Yes. Bear Creek Community Church believes the Holy Spirit is fully God, the third person of the Trinity. He is not a lesser being, an impersonal force, or an energy. He is fully divine, existing eternally alongside the Father and the Son.
When you encounter the Holy Spirit, you are encountering God himself.
Is the Holy Spirit a person or a force?
The Holy Spirit is a person, not a force or an influence. Bear Creek Community Church believes this because the Bible consistently describes the Holy Spirit in personal terms. He thinks, speaks, grieves, intercedes, guides, and comforts. Jesus referred to him as a helper and used personal pronouns when describing him.
Understanding the Holy Spirit as a person rather than a power changes how we relate to him.
What role did the Holy Spirit play in creation?
Bear Creek Community Church believes the Holy Spirit was actively involved in creation. Genesis describes the Spirit of God hovering over the waters before God spoke the world into existence. The Holy Spirit was also involved in the inspiration of Scripture, guiding the human authors of the Bible so that what they wrote was the Word of God.
From the first moments of creation to the writing of Scripture, the Holy Spirit has been present and active.
What does Bear Creek believe about the Holy Spirit and salvation?
Bear Creek Community Church believes the Holy Spirit is essential to salvation. No one comes to faith in Jesus apart from his work. He convicts people of sin, showing them their need for a Savior. He regenerates, giving new spiritual life to those who trust in Christ.
At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit baptizes every believer into the body of Christ, seals them as God's own, and takes up residence in them permanently. Salvation is not complete without him.
What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
Bear Creek Community Church believes every believer receives the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. Being filled with the Spirit, as the Bible describes in Ephesians 5:18, is an ongoing experience of yielding to his control and influence in daily life. It is not a one-time event reserved for a select few. It is the normal Christian life.
A believer who is filled with the Spirit is one who is walking in obedience, depending on God rather than self, and bearing the fruit that the Spirit produces.
What does Bear Creek believe about spiritual gifts?
Bear Creek Community Church believes the Holy Spirit gives every believer a unique combination of spiritual gifts for the purpose of serving God and people. No believer is left out, and no gift is more important than another. Spiritual gifts are not trophies for the spiritually mature. They are tools for building up the local church and advancing the mission of God in the world.
We encourage every person in our church to discover their gifts and use them in the context of our community.
Does the Holy Spirit help believers understand the Bible?
Yes. Bear Creek Community Church believes the Holy Spirit illumines the minds of believers as they read and study Scripture. The same Spirit who inspired the writing of the Bible is at work helping believers understand and apply it. This is why reading the Bible is not merely an academic exercise. God is present in the process.
It also means that Scripture is accessible to every believer in every culture, not just trained scholars.
What is the fruit of the Holy Spirit?
Bear Creek Community Church believes the fruit of the Holy Spirit, as described in Galatians 5, is the natural result of a life yielded to the Spirit's control. That fruit includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
These qualities are not produced by trying harder. They grow as a believer walks in step with the Spirit, depending on God rather than relying on their own effort. The presence of this fruit in a person's life is one of the clearest signs that the Spirit is at work.
What does Bear Creek believe about the Holy Spirit and baptism?
Bear Creek Community Church believes Spirit baptism occurs at the moment of salvation for every true believer. It is not a second experience that comes after conversion. When a person places their faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit simultaneously baptizes them into the body of Christ, seals them, and indwells them.
Every believer has been fully welcomed into the family of God by the Spirit, regardless of their background, experience, or spiritual maturity.
How do I experience the Holy Spirit in my daily life?
Bear Creek Community Church believes experiencing the Holy Spirit in daily life begins with recognizing that he already lives in you if you have placed your faith in Jesus. From there, it is a matter of walking in step with him. That means reading Scripture and letting it shape your thinking, praying and staying in conversation with God, obeying what the Spirit prompts you to do, and staying connected to a local church where the Spirit works through community.
If you want to talk through what this looks like practically, we would love to connect with you.
Want to go deeper? These answers reflect our full doctrinal statement, which covers what we believe about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, salvation, and more. You're also welcome to join us on Sunday or grab coffee with one of our pastors. No strings attached.