How is your denomination different from others?
Evangelical Free Church Distinctives
The Evangelical Free
Church of America is inclusive not exclusive.
The great heritage of the Evangelical Free Church people
around the world includes the fact
that fellowship and ministry opportunities in the
local church are based solely on one's personal
faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, trusting
in Him alone for salvation. Membership requires
commitment to sound doctrine as expressed in our
Statement of Faith. However, a person is not
excluded from membership because he or she does not
agree on every fine point of doctrine. Within the
Evangelical Free Church, there is allowance for
legitimate differences of understanding in some
areas of doctrine.
The Evangelical Free Church was born out of a
heritage of commitment to the authority and
inerrancy of Scripture. We have deep convictions
based on the authority of God's Word, but we do not
draw battle lines over minor points. Nor do we make
minor issues of doctrine a test of fellowship in the
local church. We are evangelical. We believe in
separated living and personal holiness. But we are
not separatistic.
We believe in the spiritual unity of the church, though not
necessarily in structural union. We join with other
Christians and other denominations of like precious
faith in common goals and ministries to accomplish
the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. But
we believe that there is strength in diversity and
that it is important to preserve our Distinctives.
We recognize that union in structure does not
guarantee unity of spirit.
Our foremost concern is unity of spirit with our
Lord, with each other and with other Christians.