Welcome
Chris Lankford, Lead Pastor
Thanks for taking the time to find out more about Long Beach Alliance Church. Without a doubt, it's often difficult to figure out what is going on at a church. It can be easy to figure out what churches do, but it’s harder to find out who they really are. Churches are filled with lots of people with lots of stuff constantly happening. Most people seem to know each other, and it’s tough to always know how and where to belong. However, since you are reading this, you have begun to take your first successful steps forward in discovering the DNA of LBAC!
Long Beach Alliance is a Gospel-centered church who are authentically living out our mission to “Love God, Love Others, & Serve the World.” This vision comes to life at LBAC in the context of our church family. Being part of a family is great because it will support you, help you live into your identity, and (of course) your identity will help to define and support our church family! The most important thing to know about Long Beach Alliance is that we are all living out our biblical God-given vision as a family.
God chose the church as His own family to be a powerful agent for change in the world (Ephesians 3:10). Being a family member at LBAC will bring change into your life and, most significantly, it changes the world (Romans 12:5)!
Like many families, we also have family reunions; times when the family gathers together to hear our Father tell His story and grow closer with one another. At times (Sunday Mornings are a good example) we meet in large groups, and at other times (Life Groups or Sunday Classes) the meetings happen in smaller groups. No matter which group we are in, we get to make lots of friends, have great experiences, and grow deeper than ever before in a relationship with our Father God.
I believe you will find LBAC is a “home away from home” for you. No matter how long you’ve been a follower of Jesus Christ, it’s nice to be able to “come home” at Long Beach Alliance, a place where you are family and can get recharged to take on the world in the name of Jesus Christ!
LBAC is also a part of an extended family as members of the Christian & Missionary Alliance (C&MA). The Alliance is a like-hearted family of over 22,000 churches worldwide speaking over 180 languages and dialects for the bold purpose of bringing God glory through the expansion of the Gospel (Matthew 24:14). You can learn more about the C&MA at cmalliance.org, but know this, our family (both at LBAC and as part of the C&MA) is pretty awesome!
Once again, thanks for checking out Long Beach Alliance Church. I hope and pray your experience here will be life-changing, and that you will be a part of making Jesus famous in Long Beach and in every other corner of the world (1 Corinthians 2:2-5)!
LOVE GOD, LOVE OTHERS, SERVE THE WORLD
Long Beach Alliance Church is a Gospel-centered church family who “Love God, Love Others, and Serve the World.” The Gospel is often presented as “truths I must believe” in order to obtain “salvation” and “eternal life in Heaven” by asking God to “forgive my sins” while also “trusting my life completely to Jesus.” While this ‘Jesus take the Wheel’ Gospel is partially true, it’s only part of “God’s Story.” The Gospel is more than a simple “transaction” (I do X, God does X). As you will experience here at Long Beach Alliance, “Love God, Love Others, and Serve the World” represents more than a Gospel motto, the Gospel is the whole of our lives, and it is at the center of our church family.
Doctrine
The Christian & Missionary Alliance
What The Alliance believes about God, how He relates to us, and how we relate to Him is foundational in its teachings. The Alliance wholeheartedly serves God and the people of His world, based soundly on the Bible. We live and die by these words and believe they bring the only life worth living—one wholly committed to the King Jesus.
God
There is one God who is infinitely perfect, existing eternally in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is true God and true man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He died on the cross, the just for the unjust, as a substitutionary atoning sacrifice, and all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood. He arose from the dead according to the Scriptures He is now at the right hand of the Majesty on high as our great High Priest. He will come again to establish His kingdom of righteousness and peace.
Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is a divine person, sent to indwell, guide, teach, empower the believer and convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.
The Bible
The Old and New Testaments, inerrant as originally given, were verbally inspired by God and are a complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men. They constitute the divine and only rule of Christian faith and practice.
The Fall of Man
Mankind was originally created in the image and likeness of God. He fell through disobedience, incurring thereby both physical and spiritual death. All men are born with a sinful nature, are separated from the life of God, and can be saved only through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The portion of the impenitent and unbelieving is existence forever in conscious torment; and that of the believer, in everlasting joy and bliss.
Salvation
Salvation has been provided through Jesus Christ for all men; and those who repent and believe in Him are born again of the Holy Spirit, receive the gift of eternal life, and become the children of God.
Sanctification
It is the will of God that each believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit and be sanctified wholly, being separated from sin and the world and fully dedicated to the will of God, thereby receiving power for holy living and effective service. This is both a crisis and a progressive experience wrought in the life of the believer subsequent to conversion.
Healing
Provision is made in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ for the healing of the mortal body. Prayer for the sick and anointing with oil are taught in the Scriptures and are privileges for the Church in this present age.
The Church
The Church consists of all those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are redeemed through His blood, and are born again of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the Head of the Body, the Church, which has been commissioned by Him to go into all the world as a witness, preaching the gospel to all nations. The local church is a body of believers in Christ who are joined together for the worship of God, for edification through the Word of God, for prayer, fellowship, the proclamation of the gospel, and observance of the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Resurrection
There shall be a bodily resurrection of the just and of the unjust; for the former, a resurrection unto life; for the latter, a resurrection unto judgment.
The Second Coming of Jesus
The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent and will be personal, visible, and premillennial. This is the believer’s blessed hope and is a vital truth which is an incentive to holy living and faithful service.
