B.) Minors:

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What Is a “Minor”?

A “minor” is a doctrine or issue that we, as a church, agree is not essential to a person’s salvation or to their hope of eternal life in GOD’s presence.

Some examples of “minor” issues include:

1. Specific church membership

2. Eschatology

3. Salvation theories

4. The concept of the Trinity

5. The practice of tithing

6. The “formula” of baptism

7. The “instrumentation” or style of worship

8. What you wear to church

9. Vaccination status

10. Mask usage

11. Gender expression

Whereas we, as the Church and Body of CHRIST, are unified on our foundational values, we recognize that not all Christians need to be unified on every minor issue. In other words, we can disagree about certain issues and still worship, fellowship, and serve together in unity.

Titus 3:5–9

1. Membership

Here at The Safe Haven Grace Worship Center, we firmly believe that all believers are members of the whole Body of Christ, which is the one true universal Church.

For that reason, we do not require an official church membership record in order for someone to worship, learn, fellowship, or participate with us. This applies regardless of the denomination or type of church a person may have been raised in or previously affiliated with.

If you are being intentional about your relationship with GOD, want to hear HIS message, join a small group, participate in fellowship, or utilize our educational classes, you are welcome to join us anytime!

Our goal is to help people grow closer to GOD—not to focus on labels, denominations, or membership records.

2. Eschatology

There are many different theories concerning the specifics of GOD’s sovereignty and how Christ will return. Some of these include:

• Darby’s pre-tribulation rapture theory

• Mid-tribulation theories

• Premillennialism

• Pre-wrath rapture theory

• Post-tribulation rapture theory

Another example of theological differences is Calvinism versus Arminianism, particularly regarding predestination, free will, GOD’s sovereignty, and human responsibility in salvation.  Calvinism and Arminianism are two systems of theology that attempt to explain the relationship between GOD’s sovereignty and humanity’s responsibility in matters of salvation.

Here at The Safe Haven Grace Worship Center:

We believe that arguing over every detail of Christ’s return can become as pointless as arguing about the exact color and physics of a set of stairs. We may not understand exactly how everything will work, but we trust that GOD knows exactly where He is taking us.

These different theological perspectives can be interesting and worthwhile to study and discuss. However, we believe that the Bible should be our starting point and our final authority—not theories, traditions, or the writings of man-made theology. We can study these differences without allowing them to divide the Body of Christ.

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3. Salvation Theories

There are different beliefs within Christianity concerning whether a person can lose their salvation after being saved.

Some Christian traditions teach that a person can lose their salvation. Other Christian traditions teach that a person can never lose their salvation once they have truly been saved.

We recognize that this is a serious theological discussion, but we do not believe that disagreement over these theories should divide Christians who share the foundational beliefs of our faith. It is clear from Scripture that there are people in this life who may claim to have secure salvation but do not truly know Christ.

Here at The Safe Haven Grace Worship Center:

We believe that our sin cannot ultimately stop the will and purposes of GOD.

       GOD’s: Desires, Commands, and Purposes for our lives, remain greater than our failures, even when we stray from the path He has for us.

However, this does not mean that our choices and our sins do not matter. Our sin can create relational distance between us and GOD. When we knowingly turn away from GOD’s will, we can damage our relationship with Him even though GOD continues to call us back to Himself.

This is why repentance, obedience, and maintaining a relationship with GOD remain important parts of our Christian walk.

4. The Concept of the Trinity

Here at The Safe Haven Grace Worship Center:

We believe in the Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—as one ultimate divine being.

We also recognize that GOD is infinitely greater than human understanding. As human beings, we cannot fully comprehend the infinite nature, reach, power, and existence of GOD. We believe in GOD while also recognizing that there are aspects of His nature that our limited human minds simply cannot fully explain.

5. The Practice of Tithing:

Here at The Safe Haven Grace Worship Center:

We believe that giving to GOD is about more than simply making a financial donation. Traditional tithing is often understood as giving ten percent of one’s income. If GOD has blessed you financially and you feel led to give in that way, we certainly welcome and appreciate your generosity. However, we also believe that serving GOD can involve giving much more than money.

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         You can give your:

• Time

• Skills

• Talents

• Knowledge

• Abilities

• Resources

• Compassion

• Service

There are many ways GOD can direct us to help our fellow Christ-followers and our community.

If you choose to tithe financially:

We will provide two ways to do so:

1. You may place your offering in the locked black tithing box using the provided tithing envelopes.

2. If you prefer to give online, you may use the tithing link on our website.

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We will NOT pass a collection plate during our services.

We want giving to be an act of worship and generosity—not something anyone feels pressured or embarrassed into doing.

6. The “Formula” of Baptism

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Here at The Safe Haven Grace Worship Center:

We do not believe that there is a magic formula of words that determines whether a baptism is valid or whether someone receives salvation.

No human being is capable of giving us salvation simply because they used the “correct” baptismal formula. Likewise, we do not believe that someone can take away our salvation because the exact wording of their baptism was different.

Baptism is about faith, obedience, commitment, and publicly identifying with Jesus Christ. If you would like a minister, family member, friend, or another Christian to participate by laying hands on you or assisting with your baptism, that is acceptable to us.

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One possible example of a baptism:

The person performing the baptism may ask:

“__________________________, have you accepted Jesus as your personal Savior?”

After the person responds affirmatively, the minister may say:

“Because of your faith in Jesus Christ and in obedience to HIS command, I/we baptize you, __________________________, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

The person is then gently lowered backward into the water and raised back up.

Optional Closing Prayer

“GOD, we thank You for the gift of this person’s life and for the commitment they have made today. May Your blessing of peace and joy be with them and protect them throughout all their days. We make this prayer in the name of Your Son, Jesus. Amen.”

7. The “Instrumentation” and Style of Worship

Here at The Safe Haven Grace Worship Center:

We do not believe that there is only one acceptable Bible translation.

We simply want you to get into the WORD and actually read and study it on a regular basis.

We utilize the YouVersion Bible App in many of our studies and commonly use the NIV translation.

We recommend the YouVersion Bible App because it is free, easy to use, and provides access to numerous Bible translations.

However, if you already use another Bible app or prefer another translation, please continue using whichever one helps you regularly read, understand, and study the WORD of GOD.

The important thing is not the app or translation you choose.

The important thing is that you are getting into the WORD.

8. What You Wear to Church

Here at The Safe Haven Grace Worship Center:

We do not believe that you have to dress a certain way to come into the presence of GOD.

We do not judge people based on their clothing.

We simply ask that the essential areas of the body be appropriately covered with a shirt or top and shorts, a skirt, pants, or other appropriate clothing on the bottom. We also ask that clothing not contain vulgar, sexually explicit, or otherwise inappropriate pictures or language.

Your choice of shoes—or lack thereof—is up to you.

Because we have carpet in our facility, when the weather is wet outside, we ask everyone to remove wet footwear before coming inside to help protect the building and carpeting.

Come as you are. We would rather have you here learning about GOD than have you stay home because you are worried about what you are 

We respect each family’s personal decisions regarding vaccination.

We are not going to require someone to be vaccinated in order to come into our facility, hear GOD’s WORD, worship, or experience the love of GOD.

We have both vaccinated and unvaccinated people who participate with us.

We ask everyone to treat one another with respect, even when we make different personal health decisions.

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9. Vaccination Status

Here at The Safe Haven Grace Worship Center:

We respect each family’s personal decisions regarding vaccination.

We are not going to require someone to be vaccinated in order to come into our facility, hear GOD’s WORD, worship, or experience the love of GOD.

We have both vaccinated and unvaccinated people who participate with us.

We ask everyone to treat one another with respect, even when we make different personal health decisions.

10. Mask Usage

Here at The Safe Haven Grace Worship Center:

We will not require mandatory mask usage unless a government-mandated requirement is imposed upon society as a whole, such as the mandates experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

At the same time, we respect an individual’s personal decision to wear a mask if they choose to do so.

Our goal is to allow people to worship GOD without creating unnecessary division over personal choices.

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11. Gender Expression

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Here at The Safe Haven Grace Worship Center:

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We do not believe that a person should be rejected from the presence of GOD or treated disrespectfully because of how they express themselves outwardly. We want every person to understand that their deepest and most important identity is found in Christ.

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We will make a reasonable effort to honor a person’s requested him/her/he/she pronouns as a matter of showing basic respect and kindness.

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At the same time, we will not refer to a human being as an “it” or intentionally dehumanize someone.

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GOD created you as a human being—period.

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Regardless of our differences, we believe every person deserves to be treated with dignity, compassion, and respect.

Why the Differences?

Why do we make a distinction between foundational values and minor issues?

Because GOD instructs us not to waste our time quarreling over every disagreement. 2 Timothy 2:14

Jesus should be the anchor for our souls. Hebrews 6:19

There are certain doctrines, theories, current trends, and issues that are worth pausing to consider, studying, reflecting upon, and discussing.

• However, many disagreements can become distractions from the overall mission of Christ.

• We do not have to agree on everything to love one another.

• We do not have to interpret every theological detail in exactly the same way to worship together.

• We do not have to belong to the same denomination, have the same background, or hold identical opinions on every minor issue to serve our community together.

• Our unity is found in CHRIST.

• The goal of The Safe Haven Grace Worship Center is not to create a place where everyone thinks exactly alike.

• Our goal is to create a place where people can seek GOD, learn His WORD, grow in their faith, serve others, and experience the love of CHRIST—together.