As the pillar and buttress of truth (1 Timothy 3:15), the church upholds the truth of the gospel. And in an age when so many question what is truth, it becomes important to know what a church believes before you decide to join it. 

We Are a Confessional Church  

Kinney is a confessional church. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, having dedicated themselves to the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42). In fact, the early Christians confessed certain doctrinal truths together, as seen in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 and Colossians 1:15-20. Today, Kinney simply follows in their example. So then, to be a “confessional church” means that, together as a body, we “confess” or “hold to” specific truths of the Christian faith.

As confessional Christians, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 serves as our statement of faith. To be sure, this confession does not explain all that our members believe, but it is a summary of the basic beliefs required for membership at Kinney.  

Read the Baptist Faith and Message 2000

The Way We Distinguish Doctrines

At Kinney, we believe that all that the Bible teaches (doctrine) is important. But for the glory of Christ, the unity of the church, and our mission, we understand that we must distinguish between those doctrines that are essential to Christianity, those that distinguish us as a church, and those that Christians are free to differ on. We distinguish these doctrines in three categories: core, characteristic, and charity beliefs.  

  • CORE beliefs are those doctrines that represent historic and evangelical Christianity. In other words, they are beliefs that are required for someone to be a Christian. CORE beliefs include: the deity of Christ, salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, the Trinity, etc. 

  • CHARACTERISTIC beliefs are those doctrines that characterize Kinney. In other words, there are other true churches filled with true Christians who might believe differently than we do on these beliefs. CHARACTERISTIC beliefs include: believer’s baptism, congregational government, etc.

  • CHARITY beliefs are those beliefs that Christians can agree to disagree on. In other words, we will seek to be charitable  with one another on these particular beliefs. CHARITY beliefs include: alcohol consumption, details on the timing of the second coming of Christ, the Sabbath vs. the Lord’s day, etc. First Corinthians 8 and Romans 14 teach us how we relate to one another regarding charity beliefs.

*Required for membership at Kinney is believing the CORE and CHARACTERISTIC beliefs summarized in our Confession of Faith.

(Adapted from highpointeaustin.org/what-high-pointe-believes/)