About Encounter Church
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Welcome to Encounter Church in Pittsburgh. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, fully inspired and without error in the original manuscripts, written by men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that it has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. The Bible, including all the books of the Old Testament and New Testament, is Holy Scripture and the inspired true word of God. It is fully authoritative and our only absolutely trustworthy guide for life and faith. We believe that eternal life in heaven is the reward of all who believe and receive Christ as their Lord.
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture. The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.
About The Sacraments: We believe in partaking of the sacrament of Baptism in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit following a person's profession of faith in Christ. We believe in Communion, the receiving of the Lord's Supper (bread and grape juice representing the Body and Blood of Christ) as a remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross.
About Tenacity: Never give up - A river cuts through rock, not because of its power but because of its perseverance. 'Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus... who for the joy set before him endured the cross... so you will not grow weary and lose heart' - Hebrews 12:1-3