​Colling is a Church of the Nazarene​​
That means that we have chosen to connect ourselves to other churches—both in Michigan and around the world—to support and participate in God’s mission.
Our denominational connection allow us to participate in God’s mission in incredible ways:
·We are connected to God’s work in over 65 other churched in our state through the Eastern Michigan District.
·We are connected to God’s work in the midwest (and around the world) through Olivet Nazarene University—one of 10 denominational colleges in the United States, and one of 53 worldwide.
·We are connected to God’s work across the globe through the General Church of the Nazarene. Our support of the General Church sends and funds missionaries, provides for compassionate ministries (humanitarian aid, disaster response, child sponsorship), and makes training and resources available to further God’s work around the world.
·Nazarene Core Values: Christian. Missional. Holiness.
·We are Christian.

We are a part of the greater Christian faith—that is, we believe, along with all Christians:
·In God, the Father, Almighty—maker of heaven and earth.
In Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord
     Who was conceived by the Holy Spirt
     Born of the Virgin Mary
     Suffered under Pontius Pilate
     Was crucified, dead, and buried
     He descended into hell
     On the third day He rose again
     He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father, Almighty
     From thence He shall come again to judge the living and the dead.
In the Holy Spirit
In the holy Church universal
In the communion of saints
In the forgiveness of sins
In the resurrection of the body
In the life everlasting
·We are missional.
·We believe in living out the call that Jesus gave to all his disciples:
·“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” - Matthew 28:19-20
·We are holiness.
·We believe that Jesus’s suffering, death, and resurrection were meant to give us more than a simple, “get-out-of-hell-free” pass.
·He died and rose again so that we could find power in Him to live in and interact with the world around us like He did. We call that “holiness,” and Nazarenes believe that holiness isn’t something that we do ourselves; it is something the Holy Spirit does in us.
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Our beliefs: We believe.

We believe in One God—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

We believe the Bible—both the Old and New Testaments together—is the inspired Word of God, and that it contains every truth we need for faith and life in Christ.

We believe every person is born with a bent to selfishness and sin.

We believe Jesus was God ‘in the flesh,’ and that He became a man, lived, died, and rose again so that we could know who God is, and so that we could find freedom and fulfillment through relationship with Him.

We believe there are two kinds of people: those who insist on living their own way and those who follow Jesus. Those who continue to insist on their own way will end up hopelessly and eternally lost.

We believe that Jesus died for everyone; there are no exceptions. We believe any person who repents of their sin and believes in Jesus Christ is made right, made new, and set free from sin—not just from the wrong they have done, but from the power that sin once held over them. 

We believe there is more to relationship with Jesus than just mentally recognizing who He is; we are called by His love and empowered by His Spirit to give our lives completely to Him. When we do that, He changes our hearts so that we don’t live selfishly anymore—we live in love and obedience to Him.
We believe this is a distinct decision from our belief in Jesus. It’s when a believer chooses this reality: “Everything I am, I set apart to God; I don’t belong to myself anymore, I belong to Jesus.” This decision, made in a moment, is one that we live out and grow into for the rest of our lives. We believe the Holy Spirit empowers the believer both when they first believe and when they commit themselves completely to Jesus, and that He bears witness to both of those life-changing decisions.
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We believe that Jesus is coming again, that the dead in Christ will be raised, and that there will be a final judgment.

​Holiness: Here's what we mean when we talk about holiness:

We believe that Jesus’s suffering, death, and resurrection were meant to give us more than a simple, “get-out-of-hell-free” pass. He died and rose again so that we could find power in Him to live in and interact with the world around us like He did. We call that “holiness,” and Nazarenes believe that holiness isn’t something that we do ourselves; it is something the Holy Spirit does in us.

Holy people love Jesus entirely.

They love Jesus with all their heart, and they follow Him with everything they have.

Holy people trust God completely.

They don’t hold anything back. They choose that God gets to call all the shots, and they decide in advance that they will go anywhere or do anything that He asks.

Holy people live life powerfully.

The Holy Spirit’s presence makes people holy, changing them into people who live every moment for the kingdom of God, not for themselves. His power, at work in and through the lives of His people, changes our world. It is through God’s people that He makes His kingdom come and His will be done ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’

Holy people are ordinary people, changed by an extraordinary God.
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People don’t earn holiness—and God doesn’t only choose ‘special people’ to be holy. The Holy Spirit is given to every believer. If we will let Him, God will make us holy, so that He can love, change, and save the world through us!

Articles of Faith

Our Articles of Faith can be found online at

​ http://nazarene.org/articles-faith
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