“In essentials unity. In non-essentials, charity. In all things, Jesus Christ.” —Chrysostom

The Evangelical Free Church of America strives to be welcoming
of different (but Biblical) faith traditions.

The heritage of the EFC people around the world includes the fact that fellowship and ministry opportunities in the local church are based solely on one’s personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and trusting in Him alone for salvation. Membership requires commitment to sound doctrine as expressed on our Statement of Faith. However, a person is not excluded from membership because he is not con­firmed, baptized or does not agree on every fine point of doctrine. Within the EFC, there is allowance for legitimate differences of understanding in some areas of doctrine, but there must be agreement and commitment to all 12 fundamental articles of the Statement of Faith.

The Evangelical Free Church is dogmatically flexible.

The EFC is born out of a heritage of commitment to the authority and inerrancy of Scripture. We have deep convictions based on the authority of God’s Word, but we do not draw battle lines over minor points. Nor do we make minor issues of doctrine a test of fellowship. We believe Christians should live lives that are morally pure and separated from sin in order to live in sincere devotion to Christ. But we do not judge or separate ourselves from others whose views in this area are different from ours … particularly in areas not clearly defined by Scripture.

The Evangelical Free Church recognizes and works with other churches as part of the Body of Christ.

We believe in the spiritual unity of all believers, while respecting the unique character and role of various denominations. We join with other Christians and other denominations of like precious faith in common goals and ministries to accomplish the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. But we believe that there is strength in diversity and that it is important to preserve our distinctives. We recognize that organizational union does not guarantee unity of spirit. Our foremost concern is unity of spirit with our Lord, with each other and with other Christians.

The Evangelical Free Church be­lieves that the Christian life
should engage both the head and the heart.

We believe the Scriptures must be ap­plied to our individual lives as God’s truth, but with warmth of heart, warmth of message and warmth of concern. We believe it is essential to have solid biblical content in our doctrinal understanding of faith, but it is equally im­portant to have a dynamic, vital relation­ship to God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son and live by the power of the Holy Spirit. Sound Christian doctrine must be coupled with dynamic Christian experience.

The Evangelical Free Church is congregational in government.

The EFC uses a congregational form of government. As stated in Article 10 of our Statement of Faith: “We believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Head of the Church and that every local church has the right, under Christ, to decide and govern its own affairs.”

Consistent with our commitment to not draw battle lines over minor points of biblical understanding, there is much freedom within the EFC as to how this government is structured. At OEFC we have an elder board which works with the pastor in giving spiritual leadership and oversight to the church. We have a Council of Ministers [COM] which assists the pastor and elders in various aspects of ministry and administration. The pastor, elders and COM work together with the congregation to prayerfully seek God’s will and direction for our church.