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JUMPSTART SC
Statement of Faith

Who We Are

JUMPSTART SC is an evangelical, nondenominational Christian ministry committed to sharing the hope of Jesus Christ and helping men and women build lives of faithfulness, purpose, and hope.

We joyfully work alongside Christians and churches from a variety of denominational traditions who share the historic essentials of the Christian faith. We recognize that faithful Christians may disagree on secondary matters of doctrine and practice. Our unity is centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ rather than agreement on every denominational distinctive.

Our Christian convictions are not simply statements we affirm. They shape why we serve, how we disciple, and the dignity, compassion, and respect with which we seek to treat every person.

Our Statement of Faith

  1. We believe the Bible is the perfectly inspired revelation of the character and purposes of God and is the ultimate foundation for all belief and behavior.
  2. We believe man was created to recognize the supreme value of God, to enjoy and honor Him in every area of life, but failed to do so through sinful actions and attitudes which are hostile to God.
  3. We believe the universe was created by God, is sustained by His power and is sovereignly controlled by Him. Sin has damaged the world God created and contributes to the pain and suffering of human existence.
  4. We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, eternally existing in equality with God. He lived on earth for 33 years having been conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, performed miracles and taught with authority. He willingly suffered death by crucifixion in order to absorb the wrath of God for sin, was buried, rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven.
  5. We believe God enters into relationship with all who place their full trust and hope in Jesus Christ. This saving work frees the believer from sin’s guilt, sin’s dominance and eventually sin’s presence.
  6. We believe salvation occurs as the Holy Spirit persuades man to receive Christ and subsequently empowers the believer to honor God through obedience and service.
  7. We believe all followers of Jesus Christ are invisibly connected by faith and visibly connected in a local church. Life in the body of Christ is a key ingredient to growth, worship, and service.
  8. We believe Jesus Christ will return to reward and judge all people. The church will enjoy His presence forever while the unbelieving world will experience eternal separation from all of God’s goodness and beauty.

How We Understand Our Faith

Our Statement of Faith expresses the foundational Christian beliefs that have historically guided JUMPSTART SC. The following statements provide additional context for how those beliefs inform our life and ministry.

The Triune God

We worship one God who eternally exists in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each is fully God, equal in divine nature and glory, yet God is one.

Salvation and the Christian Life

We believe salvation is God’s gracious gift, received through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone, rather than earned through human effort or good works. Those who belong to Christ are called to lives of ongoing repentance, faith, and obedience as the Holy Spirit works through God’s Word to increasingly conform them to the character of Christ.

Human Dignity, Marriage, and Sexuality

We believe God created human beings in His image, male and female, and therefore every person possesses God-given dignity and should be treated with compassion, respect, and love. We believe God established marriage as a covenant relationship between one man and one woman and designed sexual intimacy to be expressed exclusively within that marriage covenant. All followers of Christ are therefore called to sexual faithfulness within marriage and chastity outside of marriage, submitting our desires, relationships, and conduct to the teaching of Scripture.

How Our Faith Shapes Our Work

Our Christian convictions shape both why we serve and how we serve.

We believe genuine and lasting hope is found in Jesus Christ. For that reason, discipleship is central to the work of JUMPSTART SC. We seek to help men and women know God’s Word, grow in their relationship with Christ, learn to live according to biblical principles, take increasing responsibility for their lives, develop healthy relationships, and become meaningfully connected to a local church.

We also believe that every person bears the image of God. A person’s dignity is not erased by incarceration, criminal history, past failures, present struggles, or disagreement with our Christian beliefs. We therefore seek to treat every person we encounter with compassion, honesty, patience, fairness, respect, and love.

Our Leadership Values

These same convictions shape the way we lead and work together. Our five leadership values describe how we seek to put our faith into practice throughout JUMPSTART SC:

  • Love God & Love People. We seek first to honor God and to demonstrate genuine love for the people He has placed around us.
  • Live & Work for God’s Applause. We seek to work with integrity and excellence, remembering that our ultimate accountability is to God rather than the approval of people.
  • Collaborate, Innovate & Implement Best Practices. We believe faithful stewardship includes learning from one another, pursuing wisdom, improving the way we serve, and putting good ideas into practice.
  • Have Fun While Giving Our Best. We want our work to be marked both by excellence and by gratitude, joy, and healthy relationships with one another.
  • Measure & Celebrate Results. We seek to be responsible stewards of the work entrusted to us by measuring what matters, learning from results, and celebrating evidence of growth and progress.

We believe accountability and dignity belong together. Treating someone with dignity does not require ignoring destructive choices, and holding someone accountable does not require treating that person as though his or her failures define them. We seek to speak truth with grace, encourage personal responsibility, extend compassion, and point people toward the hope and transformation found in Jesus Christ.

Our desire is not merely to help people avoid returning to prison. We desire to see men and women build lives marked by faithfulness, healthy relationships, meaningful work and service, connection to Christian community, personal responsibility, and hope.

Serving with Conviction and Grace

JUMPSTART SC is unapologetically Christian in its identity, mission, and convictions. At the same time, we recognize that faithful Christians and churches may disagree about secondary matters of doctrine and practice.

We therefore seek to hold firmly to the historic essentials of the Christian faith while avoiding unnecessary division over denominational distinctives. We welcome opportunities to work alongside Christians and churches from different traditions wherever we can do so faithfully and without compromising our Christian convictions.

We share our faith openly and honestly because the gospel of Jesus Christ is central to who we are. At the same time, we seek to serve others with humility, compassion, and respect rather than manipulation or coercion. Our care for people is not conditioned upon their agreement with us, and we seek to respect the dignity of those who do not share our beliefs.

In all that we do, we desire to combine Christian conviction with Christian compassion—holding firmly to the truth we believe God has revealed while demonstrating the grace and love of Jesus Christ to every person we serve.