vision
God has raised up Connect Church in the Onalaska community to tell everyone of His grace, mercy, and love; gifting all who believe with connection to Him and eternal, new life. We desire to cultivate renewed minds in His Word to walk out our newness of spirit, soul, and body that He has provided.
Romans 6:4 NIV
”We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
values
THE WORD
We value God’s Word as the highest authority; personal and active in our lives. We preach and teach Jesus Christ was the “word made manifest” (1 John 1:2) and is “the same, yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). Our focus is developing a personal relationship with God based on knowing Jesus (John 17:3).
MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND BAPTISM
We value the working of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. We believe that God, through His Holy Spirit, is present, personal, and active in our lives. We believe God still ministers to and through His church in the same way He did throughout the New Testament and all gifts listed in Scripture. We believe if anyone has received Christ as their personal Savior, His Holy Spirit lives inside them, and that the power of God is fully available here for them through the seperate experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
PRAYER
We value prayer for intimacy with God. We believe in the power of prayer; that the prayers of the righteous avail much and that by doing so, the power of God is unleashed and made manifest into our lives and the lives of others.
TEACHING
We value knowing Jesus Christ (John 17:3). We believe that God's word is inspired and is the power of God in our lives. We teach to rightly divide the Word, and believe in doing so, we renew our minds to reign in this life as He desires. (Romans 5:17)
FELLOWSHIP
We value coming together for the equipping and encouraging of the family of Christ. We believe the church is the body of believers and not the building we meet in. We live out this value through meeting in small groups and other fellowship events. We encourage every believer to participate in events and gatherings of the body, and “all the more so as we see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).
MISSIONAL LIVING
We value a daily walk with God; much more than a Sunday service. We believe Jesus was our prime example of the Christian life in every way and aspect of His ministry and relationship with the Father. Missional living is our individual commitment to living out our faith through His ways/purposes; evangelism/outreach (bringing the message of the Gospel outside of the church), justice (caring for the abused, poor, oppressed, persecuted and marginalized), and global missions (spreading the Gospel message to the nations of the earth). We are committed to living out Jesus' Great Commandments (Matt. 22:37-40) and Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20), locally and abroad.
beliefs
There is only One divine connection between God and mankind and His name is Jesus. God demonstrated His love for all people by sending His Son to be the sacrifice for all sin, for all time. Anyone can be joined with God in relationship, love, and purpose-for-living by receiving Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord by a freewill choice. In doing so, a person becomes "born again" by the Spirit of God, having been raised up out of sin into a new life in the power and anointing of His Holy Spirit.
By recognizing that sin separates people from God and accepting the free gift of salvation through faith in the finished work of Christ, it becomes possible to live a sanctified and power-filled life on earth, which comes to the believer through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Living IN CHRIST prepares each born-again believer for the future purposes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
The Old and New Testaments are the inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God. In the Word we find the revelation of God's eternal and unchanging will for men and women of all ages. It is the the divine and final authority for the Christian life.
There is one God, the Creator of all things, Who is infinitely perfect and eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ is the union of God and man. He is True God and True Man concieved of the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin, Mary. He lived a sinless life and died on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of all men. He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into Heaven, and is presently seated at the right hand of the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.
Man was created in the image of God but fell into sin which resulted in his spiritual death or separation from God. Only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be obtained. This process of regeneration, called "born-again" in the Word, takes place through a combination of faith and confession. As a person makes the decision to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and then confesses with his/her mouth the Lordship of Jesus in their life, a miracle of regeneration by the Holy spirit takes place. A new Christian is born into the Kingdom of God, for him old things are passed away and all things are new!
Water baptism, Holy Spirit baptism, and the Lord's Supper are ordinances to be observed by the Church during the present age. They are not however to be confused with or regarded as a means of salvation. The shed blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only grounds for justification and salvation.
The present day ministry of the Holy Spirit is to comfort, guide, and anoint the believer with the final purpose of glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ in the earth. During this age He indwells, guides, instructs, and empowers the believer for Godly living and service. Every believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit and encouraged to let the Spirit flow in and through their lives, including gifts and speaking in tongues (1 Corinthians 12-14).
Every born-again, Spirit-filled believer should maintain a consistent prayer life in both praying with understanding and praying in the Spirit.
Without faith it is impossible to please God. The Word tells us that the just (those who have been justified by faith in the Blood of Jesus) shall live by faith. The redemptive work of Jesus not only provided salvation for the believer but provided healing and prosperity as well for our spirirtual, soul, and physical person. We are redeemed from the curse of the law - poverty, sickness, oppression, and other bondages. Our lives can be prosperous and healthy in every realm as we walk in the light of this redemption by faith in Christ's Work.
The Universal Church is composed of all those who are born again. Through this new birth we are united together in the Body of Christ. Jesus Christ is the Lord and Head of the Body/Church, and has provided leadership for the local church through the ministry gifts which only He can give. Every local church has the right under Christ to decide and govern its own affairs.
The pre-millennial Second Coming of Jesus Christ is two-part in nature: He will come in the air to resurrect the righteous dead and catch away the living saints. He will then come to the earth to establish His physical Kingdom and begin His thousand-year reign.
After the thousand-year reign, there will be a bodily resurrection of the unrightous dead from all time to be judged at the White Throne Judgment.
Our logo
The blood and the cross connect us to God, then each other.
The water is the flow of the Holy Spirit and washing of the Word.
Pastoral team & staff
Jerry & Nancy Hatlevig
Lead Pastors
Wanda Emerson
Children’s Pastor
Sarah Arnold
Worship Arts Leader