We Are Driven by our Mission and Vision

Our Mission   We will reach people who are in need of hope and healing, providing them a place of love and acceptance while teaching them the Gospel Lifestyle that brings wholeness to spirit, soul and body. Our Vision Statement   We purpose to be a Christ centered community of people who are co-laboring with the Holy Spirit to transform the worlds wounded into God's warriors. We will offer a pathway for spiritual growth that will heal, teach, equip, and release believers to be fruitful members of God's Kingdom, providing opportunities for ministry in our Church, our Communities, and the Nations.

Statement of Faith

Bible:  We believe the Bible is God’s inspired and inerrant written Word in the whole and in the parts, and our standard, not only where it speaks of matters of faith and practice, but also where it touches on matters of interest to science, history, and government. God:  We believe there is one triune God eternally manifested in the persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  He is Creator, Redeemer, and the Sovereign Ruler of creation. He is the author of truth, love, and faith. God the Father:  The Father sovereignly governs His creation and human history by His wise and holy providence. He is all-powerful, all-loving, all-wise, and righteous in all His ways and just in all His works. He demonstrates His fatherly love for all who become His children through Jesus Christ by caring for them, providing for them, instructing them, and disciplining them. His purpose is to prepare a family of redeemed people on the earth to show forth His glory. God the Son:  Jesus Christ is God the Son - the second person of the Trinity. He is eternally the uncreated Word of God. Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He was God incarnate; He perfectly revealed and did the will of the Father. He took upon Himself human nature and identified fully with humanity, yet remained without sin. He honored the Divine will and law by His obedience and through His death on the cross, He made provision for the redemption of all who would believe in Him. He was raised from the dead and appeared to His disciples. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God the father, where He is the One Mediator, effecting the reconciliation between God and man, and providing access to the Father for the believer. The Father has established Him as Lord over all things and has appointed Him as Judge of the world. He is the head of the Church. He will return in power and glory at the end of the present age to judge the world, to reign with His people, and to complete His redemptive mission by establishing in full measure the Kingdom and Reign of God. He will then return to the Father the government of all things, so that “God may be all in all.” (I Corinthians 15:20-28) He presently dwells in all believers through the Person of the Holy Spirit as the living and ever-present Lord. He is Heir of all things. He was and is the perfect Prophet, Priest, and King, representing God to humanity, humanity to God and being fully entitled to reign as King. God the Holy Spirit:  The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity. He exalts Christ. He convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment. He calls people to Jesus and effects regeneration. He inspired the authors of Scripture and has superintended both the recording and transmission of the Scripture. He grants revelation to men and women, enables them to understand and obey the truth, and illuminates and quickens God’s Word to them. He comforts, teaches, and guides God’s people and empowers them to obey God, to cultivate Christ-like character, and to be witnesses to Jesus Christ. There are many experiences which are valid encounters with God, the Holy Spirit. “Baptism in the Holy Spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit, anointed with the Holy Spirit” are among those Scriptural terms used to describe such encounters with the Holy Spirit. These experiences should produce greater commitment to God’s will, greater realization of His power, and greater edification of His Church. We further believe the Holy Spirit imparts gifts or abilities greater than our own to accomplish God’s will. These gifts include miraculous healings, revelations, and utterances. These gifts ought to be operative in the Church, supervised by mature leaders, and ministered in love by Christians whose lives reflect godly character. Man:  We believe man is a triune person (spirit, soul & body), created in the image of God as the crowning work of His creation. Man stood in unique relationship with his Creator and was commissioned to rule the earth under God’s headship. Through the temptation of Satan, man transgressed the command of God; thus, all his descendents inherit both a nature and an environment twisted by sin. Because of sin, man is separated from God and is without hope of reconciling himself to a just and holy God through any of his own efforts. Only the grace of God can restore man to his original calling:  to live in fellowship with God and to fulfill the purposes for which he was created. Salvation:  We believe that salvation involves the redemption of the whole person and is available only in and through Jesus Christ. It is offered to all people and is appropriated and experienced by those who respond in faith to God’s call to submit to His Son as Lord and Savior. Jesus, through the shedding of His blood, obtained eternal redemption for those who through faith believe in Him. This faith is a gift from God and is preceded by the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, who enables a person to repent of his sin and self-determination. The Scriptural evidence that one has repented and put his faith in Jesus Christ includes public confession, baptism in water, and the reception of the Holy Spirit. The gift of righteousness enables the believer to live a life of obedience to God’s will, as revealed in His Word, to respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and to cultivate and maintain right relationships. Covenant Life:  We believe God is a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. That is, He has made promises to those who respond to His love by committing their lives to Him. His promise of forgiveness and eternal life begins the moment one commits himself to Him. (From His sovereign perspective He knows those who are His.) He is the source of life and all necessary provision to the one believing. This provision, including both spiritual and natural resources, is available in abundance. Priesthood of the Believer:  We believe in the priesthood of the believer. By the shedding of His blood, Jesus has become the believer’s High Priest and has made it possible for each Christian to have free access to the presence of the Father. In His presence, each one can come to know God and to receive from Him. Each Christian, likewise, is responsible to come to the Father in confidence and faith as a priest unto Him under the New Covenant, and there to minister both the worship of his lips and the worship of his life sacrificially presented to God.

Our Church History

July 1996 By Kathleen Anderson In 1987 there was an influx of new members at Way of the Cross Church in Blaine, MN . Several had come from different churches in Elk River ; within a short time they were serving in many areas:  usher, greeter, youth activities, wedding coordinator, leadership, etc. As strong as the mark of servant hood characterized the Elk River group, so was the stamp of an evangelist upon the pastor of Way of the Cross Church (WOTC), Tom Stuart. Within those years had been a stirring in his heart to see sister churches raised up. This stirring turned into a vision, and as he shared it, those who felt the same stirring began to formulate a plan. After much prayer and discussion, two areas were targeted as sites for satellite churches. One was the East Bethel area south of Isanti, and one was Elk River . In the summer of 1990 a task force who felt committed to the Elk River work began a phone calling campaign in the Elk River area. Bob Pullar headed up the 'Phones For You' calling. Six thousand people were called; six hundred showed interest in this new church. Roger Sutch, an elder at WOTC, and his wife Judy were chosen to pastor, and they, along with the thirteen Elk River families who had been serving at WOTC and several families from Blaine who had made a short-term commitment had their first official Sunday service at VandenBerge Jr. High School on September 8, 1991. Roger and Judy taught 'Life in the Spirit' classes for years, helping bring people into a further walk in the Spirit; they laid that same foundation now on Sunday mornings as they taught the small congregation at VandenBerge, known as Way of the Cross, Elk River . In March, 1993, Roger and Judy returned to WOTC, along with most of the Blaine families. Bob Pullar, who had been an elder at WOTC and his wife, Marci, stepped in as pastor and pastor's wife. In July of 1994, under the recommendation of WOTC founding pastor Don Pfotenhauer, WOTC Elk River was released from its status as a satellite church, to become a local church with its own identity. In the months that followed the new church began to understand who it was that God made it to be. It seemed that the name Living Waters itself, once it was chosen, set the church on its path into the fullness of what God had for it, as well as bringing in an influx of new members. What had been a congregation of around one hundred began to quickly swell. In the years since that time, Living Waters Church continues to be marked as a body of people who have tasted of the goodness of God, who have known and experienced His presence in life-changing ways, and who like the early church, are devoted to teaching and fellowship and to the breaking of bread and prayer. <<< More To Come>>>