Who we are

Christ, Our Cornerstone


Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. EPHESIANS 2:19-22 NKJV


HISTORY OF OUR CHURCH


In the early 1990's, a few friends & fellow students started a weekly Bible study fellowship in Philadelphia to study the Word of God & pray together. Over the years, the fellowship moved places & the Lord added new people & built up that group of believers.


Cornerstone Fellowship was officially formed in 2005 & continued to have fellowship & Bible studies on Fridays. In 2008, the church was started with weekly Sunday worship services & the Lord has established this church for His glory!


Cornerstone is a non-denominational, multi-cultural & Bible-believing Church living to glorify the name of the Lord Jesus Christ! 


ABOUT THE PASTOR


Visuvasam Dhanaraj is our founding pastor and he has been serving the Lord Jesus for over 30 years. Pastor Visu has a passion to see people come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ & have a living relationship with the Lord! He is blessed with his wife, Valentina and a wonderful team of leaders and volunteers who serve faithfully here at Cornerstone Fellowship!


VISION, PURPOSE AND MISSION

  • To know Christ & to make Him known
  • To lead people to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ
  • To disciple people to become disciple-makers
  • To build lives for the glory of God
  • To walk in the gifts and the fruit of the Holy Spirit
  • To serve the community with the love of Christ

WHAT WE BELIEVE


1. THE SCRIPTURES INSPIRED

The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are verbally inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct.


2. THE ONE TRUE GOD

The one true God has revealed Himself as the eternally self-existent "I AM," the Creator of heaven and earth and the Redeemer of mankind. He has further revealed Himself as embodying the principles of relationship and association as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 


3. THE DEITY OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. The Scriptures declare:

His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His substitutionary work on the cross, His bodily resurrection from the dead, His exaltation to the right hand of God, and His return and second coming.


4. THE FALL OF MAN

Man was created good and upright; for God said, "Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness." However, man by voluntary transgression fell and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God.


5. THE SALVATION OF MAN

Man's only hope of redemption is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Salvation is received through repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, being justified by grace through faith, man becomes an heir of God, according to the hope of eternal life. The inward evidence of salvation is the direct witness of the Spirit.The outward evidence to all men is a life of righteousness and true holiness.


6. THE ORDINANCES OF THE CHURCH

BAPTISM IN WATER:

The ordinance of baptism by immersion is commanded by the Scriptures. All who repent and believe on Christ as Savior and Lord are to be baptized. Thus, they declare to the world that they have died with Christ and that they also have been raised with Him to walk in newness of life.


HOLY COMMUNION:

The Lord's Supper, consisting of the elements --bread and the fruit of the vine-- is the symbol expressing our sharing the divine nature of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:4), a memorial of his suffering and death (1 Corinthians 11:26), and a prophecy of His second coming (1 Corinthians 11:26), and is enjoined on all believers "till He come!"


7. THE BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

All believers are entitled to and should ardently expect and earnestly seek the promise of the Father, the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire, according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the normal experience of all in the early Christian Church. With it comes the empowerment for life and service, the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry. This experience is distinct from and subsequent to the experience of the new birth.


With the baptism in the Holy Spirit come such experiences as:

  • an overflowing fullness of the Spirit, John 7:37-39, Acts 4:8
  • a deepened reverence for God, Acts 2:43, Hebrews 12:28
  • an intensified consecration to God and dedication to His work, Acts 2:42
  • a more active love for Christ, for His Word and for the lost, Mark 16:20
  • gifts of the Holy Spirit including speaking in tongues are valid biblical experiences even today, Acts 2:1-4; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 1 Corinthians 12:28

8. SANCTIFICATION

  • Sanctification is an act of separation from that which is evil, and of dedication unto God. Romans 12:1,2; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 13:12
  • The Scriptures teach a life of "holiness without which no man shall see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14
  • By the power of the Holy Spirit we are able to obey the command: "Be ye holy, for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:15,16
  • Sanctification is realized in the believer by recognizing his identification with Christ in His death and resurrection, and by the faith reckoning daily upon the fact of that union, and by offering every faculty continually to the dominion of the Holy Spirit.

9. THE CHURCH AND ITS MISSION

The Church is the Body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit, with divine appointments for the fulfillment of her great commission. Each believer, born of the Spirit, is an integral part of the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven.


Since God’s purpose concerning man is to seek and to save that which is lost, to be worshipped by man, to build a body of believers in the image of His Son, and to demonstrate His love and compassion for all the world, the priority reason for being part of the Church is:

  • To be an agency of God for evangelizing the world
  • To be a corporate body in which man may worship God
  • To be a channel of God’s purpose to build a body of saints being perfected in the image of His Son
  • To be a people who demonstrate God’s love and compassion for all the world

10. THE MINISTRY

A divinely called and scripturally ordained ministry has been provided by our Lord for the fourfold purpose of leading the Church in:

  • Evangelization of the world.
  • Worship of God.
  • Building a body of saints being perfected in the image of His Son.
  • Meeting human need with ministries of love and compassion.

11. DIVINE HEALING

Divine healing is an integral part of the gospel. Deliverance from sickness is provided for in the atonement and is the privilege of all believers.


12. THE BLESSED HOPE

The resurrection of those who have fallen asleep in Christ and their translation together with those who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord is the imminent and blessed hope of the church.


13. THE MILLENNIAL REIGN OF CHRIST

The second coming of Christ includes the rapture of the saints, which is our blessed hope, followed by the visible return of Christ with His saints to reign on earth for one thousand years.


14. THE FINAL JUDGMENT

A final judgment will take place for those who have rejected Christ's offer of salvation, forgiveness of sins through the sacrifice of Christ. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)


15. THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH

"We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness." 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21; Revelation 22