What is the 'Upward Path'? Why here in Fremont County?

  STATEMENT OF FAITH

               We believe...

• That there is one God eternally existing in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
• That the Bible is God's written revelation to man, and that it is verbally inspired, authoritative, and without error in the original manuscripts.
• In the deity of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, death on the cross to provide for our redemption, bodily resurrection and ascension into heaven, present ministry of intercession for us, and His return in power and glory.
• In the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit, that performs the miracle of new birth in an unbeliever and indwells believers, enabling them to live a godly life.
• That man was created in the image of God, but because of sin was alienated from God. Only through faith in Christ alone for salvation, which was made possible by His death and resurrection, can that alienation be removed and eternal life secured.

Upward Path Radio Community Standards (April 2025)

Our Christian Community.
 

Upward Path Radio (aka UPR) is a Christian community that exists to exercise and express our Christian beliefs and Christian mission. These beliefs include those set forth in the Statement of Faith and additional beliefs set forth in this Policy.

Our mission is to inspire Christ-like change through our radio programs, authentic relationships, and Biblical truth.

We exercise and express our beliefs in various ways, including:

1. As a Community. We believe that God calls people to live out their faith in community with other believers, and our Christian community is itself an exercise and expression of our Christian beliefs; and
2. Through Our Actions. We believe that all of our actions should express our beliefs and be rendered in service to God as a form of worship. 

Roles and Expectations for Participants.
 

In furtherance of its mission, UPR engages in activities and provides facilities for evangelism and other activities. Participants are generally not required to adopt our Statement of Christian Beliefs. But all participants are expected in the course of their participation in our community to respect our beliefs, support our mission and comply with the Christian community standards contained in this document. We may give preference for volunteer positions to individuals who share our Christian beliefs.

Standards For Community Activities and Facility Use.
 

We engage in activities and use our facilities to exercise and express our Christian beliefs and to further our Christian mission or purposes. In furtherance of our purposes, we may provide services to, and may allow use of our facilities by, other groups and persons who are not associated with UPR. But we may prohibit any activity, or any use of UPR facilities by another group or person, if we determine that such activity or use either:

1. expresses a view contrary to our Christian beliefs,
2. is inconsistent with any applicable Christian community standards adopted by UPR, or
3. materially undermines our ability to accomplish our mission or act in furtherance of our purposes.

Implementation: Compliance with Community Standards
 

The determination as to whether any particular participant, activity or use of UPR facilities complies with the applicable standards requires spiritual discernment applied to each particular circumstance and shall be made in the sole discretion of station management. With respect to uses by other groups or persons, UPR may consider without limitation both the content of the proposed activities and whether the group or person is generally perceived as advocating views contrary to its Christian beliefs.

If any UPR participant does not comply with any applicable community standard, such individual shall have an obligation to disclose such noncompliance to UPR. If UPR determines, through such disclosure or otherwise, that a UPR participant is not complying with an applicable community standard then UPR may, in its sole discretion, determine the impact of any initial noncompliance on UPR's exercise and expression of its Christian beliefs, and whether such individual or group intends or is likely to continue in such noncompliance. Such determinations also require spiritual discernment and shall be made as described above.

UPR may also dismiss such individual from his or her position on the basis that such individual's noncompliance either (i) reflects that the individual does not affirm the Christian beliefs required for such position or (ii) undermines the expression and exercise of the UPR Christian community. Such action may be taken in accordance with any applicable procedures adopted by UPR.

Additional  Standards for Our Community.
 

In response to current cultural trends, we have determined to articulate more specifically our Christian beliefs and associated community standards on the following subjects.

Religious Activities

We engage primarily in activities that further our Christian mission or purposes. Because we believe that all such activities are conducted in service to God as means for spiritual growth, we consider these activities to be a form of worship.

We distinguish between exclusively religious activities and integrated religious activities. Exclusively religious activities refer to activities that primarily further only religious purposes, such as devotional worship. Integrated religious activities refer to activities that substantially further both religious and nonreligious purposes. Such activities are often similar to activities conducted by nonreligious organizations and may include certain educational programs, athletic, cultural, humanitarian and social service activities. We conduct such activities in response to God's calling and in furtherance of and in accordance with our Christian beliefs. In addition, we present our Christian viewpoints in such activities as applicable.

With respect to restrictions that may be imposed on the use of funds, facilities or other benefits, we shall not agree to any restriction that would preclude us from conducting our integrated religious activities in furtherance of our Christian mission and in accordance with our Christian beliefs. To the extent consistent with this commitment, we may agree not to use designated funds, facilities or benefits for exclusively religious activities.

Use of Controlled Substances

We believe that the Bible permits the moderate use of alcohol, but does not permit drunkenness, in part because intoxication may undermine the role of the Holy Spirit in forming the minds and hearts of individuals. Similarly, we believe that the Bible does not permit the use of marijuana and controlled substances, except for medical reasons.

Therefore, we expect all UPR participants to avoid drunkenness, and to exercise careful discernment in their use (if any) of alcohol and tobacco (and electronic equivalents) Further, we expect that participants shall avoid the use of marijuana and controlled substances, except for medical reasons approved by management. Finally, we expect all community participants to comply with these same standards while participating in our community.

Human Sexuality and Marriage
 

Our Christian Beliefs.
 

We believe that God has created each of us to pursue intimacy with Him, and that He calls some of us to this pursuit through marriage and others through singleness. We believe that God (i) creates people in His image as two distinct genders, male and female, and that the intended gender of an individual is determined by such individual's biological sex at birth, (ii) has instituted marriage as a lifelong covenant relationship between one man and one woman, and (iii) calls husbands and wives to exclusive sexual fidelity, and unmarried singles to abstain from sexual relations.

Therefore, we believe that sexual relations outside of marriage (whether involving individuals of the same or opposite sex) undermine the dignity and image of God in us, alienate us from God and from each other, and cause harm to all individuals involved. We further believe that individuals should avoid situations where there is undue temptation and opportunity to engage in such sexual relations. We further believe that pornographic materials undermine the dignity and image of God in individuals and promote sexual conduct contrary to our Christian beliefs.

Standards  for Community Activities.
 Our beliefs regarding human sexuality and marriage shall apply in all policies and programs in the UPR Christian community. 

Standards for Community Participants.
We expect all participants not to affirm, promote, or engage in sexual relations contrary to our beliefs in connection with their use of UPR facilities or participation in UPR activities.

We also expect participants while at our facilities or participating in our activities to refrain from public displays of physical affection that could interfere with our mission.

We expect all guest groups to respect our Christian beliefs while participating in our activities or using our facilities. We do not accept guest groups whose primary mission or objectives are to promote, encourage or support views in conflict with our beliefs, even if that is not the intended purpose of their event. For example, we would not host a Christian group formed to affirm same sex relationships even if the group's event objectives were consistent with our beliefs.

Sanctity of Life
We believe that all individuals are created by God in His image commencing at conception/fertilization. We accordingly believe as a matter of Christian conviction that no procedures should be performed to terminate a pregnancy and take the life of an unborn child, except in extraordinary circumstances where other Biblical, moral principles prevail, such as where medically necessary to preserve the life of the mother. Our beliefs also prohibit paying for or otherwise facilitating such procedures.

Social Media, Political Activity and Other Public Statements
In any public forum, including social media, we expect participants to respect our Christian beliefs and not to challenge, disparage or undermine them.

We recognize that many Christians separate religious moral issues (i.e., how Christians ought to behave) from the civil rights issues (i.e., how civil society ought to regulate behavior). For example, leaders may share similar religious beliefs regarding social justice and caring for the poor, but they may hold different positions related to how to apply these beliefs in the civil arena.

In some situations, advocacy for certain political positions may reasonably be construed by others as support for certain religious beliefs contrary to those held by UPR. In such situations, we require participants to refrain from publicly advocating for such political positions.

In this regard, support for civil rights regarding same sex marriage or sexual orientation can, and often is, construed as support for beliefs inconsistent with our beliefs. Therefore, we require participants to refrain from assuming leadership as public advocates or spokespersons regarding civil rights for same sex marriage or sexual orientation.