STATEMENT OF FAITH

GOD

We believe in one God, creator and sustainer of all things. He is perfect and unchanging; completely loving, good, and holy; limitless in knowledge, power, and presence. God eternally exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; one in essence, having the same divine attributes and perfections, with each person fulfilling distinct roles. Gracious in his eternal purpose to redeem a people for himself, God is worthy of wholehearted love and worship.

SCRIPTURE

We believe God has spoken through human authors in the Scriptures, the sixty-six canonical books of the Old and New Testaments. The Bible is the only written, verbally inspired Word of God and is self-attesting, unchanging, and without error in all it affirms. As God’s authoritative, infallible, and sufficient revelation for life, doctrine, and practice, the Bible is to be trusted and obeyed.

CREATION AND FALL

We believe God created all things, visible and invisible, out of nothing, and all very good. He sovereignly sustains and governs creation for his glory and the benefit of his creatures. God created humans in his image, male and female, to know, love, and glorify him in covenant relationship and to serve as stewards of the earth. The first man, Adam, sinned against God, resulting in alienation, death, guilt, shame, and a curse upon the earth. Separated from God and subject to his judgment, all humans have inherited a sinful nature from which they cannot save themselves.

JESUS

We believe in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, incarnated for our redemption, born of the virgin Mary, fully God and fully man, one person in two natures. As our substitute, he lived a sinless life and willingly gave himself as a propitiatory and reconciling sacrifice for our sins on the cross. He died, was buried, rose bodily on the third day, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father as the only mediator between God and humanity. One day he will return again to judge the living and the dead.

GOSPEL

We believe the gospel is the good news that God became man in Jesus Christ to reconcile lost people to himself. He lived a perfect, sinless life on our behalf and died on the cross for our sins. He was buried and on the third day rose from the dead, securing our redemption forever. Having triumphed over Satan and the forces of darkness, he ascended into heaven as Lord of all. Everyone who repents and believes in him receives forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

SALVATION

We believe that salvation, planned in eternity and promised throughout scripture, is God’s gracious act of rescue whereby he delivers lost and sinful people through faith in Christ’s redemptive work. Because of his great love, God makes people spiritually alive in Christ through regeneration by the Holy Spirit. By grace, God forgives and justifies people through faith, apart from works, conferring upon them all the benefits of union with Christ, including the gift of God’s righteousness, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and adoption into his family.

HOLY SPIRIT

We believe in God the Holy Spirit, giver and renewer of life, sent to guarantee our promised future. The Spirit convicts concerning sin, enlightens to the truth, awakens to repentance and faith, regenerates sinners, and unites believers to Christ, making them partakers of the divine nature. By the Spirit’s indwelling, Christians enjoy God’s presence and fellowship. By being filled with the Holy Spirit, Christians are divinely empowered for witness and ministry. As they bear the fruit of the Spirit and exercise spiritual gifts, believers edify the Church and bear witness to God’s kingdom.

MISSION

We believe God’s mission is to redeem a people for himself from every tribe, nation, and language and to restore creation for his glory. As the Father loved the world and sent his Son, and the Father and the Son sent the Spirit, the Triune God sends the Church into the world to proclaim the gospel, make disciples, and seek God’s justice and reconciliation in the world.

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CHURCH

We believe in one holy, universal, and apostolic Church, the body of Christ of which Jesus is the head. As God’s holy people on mission, the visible Church is expressed in gathered communities where believers assemble to pray, worship, hear God’s word, receive the sacraments, and fellowship with one another. Through the ministry of his Spirit, faithful disciples, and biblically-qualified leaders, Christ builds and grows his Church.

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SACRAMENTS

We believe that water baptism and communion are the two sacraments ordained by Christ, visible signs of God’s covenant of grace. Baptism is the sacrament of entrance into the Church by which believers publicly identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Communion is the sacrament whereby believers corporately remember Christ’s body given and his blood shed for their forgiveness. Sacraments are means of grace in which God is present, affirming his promises represented by the visible signs.

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SANCTIFICATION

We believe that sanctification is the process, beginning at regeneration, whereby God conforms his people to the image of Christ through his Word and Spirit. By grace, Christians grow in holiness and love for God and others throughout their lives as they submit to Jesus, obey God’s word, and walk by the Spirit in fellowship with other disciples.

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SECOND COMING

We believe that Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, will return to earth bodily, in power and glory, at a time fixed by the Father and unknown to the Church, to raise the dead and judge the world. He will clothe the righteous with immortal, glorious bodies, rewarding them according to their deeds. But the unrighteous, Satan, and the forces of darkness he will punish with eternal destruction. God will consummate redemption and renew creation, and his people from every nation will enjoy, worship, and reign with him forever.