Statement of Faith

We believe that God has graciously revealed his existence and power in the created order, that he has further revealed himself through his Spirit in the Scriptures, and that he has supremely revealed himself in Jesus, the incarnate Word. We believe that God has inspired the very words recorded in the Scriptures, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments. These writings alone constitute the verbally inspired Word of God, which is without error in the original writings, complete in its revelation of his will for salvation, sufficient for all that God requires us to believe and do, and final in its authority over every domain of knowledge to which it speaks.

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three equally and fully divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who know, love, and glorify one another. This one true and living God is infinitely perfect. He is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy to receive all glory and adoration. Immortal and eternal, he perfectly and exhaustively knows the end from the beginning, sustains and sovereignly rules over all things, and providentially brings about his eternal good purposes to redeem a people for himself and restore his fallen creation, to the praise of his glorious grace.

We believe in God the Father, the first member of the Trinity, who possesses all the attributes and perfections of the Godhead. God the Father is the Creator of heaven and earth. By his Son, he freely and supernaturally created the world from nothing. He rules over all things and does all things for the praise of his glory. The Father is merciful and gracious, forgiving, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Likewise, the Father is faithful to his covenant promises and is holy and righteous, never ignoring sin or clearing the guilty unjustly. Out of his grace and for the glory of his name, the Father chose a people for himself and sent his Son to accomplish the redemption of those people. Furthermore, the Father draws those people in love and works actively through his Spirit to sanctify them and bring them all to glory.

We believe in Jesus Christ, the second member of the Trinity, the unique and eternal Son of God, who possesses all the attributes and perfections of the Godhead. In the incarnation, God the Son became flesh, being supernaturally conceived by the virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. Through him all things came into being, and in him all things hold together. He is the image of the invisible God, the exact representation of his nature. He is the only Savior for humanity, having offered himself on the cross as a sinless sacrifice in the place of sinners—the just dying for the unjust—so that he might bring us to God. We believe that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead bodily on the third day, that Jesus appeared to many faithful witnesses, and that Jesus ascended into heaven to take his seat at the right hand of the throne of God, from which he intercedes for his people as their great high priest, and from which he reigns until the day when all of his enemies are put under his feet. We confess that Jesus is Lord and that he is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament. We also believe that Jesus is the head of the church, which is his body, and that he will come again to judge sinners and to dwell with his people forever. Thus, Jesus is worthy of our faith, our hope, our adoration, our love, our service, and our obedience.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity, who possesses all the attributes and perfections of the Godhead. Being sent by the Father and the Son, the Spirit glorifies Jesus and convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. As the gospel is proclaimed, the Spirit leads sinners to repent of their sins and to confess Jesus as Lord. It is through the Spirit’s power that spiritually dead sinners are brought to new life. Furthermore, the Spirit is constantly present with and in believers to strengthen and lead them. Through the Spirit’s work, believers are led into a right understanding and rich application of the truth of God’s Word, are endowed with gifts to be used for the good of the body, and are empowered for Christ-like service and holy living. The Spirit indwells, intercedes for, and comforts believers; likewise, the Spirit assures those who are Christ’s that they truly belong to the family of God. The Spirit is himself the down payment of our promised inheritance; and, just as God raised Jesus from the dead through the Spirit, so also, through that same Spirit, God will give life to our mortal bodies.

We believe that God created human beings, male and female, in his own image, to reflect and to display what God is like. Adam and Eve were the crowning jewels of the created order that God himself declared to be very good. They were created by God to care for, manage, and govern creation, living in holy and loving fellowship with their Maker. Since all human beings are created in God’s image and trace their ancestry to the same parents, there is fundamental equality within the human race. All human beings, regardless of ethnicity, age, sex, or social status, are equally valuable and precious. Thus, all human life ought to be cherished, and all human beings ought to be treated with respect and love as those whom God has created and loved.

By God’s design, Adam and Eve were made to complement each other in a one-flesh union that establishes the only divinely approved pattern of sexual relations for men and women, such that marriage ultimately serves as a type of union between Christ and his church. In his wise purposes, God ordains distinctive roles within marriage that reflect the loving relationship between Christ and his church, the husband exercising headship in a way that displays the caring, sacrificial love of Christ, and the wife submitting to her husband in a way that models the love of the church for her Lord. In the ministry of the church, the distinctive leadership role of the elder is to be filled only by qualified men; however, both men and women are encouraged to serve Christ and to utilize their unique gifts and abilities in the many ministries of the church.

We believe that, although God created the human race free from sin, Adam and Eve chose to follow Satan, God’s enemy, in defiance of their Creator. Through this rebellion, death and condemnation has spread to all people. Furthermore, all of creation has been subjected to a divine curse. Every human being is alienated from God, is under the dominion of Satan, is corrupted in every aspect of his or her being (e.g., mentally, volitionally, emotionally), and stands under the sentence of death—apart from God’s own gracious intervention. Therefore, the supreme need of all human beings is to be rescued from sin and death, to be reconciled to God, and to be saved from his just and holy wrath.

We believe that the gospel is the good news about God’s Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. We believe that the gospel defines and unites the people of God. The gospel is an exclusive message in that it expresses the only hope of salvation; yet, the gospel is also an inclusive message in that it offers hope for all people. This gospel was promised and testified to in the Old Testament and is fulfilled, proclaimed, and explained in the New Testament. Though foolishness to the world, the gospel is the power of God to those who are being saved.

The gospel is the good news that God, the Creator of heaven and earth, has come to the rescue of the unrighteous and that he is, today, offering righteousness that is not our own as a free gift to all who trust in his Son, Jesus of Nazareth, our Lord, who lived a sinless life, died in our place for our sins, and was raised from the dead on the third day.

We believe that all those who trust fully and solely in this gospel are united inseparably to Christ, are indwelt permanently by the Holy Spirit, and are declared righteous by God, being forgiven of all their sins and being credited with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

We believe that those who have truly been brought from death to life will, by God’s grace, the Spirit’s enablement, and the encouragement of the church family, demonstrate this reality through their joyful obedience to the Lord Jesus. Though genuine believers can, and often do, sin, we believe that the work of Christ frees all of his people not only from sin’s penalty but also from sin’s authority. Believers have been set free from sin’s bondage and are now enabled through the Spirit to put to death evil thoughts and deeds and to live in a way that reflects and displays the Lord Jesus. Believers participate actively and willingly in this process of sanctification, as God works powerfully within his people, both individually and corporately, both the desire and the ability to obey his commands. This growth will not be fully complete in this life but will continue, by God’s grace, until the day when we see Christ and become fully like him.

We believe that the church is comprised of all genuine followers of Jesus who have personally placed their trust in Christ as Lord and Savior. The church is unified not by ethnicity, sex, economic rank, or social status, but by its shared confession of Jesus as Lord and by virtue of sharing in the same Holy Spirit. We believe that the church exists to worship God, to proclaim the gospel, to make disciples of all nations, to care for and build up its members, and to do good to all people—all to the glory of God.

We believe that this one universal church is manifested in local churches over which Christ is the only Head. A local church is a spiritual family, consisting of believers in Christ who covenant together as one body under the lordship of Christ to do his will. The church is to gather regularly for prayer, Scripture reading, singing, giving, preaching, fellowship, and the ordinances. Every member of a local church is gifted by God in unique ways for the good of the entire body and is to serve Christ faithfully and to seek the well-being of his or her brothers and sisters.

The local church has been given two primary offices for today: elders (also known as pastors or overseers) and deacons. An elder’s primary role is to lead the church to follow Christ through his own example, through prayer, and through preaching and teaching the Word of God. This leadership role in the church is reserved for biblically qualified men. Deacons are also to be biblically qualified and are designated as those whose primary role is to serve the body, especially by caring for its tangible needs.

We believe that the local church has been given two ordinances: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is the initiatory sign that one has entered the new covenant community by faith. In baptism, believers are immersed in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This public act signifies the inward change that God has worked in the heart. The believer has died with Christ to sin and has been raised with Christ to walk in the newness of life. On the other hand, the Lord’s Supper is the continual sign that one belongs to the new covenant community and is a recipient of the benefits of Christ’s death, especially the forgiveness of sins. The Lord’s Supper functions as a symbolic reminder of the redemptive work of Christ and serves to strengthen believers by pointing us back to the cross, reminding us of the unity of the church, and encouraging us to look forward to the return of Christ.

We believe that Jesus is coming again personally, gloriously, and bodily to be united with his bride, the church, to exercise his role as Judge, and to consummate his kingdom. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous—the righteous to eternal joy in the presence of Christ in the new heaven and new earth, and the unrighteous to judgment and eternal punishment away from the presence of the Lord. In the consummation, Satan and his forces will be judged, sin will be eradicated, and those who belong to Christ will be in the presence of God forever, dwelling with him in holiness, serving him with joy, and giving him unending praise, honor, and glory.