Our Beliefs
A Simple Summary
We believe that the Bible is God’s reliable message for us, and that God is our loving and just creator. We also believe that God gives us all spiritual benefits (for example, forgiveness, peace, and membership in God's family) through Jesus' death at the cross and his resurrection, because we as sinners are unable to save ourselves. We believe that the Holy Spirit lives in God’s children to help us become like Jesus Christ, and that one day believers will be perfectly like Jesus Christ when he comes back to set up his kingdom.
A Little More Detail
Since the beginning of the Church, the early church fathers defined the Christian faith in creeds like the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Chalcedonian Creed and the Athanasian Creed. In modern times, many Christian churches and organizations have also formulated statements of faith, like The National Association of Evangelicals Statement of Faith (see References)
We adhere to the historic Christian faith supported fundamentally by Scripture and expressed secondarily in each of these statements of faith. A summary statement of faith is:
- We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God (2Timothy 3:15-16, 1Corinthians 2:13, 2Peter 1:21).
- We believe that there is one indivisible creator God who is eternally existent in three distinct co-eternal and co-equal persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19, 2Corinthians 13:14).
- We believe in the true deity and the true humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory (John 1:1; 1John 4:2; Matthew 1:18-23; Hebrews 7:26; Acts 10:38; John 19:30; Acts 1:3, 2:32-36; Philippians 2:9-11; 1Thessalonians 4:14-17, John 14:3).
- We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, gracious regeneration by the Holy Spirit apart from human works and effort is absolutely essential (Romans 3:23, Ephesians 2:8-9).
- We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life (Ephesians 5:18-21).
- We believe complete sanctification will only be achieved for believers in God’s coming kingdom, but we should strive for it now through the Holy Spirit’s power. Sanctification embraces personal and interpersonal dimensions, including, for example, edification, kindness, forgiveness, purity, generosity, true worship, self control and industriousness in contrast to bitterness, anger, profanity, malicious slander, backbiting and gossip, sexual immorality, greediness, idolatry, drunkenness and substance abuse, and laziness (Ephesians 4:29-32; 1Peter 2:1; Galatians 5:15-23; 1Corinthians 5:11; 2Thessalonains 3:11-15).
- We believe God ordained marriage as the life-long union of one woman and one man, a union which is the only appropriate context for sexual intimacy (Genesis 2:24; Hebrews 13:4).
- We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation (John 5:28-29, Hebrews 2:3, Revelation 20:11-15).
- We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:1-6).
- We believe in the Church both in its universal and local aspects, with the purpose of witnessing to the Lord, building one another up, and worshipping the Lord including through the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (1Timothy 3:15; 1Corinthians 3:9; Matthew 28:19; Acts 18:8; Luke 22:19, Acts 2:42, 1Corinthians 11:23-27).
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostles%27_Creed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicene_Creed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalcedonian_Definition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasian_Creed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Evangelicals