DECLARATION OF FAITH

The church of Jesus Christ is called to worship and praise the Triune God, to teach the Word of God for the edification of God’s people, and to witness to the power and grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ through word and deed, for His glory. As she engages in the task of witness in and across cultures, the church labors toward the conversion of men, women and children to saving faith in Christ; the maturing of the Body of Christ in every culture; and the transformation of society, thought and culture, according to the Word of God.

Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

We subscribe to the following summary of our Biblical faith.

SCRIPTURE

The Bible of the Old and New Testaments is the inspired Word of God, is infallible and inerrant in its original manuscripts in all it affirms, in matters of faith, conduct, history and science, and is the only authority for every believer and the church. The Word of God alone can bind the human conscience. Christians receive the Bible as the Word of God because of the testimony in Scripture by the Holy Spirit, Who is its Author. Read more…

II Timothy 3:16-17

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

John 14:26

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

GOD

There is only one true, living and Triune God, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Who is infinite, eternal, and unchanging in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. The three persons of the Triune God are equal in glory and power, and worthy of worship. Read more…

Psalm 90:2

Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Daniel 2:20-21

Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.

SIN

In Adam’s one sin all mankind sinned and fell into death, and is subject to God’s eternal judgment and curse. Only by the grace of God in Christ can men and women be redeemed from sin, and reconciled with God. Read more…

Romans 5:12

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.

Romans 5:18, 19

Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

JESUS CHRIST

Jesus Christ is God the Son, eternally begotten by the Father. Fully God and fully man, he took on human nature, was born of a virgin, and lived a sinless life among us. He died on the cross as a substitutionary, propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of God’s people. Jesus Christ bodily rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and will physically, visibly and imminently return to judge the living and the dead. Read more…

Galatians 4:4,5

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

Romans 8:3

For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man.

SALVATION

Jesus Christ is the only way to know God. Salvation is by the grace of God alone, and received through faith alone. Read more…

Acts 4:12

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

John 14:6

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Ephesians 2:5-9

[God] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions- it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.

Romans 3:23-26

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

THE NEW LIFE

True repentance and faith will bear the fruit of obedience and good works. Faith and its fruits are not meritorious before God, but are the results of the Spirit’s gracious work in men and women. Born again men and women are exhorted to live holy lives in obedience to the Word of God, to the glory of God. Read more…

John 15:4-6

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

Ezekiel 36:26, 27

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Romans 12:2

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ. All believers are filled by the Spirit as they yield in repentance and faith to His sovereign and gracious rule. The Holy Spirit is the giver of all gifts for the work of ministry in the Kingdom of God. Read more…

Romans 8:9

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

Ephesians 4:4-7, 10-16

There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY

The Church is the people of God and the Body of Christ, instituted by God to worship Him, proclaim His Word, evangelize the lost and instruct His people, for His glory. All who have professed faith in Christ, and their children, have the right to belong to the visible church on earth, and to receive her teaching and discipline. Christian parents and churches are obligated to pray with and for their children, and to bring them, by the Word of God, to fear and know Him, and to repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We affirm the spiritual unity of all believers in Christ throughout history. Read more…

Deuteronomy 6:6, 7

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

  • CULTURE

    Culture is the product of men and women created in God’s image, as they carry out the mandate to manage and rule over the earth. Thus all culture bears the marks of God’s image. Since all mankind has fallen in Adam, all cultures have been marred with sin, and are judged in the light of the Word of God. Read more…

    Romans 1:18-21

    The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

    Genesis 2:15

    The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

  • THE GOSPEL AND CULTURE

    As men and women receive the Word of God and mature as the church of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit illumines them by His Word as they view and engage their own culture. In this process, some elements in culture will be affirmed and retained; some will be modified and adjusted for use in life and ministry; and still others will be rejected as contrary to the principles of the Word of God. We reject any belief and conduct built on the mixture of the Christian gospel and the philosophies and religions of the world.

  • HISTORY

    History is the record of God’s redemption of His people, His revelation of truth, and the response of mankind in obedience and disobedience to Him. History be consummated with the return of Christ to gather His people, judge the world, and usher in a new heaven and new earth. Read more…

    Ephesians 1:10

    To be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment – to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.