The spirit in which we outline our beliefs is summarized well in the following quote:
“In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty;
in all things, charity.”― Augustine of Hippo
What We Believe
As a community of faith and disciples of Jesus Christ, here’s what we believe about:
God. We believe in one true and living God, creator of all things, eternally existing in a loving unity of three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—each co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and infinitely perfect. We believe that God is triune.
The Bible. We believe that the Bible is the revealed, divinely-inspired Word of God, given by the Holy Spirit through the writings of human authors. As fully divine and fully human, the Bible is the authoritative guide to knowing, serving, and loving the triune God and is the sufficient rule of faith and mandated practice for the believer.
Creation. We believe that creation is the act of God by which God brought the universe and all that it contains into existence; the universe is preserved by natural law which is an expression of God’s will; at the same time, God’s miraculous working is not excluded from nature, as a means of making known God’s plan and purpose according to the pleasure of God’s will.
Human Nature. We believe that all people are created in the image of God, and as such, we possess, among many other godlike characteristics, the ability and freedom to choose. God made humanity free so that we can freely choose to love the God who gave us life. Originally sinless, the first humans enjoyed a loving, fruitful, personal relationship with God until they became alienated in that relationship though a willful choice of disobedience. Like the fall of Adam and Eve, all persons are now sinners by nature and by choice, living below God’s ideal for our lives. Therefore, we believe people are incapable of escaping their sinful state and regaining a right relationship with God through their own efforts.
Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully human and fully divine, the virgin-born Son of God, the medium of revelation and redemption by virtue of his incarnation, life and death. God’s only way of reconciling sinful humanity to himself is provided in the work of Jesus Christ in his sinless life, his kingdom ministry, his sacrificial death on the cross, his resurrection, his ascension, and his present intercession he reveals at the same time God’s grace and his loving provisions for his creatures. Therefore, we believe that people are reconciled unto God only as they place their faith in the salvation provided in Jesus Christ.
Salvation. We believe salvation occurs when one accepts God’s unchanging, unconditional love for us by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. We believe God freely offers the forgiveness of sin to all people. We believe that confession, the acknowledgement of sin (i.e. the broken relationship between you and God) and taking responsibility for the wrongdoing, is the pathway for accepting God’s forgiveness. We believe that upon confession of sin and the accepting of God’s forgiveness, one is saved. That is, we believe salvation restores our relationship with God and secures our eternal destiny in heaven.
The Holy Spirit. We believe that God the Holy Spirit is the, “Giver of Life,” the one who inspires divinely chosen persons to live life to the full and celebrate the fullness of life. We believe the Holy Spirit makes us more aware and alive to of all the truth, goodness, and beauty that exists in the world. We believe the Holy Spirit reproves the world because of sin and heightens our sensitivities to situations in which the fullness of life is being diminished by oppression, injustice, or prejudice. We believe the Holy Spirit regenerates, sanctifies, and empowers the believer to be loving, compassionate, and considerate; and gives us power to endure pain and to seek change. Lastly, we believe God the Holy Spirit now represents God the Son on earth.
Sanctification. We believe that sanctification is the life long process of internalizing God’s unchanging, unconditional love for us by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. We believe that surrendering daily to God the Holy Spirit and living according to the Word of God, we are being disciples of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We believe that by internalizing God’s love, every believer should be maturing and becoming more like Jesus Christ, so that we can live for Christ and externalize God’s love for others in service.
The Church. We believe the church is the universal and spiritual body which includes all the redeemed of which Christ the Redeemer is the head. We believe the church is the local and visible community of believers: baptized on profession of faith in Christ; united under the direct, personal, undelegated lordship of Christ, and united in our mutual love and concern for one another and for others; called and willingly joined together for worship of God, service to others, and for carrying out the work of the Great Commission as given by Christ. We believe each church is an autonomous body under Christ, cooperating with other churches of like faith and order in the work of evangelizing the world and advancing the interest of the Kingdom of God. We believe the purpose of the church is to love God and to make God’s unchanging, unconditional love known by genuinely loving one another, despite our imperfections, in authentic community.
The Second Coming of Christ. We believe Jesus Christ is personally coming back to terminate the present age. The ultimate hope of the believer is not in history but in the great culminating event by which all of creation will be reconciled, the Kingdom of God will come in all it’s fullness, and God’s will, truly and completely, will be done. The conclusion of history takes place in the final judgment in which those who rejected God’s love and lived on earth separated from God will live eternally separated from God; and those who accepted God’s love and lived on earth in relationship with God will live eternally in relationship with God in a state of peace and righteousness.
