STATEMENT OF FAITH

The Bible. The sovereign and holy God of the universe has revealed himself to us through His inspired Word. Scripture is authoritative, instructive, and sufficient to guide us into deeper knowledge of who God is, how we are to live in relationship with Him, and who He has called us to be. His Word teaches us about His character, His historical interactions with mankind, and His plan for the redemption of the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God uses His living and active Word to bring His people to saving faith, to convict of sin, to encourage with hope and Truth, and to grow us in sanctification and Christlikeness.

 

God. There is only one God: the omnipotent, omniscient, transcendent Creator of the universe who spoke the world into existence. While remaining sovereign over the created order, He is also a personal God who loves and cares for His creation. This one God consists of three parts: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

 

God the Father. Throughout the pages of Scripture we see that our Creator God is defined by his holiness and supreme glory. He is perfect in all his attributes, and his ways are infinitely higher than our own. He is eternal, existing since before the foundation of the world, yet he remains unchanging. His promises are trustworthy and each of them will come to pass.

 

God the Son. Jesus Christ is the fully human, fully divine Son of God. He was born of a virgin and walked the earth as God incarnate. In his life he not only demonstrated how to love God and love others, but he showed the world how we might be saved from sin and reconciled to the Father. He lived a perfect life, free from sin, yet in love He laid down his innocent life on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. If we repent of our sin, believe in His gracious gift of salvation, and surrender to His Lordship, God is faithful to forgive our sins and count us righteous before Him. We can then enter into relationship with Him that begins in this life and stretches into our eternal dwelling with Him in heaven.

 

God the Holy Spirit. Those who have trusted in Christ for salvation by grace through faith are also empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit, who marks God’s presence in our lives and works in the world around us. The Spirit illuminates the truth of Scripture, strengthens believers to do His work, and is a source of comfort and encouragement as we face the trials of this world. The Spirit softens hearts and calls people to surrender to the Lord, and as such is the crucial agent of Christian mission. The Spirit is also a seal of our guaranteed future inheritance that has been promised by God.

 

Salvation. All have fallen short of the glory God and are separated from him because of sin. No one is righteous on his own merit, and no one can attain salvation on his own. But God, being rich in mercy, planned before the foundation of the world to reconcile sinners to himself through the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other name under heaven by which we might be saved. The sinless Savior died on the cross on our behalf; our debt has been paid in full; and our sinful status has been covered by his righteousness. This offer of salvation is a gift from God, and may only be obtained by grace through faith. Those who profess faith in Christ are made new as our old self has been put to death and our renewed hearts experience the indwelling Holy Spirit. Those who reject Christ will remain separated from Him in this life and in the life to come as they are condemned to eternal separation from Him.

 

The Church. The Church, the bride of Christ, is the global body of all believers in Jesus Christ and comprises many local churches around the world. The Church is the primary expression of God’s work in the world around us and is called to be His hands and feet, to be the aroma of Christ to a world that is perishing. The Church is also central to God’s plan for the spread of the gospel to all nations. As such, local churches serve as both the launching point of global missions as well as the goal of global missions, which is to see God worshiped and glorified by healthy, reproducible, Christ-centered churches existing among every nation, tribe, people, and tongue.