OUR CONFESSION OF FAITH
In effort to affirm the essential teachings of the Bible, setting forth those things that concern the meaning of life, the proclamation of the Church, and the way of Salvation. This effort is to be constantly under review, and is to be reaffirmed with such changes as the Holy Spirit may direct.
GOD
We believe in God, the everlasting Father, the Creator of all things, in whom we live and move and have our being.
THE TRINITY
We believe that God is personal and holy, eternal and sovereign, and perfect in wisdom, power and love. Known through the universe around us, and the moral law within us. He is more thoroughly revealed through His activity in history, being manifested through the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, interpreted by the Holy Spirit, as recorded in the Scriptures.
We therefore, believe in the Father, the Lord of the universe, and in the Son who is the Word of God, and the Savior of mankind, and in the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier and Helper of the People of God, One God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.
THE SCRIPTURES
We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the written record, inspired by the Holy spirit, of God’s revelation of Himself to mankind through Israel, and above all through Jesus Christ, the Living and Incarnate Word. The Scriptures are interpreted by the Holy Spirit, who takes the things of Christ and God and makes them known to us, applying them savingly to our hearts.
MAN
We believe that God created man in His own image and likeness and gave him dominion over all His creatures. Man’s chief end is to worship and serve God and rejoice in Him forever.
We confess that we and all men have rebelled against God, corrupted our own nature and marred God’s creation through sin. As a result, we depend for salvation upon the Grace of God alone. There being nothing in our own nature or attainments that can bring us to justification.
THE MEDIATOR
We believe that Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is the divinely appointed Mediator between God and man. Having taken upon Himself human nature, yet without sin, He fulfilled the law, suffered and died upon the cross for the salvation of sinners. He was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended to his Father, at Whose right hand He ever liveth to make intercession for His people. He is the only Mediator, the Prophet, priest and King of the Church and sovereign of the Universe.
SALVATION
We believe in and gladly accept the salvation that God freely offers in Jesus Christ to all who will repent and have faith in Him. This salvation brings about the redemption of the whole man, body and soul, in time and in eternity. It is described in Scriptures as:
REDEMPTION
By his redemption, Christ saves us from sin and from the law and its condemnation and liberates us to life and freedom.
REGENERATION
Regeneration is Salvation viewed as a birth from above, wrought in us by the Holy Spirit, whereby we receive a new heart and are born again as a new creation.
JUSTIFICATION
Through the salvation in Christ, we are justified, put right with God, pardoned for our sin and endowed with eternal life, not through any works of righteousness which we have done, but solely through the redeeming grace of God in Christ. Whose perfect holiness is imputed to us by faith.
ADOPTION
Adoption, or Sonship, is God’s acceptance of us as His own dear child, sons of Abraham, fellow heirs with Christ, freely granted as we accept Christ and receive His new birth.
SANCTIFICATION
Sanctification is that state of holiness received in Salvation, a holiness consisting in belonging to God as His property, separated from corrupting and destructive involvement, and consecrated to His Lordship and service. The agent by which the believer is sanctified in the Holy Spirit, who works through the medium of the saving truth of God, and its result is a life of growing in grace and knowledge of God.
REPENTANCE AND FAITH
We believe that repentance and faith are divine imperative laid upon all human beings. Repentance is that sense of need whereby we are convinced of our estrangement from God and our fellow man, our rebellious, prideful nature, and our utter inability to achieve our own salvation.
We believe that God demands faith from us, which is a spiritual meeting with God in which we confess our total dependence upon Him, and enter into covenant with Him, believing and accepting Christ as His Word and as our Lord and Savior.
Repentance and Faith are possible only through the aid of the Holy Spirit, who mediates enabling grace to us so that we can then respond to God.
GRACE
We believe that God is gracious, loving, merciful and forgiving. He loves us first, seeks us first, and offers Himself freely to us, and by this grace alone we are saved and enabled to give God answering faith and loyalty. God’s grace is supremely manifested in the Cross of Christ and is faithfully continued as the believer’s source and supply of spiritual strength and assurance.
BAPTISM
John declared that Jesus would come baptizing with the Holy Spirit. (John 1:33). This spiritual baptism is an acceptance of Christ and a participation in Christ by faith, and all believers are so baptized in the Spirit.
Water baptism is the outward and visible sign of this spiritual baptism. It is carried out by the burial of the believer in water, signifying that we are one with Him in His death and by raising from the water, to show that we share His resurrection power. It signifies our union with Him, our admission into His body, the Church, the forgiveness of our sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit and our calling and covenant in Christ forever.
THE LORD’S SUPPER
We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Communion Supper as the memorial of His sacrifice and the communion of His body and blood, to be observed humbly and thankfully and joyfully until His coming again in glory.
