Statement of Faith

God - There is only one God. God eternally exists as the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God our Father is holy in all his ways. He is invisible, omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. The Father’s holy nature lovingly sustains and maintains creation via limitless power, boundless love and inexhaustible mercy. The Father’s judgments are perfect.

Jesus Christ - Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is the fullness of God made flesh; born fully human of the Virgin Mary, but without sin. He lived on earth as God’s Servant, teaching humanity what it is to love God and love others. He laid down His life to satisfy God’s penalty for the sins of humanity. He rose bodily from the grave in triumph over death. He ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father to intercede for all who put their faith in him. He will come again to establish his kingdom, destroy death and make all things new.

Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit is God present and active in the world. He is invisible, omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. He is the Comforter promised to us by Jesus. The Holy Spirit was sent to the church in His fullness at Pentecost. By the Holy Spirit Christ lives in, empowers and equips his church to serve Him and to grow into His likeness. It is via the Holy Spirit that God is made real in the material world, that the gospel is filled with power, and that the kingdom of God is made undeniable in the world of men.

Holy Scripture - We hold to the divine inspiration, truthfulness and authority of the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible. It is the only written Word of God, inerrant as originally given and in all it affirms. The Scriptures are the only and divine rule of our faith and its practice. The Holy Spirit preserves God’s Word in the church even to this day, and by that Word communicates God’s truth to the peoples of every age who are privileged to internalize it.

People - Human beings were created in the image of God. However, this image was marred in every part through the disobedience of our first parents. As a result, humanity’s intimacy with God was destroyed; and all people inherited a bent towards sin and selfishness. Human intimacy with God can only be restored via faith in the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God, via His prevenient grace, restored moral sensibility to all humanity. This great mercy enables all to have the capacity to respond to His love and choose to accept Jesus’ great rescue plan. The reward of those who place their faith in Him is everlasting joy and bliss; but the portion of the impenitent and unbelieving is suffering and eternal separation from God.

Church - The universal or catholic Church is the people of God composed of all those who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord throughout time and across the earth. Jesus is the Head of the Church. The Church is His body. He has ordered the Church to go into the world to make disciples of all nations, to baptize them, and to teach them all of His commands. A faithful local church makes the universal church visible in the world wherever believers join together to: worship God, be built up through biblical preaching and teaching, pray, enjoy each other’s company, share the Gospel with the lost, receive the sacraments and live authentically as Jesus’ disciples via acts of love and service to God blessing each other and those in need.

Salvation - God graciously justifies and regenerates all who trust in Jesus Christ. By His grace, He saves his faithful ones from sin, death, hell and the grave. This great rescue plan of salvation is universal: available and offered to all people. It is appropriated and made effective in anyone’s life by his or her individual faith in Jesus. Salvation results in one’s adoption as God’s child, one’s welcome into God’s kingdom of love and light, and the receipt of eternal life. Salvation initiates the sanctifying work of the indwelling Holy Spirit in each believer’s life.

Sanctification - Sanctification is the process of being separated or set aside to God and for His possession and use. Thus, sanctification and holiness are synonymous. Sanctification is the spiritual process the Holy Spirit uses to make people holy and set apart for God’s use. God wants each believer to be filled with the Holy Spirit and be wholly sanctified, for only through holiness can a believer expect to be used by God. Being sanctified is the only way for a believer to hope to remain separate from the world of sin and to be effective in his or her obedience and service to Holy God.

The Holy Spirit is the sole agent of our sanctification. It is via the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that believers receive the power to perform all that God calls them to do, to say and to become. Sanctification begins at salvation and is a progressive, relational experience worked out in obedient partnership with Holy Spirit in the lives of all who believe.

The Apostle Paul desired that each believer should allow God to sanctify him or her completely, promising that God is faithful and would bring it to pass. Via sanctifying grace, the Holy Spirit delivers believers from all rebellion against God. This grace also makes it possible for a believer to wholehearted love God and others. Even being entirely sanctified through grace does not make believers faultless or incapable of sin. Even mature, holy believers must walk daily with Jesus by faith in the forgiveness and cleansing only He can provide.

Assurance of Believers - All those who believe in Jesus Christ are assured that they are saved and belong to God. This inward witness occurs in three ways: The witness of the Holy Spirit to their spirit, by believing God’s gracious promises in the Scriptures, and by manifesting the fruit of the Holy Spirit in their daily lives;

The Eschaton - The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is imminent. On that day the earth and the seas shall give up their dead unto a bodily resurrection of all persons: the just and the unjust. The former will be raised to rewards and eternal life in heaven. The latter will be resurrected unto judgment and eternal punishment in hell.