What We Believe

Below is our current Statement of Faith, adopted into our articles of Ministry in April of 2014.

Ephesians 1:3-10 (ESV )
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
4. even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
5. he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
6. to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
7. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
8. which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
9. making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ
10. as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him.

The Bible is the Word of God, fully inspired and without error in all it teaches. Scripture is our supreme and final authority for all matters of Christian life and belief.

There is one true and living God, who eternally exists in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – who are equal in every divine perfection and who execute distinct but harmonious offices in all the work of the God-head. Together with the Son and Holy Spirit, God created heaven and earth – all things visible and invisible.

Man was created by God in His own image, but through his sin (man) incurred physical and spiritual death. As a result, all people are separated from God by their sin and are lost and without hope apart from salvation in Christ.

The Gospel is the good news of God’s saving actions toward sinners through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, through the Holy Spirit with the virgin Mary, took on human nature, lived a sinless life, suffered and died a substitutionary death for sinners. He was buried, but raised on the third day. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, demonstrating the absolute efficacy of His sacrifice for sin, according to the Scriptures.

Salvation is a free gift that comes only by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. Anyone who turns from their sin and trusts in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on their behalf, receives a completely new identity: they are now “in Christ”. Salvation includes benefits such as the forgiveness of sins, reconciliation to God and the gift of eternal life.

Water baptism symbolizes a person’s union with Christ in the likeness of His death and resurrection. Likewise, partaking in The Lord’s Supper symbolizes the breaking of Christ’s body and the shedding of His blood on our behalf, and is to be observed repeatedly throughout the Christian life as a sign of continued participation in the atoning benefits of Christ’s death.

The Holy Spirit, who spoke through the prophets , works to transform Christians more and more into the image of Christ. His work is carried on in our hearts through such appointed means as the study of Scripture, prayer, worship, and fellowship with other Christians. The Holy Spirit also dynamically empowers Christians for witness, service and the building up of the body of Christ, the church.

The Church is meant to be the visible body of Christ, sent into the world to glorify God and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The universal church, composed of every genuine follower of Christ, exists to worship, serve, and glorify God with the strength He provides. All members of the universal church are to be vitally committed to Christian fellowship, where they strengthen one another by the grace and spiritual gifts working through each member.

Jesus Christ is alive, and God the Father has appointed a day for Him to return to the earth. On that day, every person will be raised for judgment. Those who are in Christ will live with Him forever. Those who are not in Christ will face endless punishment, away from the benevolent, joyful presence of God.