What We Believe

We believe God has inspired the words of the sixty-six books included in the Old and New Testaments, and that these writings alone constitute the Word of God. They are without error in their original writings, totally truthful, utterly authoritative, absolutely necessary, and altogether sufficient in revealing God’s will for salvation and all that He requires us to believe and to do.

Psalm 19:7-11, 1 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:16-21, Hebrews 4:12

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three equally divine persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - who know, love, and glorify one another. This one true and living God is the Creator of everyone and everything, remains sovereign over all things, and is worthy to receive all glory and all praise from all people in all things for all time.

Deuteronomy 6:4, Mark 12:29, Hebrews 1:3, John 1:14, Colossians 1:15-20, Genesis 1-2, Psalm 19:1-6, Psalm 86:8-10, Psalm 90:2, Psalm 115:3, Psalm 135:6, Isaiah 40, John 1:1-3, Romans 11:33-36, Colossians 1:16-18, John 15:26-27, Ephesians 1:13-14, Matthew 3:16-17, Matthew 28:18-20, Genesis 1:1-3

We believe that God the Father, the first person in the trinity, is an infinite, personal Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love; that He actively and mercifully intervenes in the affairs of humanity; that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.

Exodus 34:6-7, John 3:16, John 4:23-24, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 1:3

We believe that God created human beings, both male and female, in His own image, but as distinct expressions of his image. Men and women enjoy equal value before God; equal access to God by faith in Christ Jesus; and equal giftedness from God to use in His service. Both men and women are called to significant engagement in the family, church and civic life.

Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 5:1, 1 Corinthians 11:7, Colossians 3:10, James 3:9

We believe sin came into the world through Adam to all of his descendants, fracturing the image of God in humanity and forfeiting fellowship between God and humanity. As a result, every part of our person suppresses the glory of God and resists the authority of God, leading to separation from God and the just wrath of God apart from His gracious intervention.

Psalm 51:5, Ephesians 2:1-3, Ephesians 4:18, Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, Romans 5:12

We believe that God created sex and gender as part of his perfect design for human flourishing. Sex is a good gift from God for procreation, oneness and enjoyment in the context of the marriage covenant between one man and one woman for one lifetime. Gender is also a good gift from God, and the distinctiveness, clarity and beauty of maleness and femaleness are to be honored and protected. Like everything else in creation, both sexuality and gender have been confused and corrupted by sin, but fall under the scope of redemption, and it is the Church’s privilege and responsibility to uphold the goodness and permanence of God’s design.

Genesis 1:26-28, Genesis 2:15-25, Genesis 3:1-24, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Job 31:1, Psalm 51:1-19, Proverbs 5-7, Matthew 5:27-30, Matthew 19:4-6, Acts 15:20, Acts 15:29, Romans 1:26-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 1 Corinthians 6:18-20, Galatians 5:24-25, Colossians 3:5, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, 1 Timothy 1:8-10, Titus 2:11-14, Hebrews 13:4, Jude 7

We believe that Jesus, the second person in the Trinity, is the Word of God made flesh, the only begotten Son of God, fully God and fully man, one Person with two natures. The man Jesus, the promised Messiah of Israel, was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified on a cross, rose on the third day and ascended into heaven as our representative and substitute. On the cross, he canceled the debt of sin, cleansed from the stain of sin and reconciled to God all those who believe in him. He is now exalted at the right hand of the Father, interceding on our behalf and preparing a place for us to be with him forever.

John 1:14, John 10:30, Colossians 1:15-20, Philippians 2:5-11, Genesis 3:15, Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 49:8-12, 2 Samuel 7:11b-16, Luke 24:25- 27, John 1:41, John 4:25-26, John 5:39-40, Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:34-35, Romans 5:19, Galatians 4:4-5, Matthew 5:17, Hebrews 4:15, Matthew 27:26, Mark 15:15, Luke 23:16, Luke 24:39, Romans 4:25, 1 Corinthians 15:20, 1 Corinthians 15:44-45, Revelation 1:5, Luke 24:51, Acts 1:6-11, Ephesians 1:20, Ephesians 4:8-10, 1 Timothy 3:16, Colossians 2:14-15, 2 Corinthians 5:19, John 3:16, Luke 22:69, Acts 2:33, Acts 5:31, Acts 7:55, Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25, John 14:1-4

We believe that from all eternity God determined to save a great multitude of guilty sinners from every tribe, language, people and nation by his grace and mercy. In love, God commands and implores all people to repent of sin and believe in the finished work of Jesus, whom the Father ordained to be our Redeemer, to the praise of His glorious grace. Salvation is therefore, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

John 14:6, John 20:28, Acts 4:12, Acts 17:30, Ephesians 1:3-14, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 1:16, Romans 5:6-11, Titus 2:11-14, Luke 1:76-78, Revelation 5:9, Revelation 13:7-8, Isaiah 53, 1 Peter 1:18-19

We believe this salvation is applied by the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity, whose presence and power are absolutely necessary for new birth into God’s family and newness of life in Christ. The Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgement; regenerates spiritually dead sinners, awakening them to repentance of sin and faith in Christ; and He baptizes them into union with the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus in the hearts of men, empowers them for the work of ministry, and seals them for the day of redemption.

John 3:3-8, John 14:15-27, John 16:5-15, Romans 8:9-17, Galatians 5:16-26, Ephesians 5:18-21

We believe that God's new covenant people, the Church, is the bride of Christ, manifest in local churches of which Jesus is the only Head. She is distinguished by her gospel message, her global mission, her sacred ordinances, and her discipline for holiness. Above all, she is marked by her love for God, her members' love for one another and her love for the world Christ came to redeem.

Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 14:27, Acts 18:22, Acts 20:17, 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 2 Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 1:22-23, Ephesians 2:14-22, Ephesians 4:1-5, Ephesians 5:25-27, Colossians 1:18, 1 Timothy 3:1-3, Titus 1:5-11

We believe that baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordained by the Lord Jesus himself as the sacred ordinances of the church. Baptism is connected with entrance into the new covenant community. The Lord’s Supper, representing the body and blood of Jesus, is connected to our ongoing covenant renewal. They are God's visible reminders of His love and grace toward us, and our newness of life in Christ.

Matthew 26:26-29, Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 2:38-42, Acts 18:8, Romans 6:3-4, 1 Corinthians 11:17-32, Colossians 2:11-12

We believe in the glorious, physical return of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the resurrection of both the believer and the unbeliever - the believer to eternal life and salvation in the presence of God, and the unbeliever to eternal judgement and separation from God. Upon Jesus’ return, the church will be presented faultless before God, by Christ. His people will be in immediate and undiluted awe and wonder of his holiness, freed once and for all from the tyranny of sin, to delight fully and freely in the glory and grace of their God.

Matthew 24, John 14:1-4, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58, 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, Titus 2:11-14, Revelation 19-21