What We Believe
God is real.
God made everything. God is a good Father and above all, through all and in all. God is good and wise and powerful. God is totally other than humans are and as such is three persons; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This is not easily understood, but is God’s nature.
Jesus is just what we need
Jesus is God made flesh and bone in order to make a way for people to be close to God. The life and work of Jesus was talked about long before he was born in the Hebrew Scriptures. He came to save us. For us the Son of God suffered, was crucified, dead and buried. He poured out His life for our sin. We gratefully acknowledge that He is our Savior, the one perfect mediator between God and us.
The Holy Spirit changes everything
The Spirit of God is with everyone at all times. The Spirit of God is in us when we invite the Spirit in.The Spirit of God comes upon us to move in power through us.
God speaks through the Bible
The Bible is God’s written Word, uniquely inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures have come to us through human authors who wrote, as God moved them, in the languages and literary forms of their times. God continues, by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, to speak through this Word to each generation and culture. The Bible teaches the truth about God, His creation, His people, His one and only Son, and the destiny of humankind. It also teaches the way of salvation and the life of faith.
Humankind
God created human beings in His own image, innocent, morally free and responsible to choose between good and evil, right and wrong. Humans are unable by their own strength and work to restore themselves in right relationship with God and to merit eternal salvation. God makes it possible for humans to respond to His grace through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. By God’s grace and help people are enabled to do good works with a free will.
God’s law for all human life is expressed in two divine commands: Love the Lord God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. All people as created by Him and in His image have the same inherent rights regardless of sex, race, or color. All should therefore give God absolute obedience in their individual, social, and political acts.
Salvation
Christ offered once and for all the one perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. A new life and a right relationship with God are made possible through the redemptive acts of God in Jesus Christ. God, by His Spirit, acts to impart new life and put people into a relationship with Himself as they repent and their faith responds to His grace. Then they are justified, reborn & adopted as children of God.
Transformation
Sanctification is that saving work of God beginning with new life in Christ whereby the Holy Spirit renews His people after the likeness of God, changing them through crisis and process, from one degree of glory to another, and conforming them to the image of Christ. This sanctifying relationship with God remedies the divided mind, redirects the heart to God, and empowers believers to please and serve God in their daily lives.
People Make Choices
Christians can sin willfully and sever their relationship with Christ. Even so by repentance before God, forgiveness is granted and the relationship with Christ restored. God’s grace is sufficient for those who truly repent and, by His enabling, amend their lives. However, forgiveness does not give believers liberty to sin and escape the consequences of sinning.
The Church
The church is created by God. Christ Jesus is its Lord and Head. The Holy Spirit is its life and power. It is both divine and human, heavenly and earthly, ideal and imperfect. It is an organism, not an unchanging institution. It exists to fulfill the purposes of God in Christ. It redemptively ministers to persons. The church is a fellowship of the redeemed and the redeeming, preaching the Word of God and administering the sacraments according to Christ’s instruction.
Sacraments
Water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the sacraments of the church commanded by Christ. They are means of grace through faith, tokens of our profession of Christian faith, and signs of God’s gracious ministry toward us. We also marry in a God-honoring way, ordain individuals for particular places of ministry and dedicate children to God. These are each pictures of the things God has done in our lives. By them, He works within us to quicken, strengthen, and confirm our faith.