Statements of Faith

What and Why 

Almost every church has a statement of what it believes.  The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms provides an accurate summary of what God's Word teachers.  Obviously we could write volumes on our beliefs, but here is a quick summary. 

God 

We believe God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.  (John 4:24, Acts 17:25, Psalm 90, 139, Hebrews 6:17, 18, Acts 15:18, Genesis 18:14, 25, I John 1:5, Psalm 33:5, 117:2.)  God is creator and sustainer of all things.

We believe that God controls, is sovereign over all His creation and creatures; nothing happens outside His knowledge, permission, direction, plans, or purposes.  (Genesis 50:20, Job 9:12, Isaiah 46:10, Acts 2:23, 17:26-27, Romans 9:13, 17-18, 21-22.) 

Scriptures 

We believe that the Scriptures are the Word of God, completely contained in the Old and New Testament, infallible in the original manuscripts, communicate truth in all areas they touch on, are plenarily and verbally inspired by God, and are the only authority for what we may believe and how we live.  (Matthew 5:18, John 17:17, II Timothy 3:16-17, I Thessalonians 2:13, Revelations 1:18-19.)

We believe that the best interpreter of Scripture is Scripture itself.  (II Peter 1:20-21, Acts 15:15.) We do not believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible in all passages, although much of God's Word is meant to be taken literally, but rather in a grammatical-historical approach.  (Amos 4:4, Matthew 13:24, 31, 44, 47, Luke 13:32.)

Man 

We believe that before the fall, man was sinless with freedom and the ability to do good or evil.  (Genesis 1:31.) We believe that after the fall, man was yet free to do good, but totally unable to do good but only evil.  (Genesis 6:5, John 6:44-45, Romans 3:10-18, 5:6, 10, 8:5-8, I Corinthians 2:14, Ephesians 2:1, 5.)

We believe that after regeneration man is free and able to do good because he has been given a new heart, and yet he does not obey perfectly or consistently because of his old nature, the presence of evil around him, and the temptations he gives in to.  (Ezekiel 32:36, 27, Romans 7:7-25, Ephesians 2:10, Philippians 2:12.)

We believe that freedom of will means man is not forced by some eternal force greater than himself to do what he does not want to do; he is free to do what he wants to do within the limits of his abilities.  Freedom, however, does not mean ability.  This means man is responsible for his choices and actions.

We believe that only when we see how far man fell when he sinned, do we appreciate how much God has done to save us.

Covenant Theology 

We believe that God has planned from before creation to save sinful men by a redeemer who would keep the law which sinners could not keep and pay the penalty that sinners should pay so that by faith they would become God's people.  (Ephesians 1:4-5, Romans 5:19, Galatians 3:13.)

We believe that the way of salvation has always been the same in the Old and New Testaments, that is, by faith in Christ.  (Romans 4, John 14:6, Galatians 3:6, 8.)

We believe that the purpose of the law is to convict sinners of their sin and thus their need of Christ.  (Romans 7:7, Galatians 3:24, Romans 3:28-31.)

We believe that the Old Testament prophecies that a redeemer would come and bring salvation from sin and that the New Testament tells us he has come, what He has said and done, and what we must then do.

Christ 

We believe that Christ was fully human and divine, born of a virgin, experienced the same trials of life that we face, revealed the Father more fully, taught and perfectly kept the way of obedience, offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice on the cross, rose from the dead, and was exalted to God's right hand where He now intercedes for us.  (John 1:1-18, 19:30, Hebrews 4:15, 7:25, Romans 3:23-25, Matthew 1:18.)

We believe His atonement was a sacrifice (John 1:29, I Corinthians 5:7), substitutionary (I Peter 3:18), propitiatory (I John 2:2), reconciliatory (Romans 5:11, I Peter 3:18), and redemptive (Mark 10:45, Galatians 3:10, 13).

We also believe that the atonement is limited not in its effectiveness but its intent, not in quality but quantity.  His death is sufficient for the sins of the whole world but it is applied only to the elect.  (Luke 12:22-28, Matthew 7:21, 25:41, John 10:11, 15, 26-28, Romans 8:31-39, Matthew 10:11, Mark 1:5.)

The Holy Spirit 

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person with the same abilities, characteristics, and work of the Father and the Son.  (John 14:16, 17, 26, Acts 5:3-4, I Corinthians 2:10-11, Ephesians 4:7-13.)

We believe that He indwells believers in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament.  (Psalm 51:11, Exodus 28:3, Judges 6:34, Ezekiel 36:27, Romans 8:9-11.)

We believe the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs once, when a person is born again.  (I Corinthians 12:13, Romans 8:9.)  It is a gift from God totally by grace and not a "second blessing".  Christians are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit and this can occur repeatedly.  (Ephesians 5:18, Luke 4:1, Acts 2:4, 4:7-8, 31.)

We believe that the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts and produces spiritual fruit.  (I Corinthians 12:7-12, Galatians 5:22-23.)

The Application of Christ's Work 

We believe the work of the Holy Spirit, as He calls us through the Word, brings about new life and thus enables us to respond with faith and repentance.  (John 3:1-8, II Corinthians 5:17, Acts 16:14, Titus 3:5, Isaiah 53:1, Romans 10:17, Ephesians 2:8-10, Acts 2:37-38.)

We believe that this results in justification, a once for all time act of God in which He forgives our sin and accepts us as righteous in His sight based on Christ's righteousness imputed to us and received by faith.  (Romans 3:24-25, 1:17, 5:19, Philippians 3:19.)

We believe that after this, God will persevere in His grace to bring us to sanctification and glorification.  All those whom god calls and justifies will be glorified.  (Romans 8:30, 11:29, John 10:28, Philippians 1:6, II Timothy 1:12.)

The Church 

We believe that Christ died to save sinners and put them into His family which is seen through the local church here on earth.  (Acts 20:28, Ephesians 5:25.)

We also believe that there is an invisible church which includes all believers in all ages and places.  The local church is a visible representation of Christ's true church in any given place or time.

A true church should have Christ as its head and its husband, have biblical teaching and preaching centered on Christ, leaders who meet Biblical qualifications (I Timothy 3 and Titus 1), have genuine concern for the lost, seek to help its people grow spiritually, have love present, and worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.

We believe that the Presbyterian form of government, where several elders, chosen by the congregation from among itself in accord with Biblical qualifications, are responsible for the spiritual guidance and care of the people, is derived from the Scriptures and is that form of government that most closely resembles the guidelines for church government given in the Scriptures.  (Acts 1:15-22, 6:1-6, 15:1-16:4; 20:28, Hebrews 13:17, I Peter 5:1-5, Acts 11:30.)

The Sacraments 

We believe that the sacraments are signs and seals of God's covenant of grace and show a visible difference between believers and unbelievers.  There are only two sacraments and their ability to communicate God's grace depends only on the work of the Spirit, not the person performing the sacrament or the methods used, as long as they are within Biblical guidelines.

We believe that the Passover in the Old Testament is parallel to the Lord's Supper in the New Testament because they are given to believers and were meant to be observed repeatedly.  The Lord's Supper was first observed on the night of the Passover.  Both commemorate deliverance and sacrifice.  Furthermore, Christ is called the Passover Lamb.  (I Corinthians 5:7, 11:25, Matthew 26:28.)

We believe that circumcision in the Old Testament parallels baptism in the New Testament because they are to be administered only once, to believers and their children, and indicate being included in the family of God.  Baptism symbolizes the work of the Holy Spirit and is accomplished by sprinkling or pouring water on the person.  (Colossians 2:11-12, Matthew 3:11, Acts 19:1-6, Titus 3:5, Ephesians 4:5, I Corinthians 12:13, John 7:38-39, Acts 2:17, John 20:22, Acts 10:44-47.)

We also believe in infant baptism because of the Old Testament parallel to circumcision and the covenant.  There is no change in the way men are saved between the Old and New Testament.  Five out of ten baptisms in the New Testament included households which would have included children.  (Acts 2:38-39,41, 8:27, 38, 9:1-18, 10:47-48, 16:15, 31-33, 18:8, 19:1-5, I Corinthians 1:16.)

The End Times 

We believe that at death all men's bodies return to the dust but that believers' spirits go immediately to heaven and unbelievers' spirits go to hell.  (I Corinthians 5:8, Luke 23:43.)

We believe that there will come a day of judgment known only to God when Christ will judge all men according to their works so that His holiness, justice, mercy, and glory may be seen and so that the righteous and wicked will receive their proper reward or punishment.

Because no one knows exactly when this will happen or what the precise events will be like and because Christ's return will be without warning, we discourage over preoccupation with speculations and forecasts.  We do encourage Christians to be active in witnessing and living the Christian life so as to speed along the day of Christ's second coming and so that we will be personally prepared for it.  We believe that Christ will return suddenly, bodily, gloriously, visibly, and worldwide.  (Acts 1:6-11, I Thessalonians 5:1-11.)