STATEMENT OF FAITH
Almost every church has a statement of what it believes.
The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms provide an accurate summary of what God's Word teaches. Obviously we could write volumes on our beliefs, but here is a quick summary.
- We believe God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable who creates and sustains everything, who is King over all His creation and creatures.
- We believe that the Bible is God's Word without any errors when God gave it and that it speaks the truth in every area it touches. It's our only authority for what to believe and how to live.
- We believe that God created mankind perfect with freedom and ability to do good or evil but that after the Fall all people now choose to serve themselves and ignore God's commands. However, when God gives people new life and new hearts, they are again free and able to please God, although not perfectly because there is still sin and temptation in their old nature and in the world around them. We believe that only when we see how far mankind fell when he sinned, can we appreciate how much God has done to save us.
- We believe that God prepared from before creation to save sinners through a redeemer, who would perfectly keep God's commandments that we couldn't keep and who would pay the debt we should have paid. The way to receive Gods forgiveness and eternal life has always been to put our trust in God's redeemer, Jesus Christ, and not in our own efforts or abilities.
- We believe that Christ was fully human and divine, born of a virgin, experienced the same trials of life that we face and lived a completely obedient life. That way He could offer Himself in our place as a perfect sacrifice on the cross. He rose from the dead and now lives in heaven to intercede for us with God.
- We believe the Holy Spirit has the same powers and traits as the other members of the Trinity and lives inside believers to equip them to obey and to serve God and to live spiritually productive lives.
- We believe the Holy Spirit calls us through God's Word, brings about new life and thus enables us to respond with faith and repentance. That leads to God forgiving our sin and accepting us because of Jesus' perfect obedience and sacrifice in our place.
- We believe that Christ died to save sinners and put them into His family which is the local visible church here on earth and the invisible church in heaven. A true Christ pleasing local church will have Jesus as its head, Biblical teaching, godly Biblically qualified leaders, genuine concern for those who don't yet know Jesus, real love for each other in the church, and God-centered worship.
- We believe the sacraments of Baptism and Communion (the Lord's Supper) are ways God uses to picture for us how He graciously saves and changes us. We practice infant baptism because of all the parallels with the Old Testament sacrament of circumcision and we offer Communion to all who truly believe in Christ and are members of a God-honoring church.
- We believe that at God's appointed time, which only He knows, Jesus will return visibly and bodily to earth a second time to bring judgment on evil, which includes hell, and to bring the rewards of eternal life with God in heaven.
For a fuller statement of our faith, you may wish to read the
Westminster Confession of Faith which is an excellent human summary of God's divine Scriptures or you may wish to attend our Church Introduction classes offered periodically throughout the year.
