Confessional Statement

1. The Triune God. We believe in one God, eternally existing in three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These divine Persons possess the same eternal perfections, and work inseparably and harmoniously. He is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy to receive all glory and adoration.

2. The Bible. We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. The truth of Scripture extends to their correspondence to reality. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.

3. Humanity. We believe that God created human beings, male and female, in his own image. Men and women, equally made in the image of God, enjoy equal access to God by faith in Christ Jesus. Adam and Eve were made to complement each other in a one-flesh union that establishes the only normative pattern of sexual relations for men and women, such that marriage ultimately serves as a type of the union between Christ and his church.

4. The Fall. We believe that Adam, made in the image of God, distorted that image and forfeited his original blessedness by falling into sin through Satan's temptation. All human beings, in union with Adam, are sinners by nature and by choice. As a result, we are alienated from God, corrupted in every aspect of our being. Our supreme need is to be reconciled to God, under whose just and holy wrath we stand; and our only hope is the undeserved love of this same God, who alone can rescue us and restore us to himself.

5. Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.

6. The Atonement. We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.

7. The Holy Spirit. We believe that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Triune God, is sent by the Father and the Son, and in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.

8. The Church. We believe that the true church comprises believers who are all united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. These have been justified by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers.

9. Worship. We believe that the proper response to the grace of God is worship. God enables worship by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, bringing believers to respond to His grace in holy living, growing in obedience to His commands and bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.

10. The Return of Christ. We believe in the personal, glorious, and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ. When He returns, He will exercise His role as final Judge. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily. The unjust are resurrected to judgment and eternal conscious punishment in hell, and the just resurrected to eternal blessedness in the presence of him who sits on the throne and of the Lamb, in the new heaven and the new earth, the home of righteousness.