Gospel Doctrine

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 worthy to receive all glory and adoration.

We believe the Bible—comprised of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments—is the true, inspired, and authoritative Word of God. Written by human authors under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it is without error in the original writings and sufficient for all that God requires us to believe and do. This is our supreme source of truth for faith and life.

We believe God created human beings, male and female, in His own image. As the crown of His creation, all people share equal dignity, value, and access to God through faith in Christ and are called to reflect His character in every sphere of life—family, church, and civic life.

We believe that Adam, made in the image of God, distorted that image and forfeited his original blessedness – for himself and all his progeny – by falling into sin through Satan's temptation. As a result, all human beings are alienated from God, corrupted in every aspect of their being and condemned to death-apart from God's own gracious intervention.

We believe that from all eternity God determined in grace to save a great multitude of guilty sinners from every tribe and language and people and nation, all to the praise of his glorious grace and to redeem what was lost in the Fall. In love, God commands and implores all people to repent and believe, having set his saving love on those who would believe, having ordained Christ to be their Redeemer.

We believe the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ—the wisdom of God that seems like folly to the world but is the power of God for those being saved. Moved by love, the eternal Word became flesh, fully God and fully man, in Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified, rose on the third day, and ascended into heaven as our representative and substitute. On the cross he canceled our debt and reconciled us to God; by his resurrection he conquered sin, death, and Satan, and by his ascension he was exalted as Lord, preparing a place for us with him. Salvation is found in no one else.

Everyone is in need of salvation. Salvation is God's free gift extended to all, but each person must accept it. We can never make up for our sin by self-improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God's offer of forgiveness can anyone be saved from sin's penalty.

When we turn from our self-ruled life and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are saved. Eternal life begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into his or her life by grace through faith.

We believe the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son, applies salvation to God’s people and glorifies Jesus Christ. As our Helper, He is present with and in believers—convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; regenerating sinners to repentance and faith; and uniting them with Christ. He empowers believers for holy living, grants spiritual gifts, guides in truth, and leads us daily to walk in obedience.

We believe that those who have been saved by the grace of God through union with Christ by faith and through regeneration by the Holy Spirit enter the kingdom of God and delight in the blessings of the new covenant. Good works constitute indispensable evidence of saving grace. Living as salt in a decaying world and light in a dark world, believers should neither withdraw into seclusion from the world nor become indistinguishable from it. Rather, we are to do good to the city, for all the glory and honor of the nations is to be offered up to the living God.

The Bible speaks of the church as Christ's body in which Jesus is the head and all of Christ’s followers are members. To remain healthy, the body's members must work together, with each part contributing to each other’s growth and maturity.

Since the Church represents Jesus Christ to a needy world, God works through the Church to reconcile a lost world to Himself and be His arm of righteousness in an unrighteous world.

We believe that baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordained by the Lord Jesus himself. The former is connected with entrance into the new covenant community, the latter with ongoing covenant renewal. They are God's pledge to us and our public submission to Christ.

Once we receive new life in Christ, we seek to demonstrate our love for God by obeying Him and following Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We constantly strive to grow in Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit and loving people as Jesus loved them.

We believe Jesus Christ will personally and visibly return to earth to establish His kingdom and judge the living and the dead. All people will be raised to life—those who have trusted in Christ to eternal joy with Him in the new heavens and new earth, and those who reject Him to eternal separation from God. On that day, the church will stand blameless before God, and all creation will overflow with praise to His glorious grace.