STATEMENT OF BELIEF
The ancient church father St. Augustine offers a helpful guide for any church's shared beliefs: "In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In everything, love."
These words remind us that Scripture contains essential teachings that unite the church—anchors that hold us steady and allow us to experience the life of God together as the family of God.
At the same time, the church has often divided over secondary matters where there should be liberty. We honor that each of us is on a continual journey of belief, growing in understanding over a lifetime of walking with Jesus. The essentials unite us. The non-essentials matter deeply, but we hold them with humility and grace, making room for one another as we grow.
Finally, in everything, we are a family bound together by love. Right belief expressed with pride is not love. Permitting error without care is also not love. But right belief championed by love—this is what Jesus embodied, and we, as the Body of Christ, seek to be a living expression of the same.
THE ESSENTIALS
The Trinity
We believe in one God—living, true, holy, and loving. He is eternal, unlimited in power, wisdom, and goodness, the Creator and sustainer of all things. This one God exists as three persons who share the same essential nature: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each is fully God, yet there is only one God.
God the Father
We believe the Father is the source of all that exists. Together with the Son and the Holy Spirit, He created humanity—male and female—in His own image. He relates to us as Father, forever declaring His goodwill and welcome toward us. In love, He seeks us out and receives all who come to Him with repentant hearts.
God the Son
We believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He is truly God and truly human. He died on the cross as a sacrifice for both original sin and all human wrongdoing, reconciling us to God. Christ rose bodily from the dead and ascended into heaven, where He now intercedes for us at the Father's right hand. He will return to judge all people and bring His kingdom to completion.
God the Holy Spirit
We believe in the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son and is of the same nature, majesty, and glory—truly and eternally God. He is the active presence of God's grace in the world, convicting us of sin, giving us new spiritual life, making us holy, and bringing us into God's glory. He is always present with believers, assuring us of God's love, preserving us, guiding us, and empowering us to live for Christ.
The Word of God
We believe the books of the Old and New Testaments are the Holy Scriptures—the inspired and trustworthy written Word of God. They are fully reliable in their original form and carry authority above all human wisdom. God has faithfully preserved His Word so that the essential truths necessary for salvation remain clear and accessible to us today. In Scripture, we find everything we need to know God and live as His people.
Salvation
We believe that salvation comes when someone repents of sin and believes in Jesus Christ. At that moment, God justifies them (declaring them righteous), regenerates them (giving them new spiritual life), adopts them into His family, and assures them of salvation through the witness of the Holy Spirit.
Justification means that God, acting as judge, pardons us completely—forgiving all our sins and releasing us from guilt and penalty. This happens entirely through the merit of Jesus Christ and is received by faith alone, not by our own works or efforts.
Regeneration, or new birth, is the Holy Spirit's work of giving us new spiritual life. When we truly repent and believe, our inner nature is transformed, receiving the capacity to love God and obey Him. This new life, received by faith in Jesus, frees us from sin's controlling power and enables us to serve God from the heart.
The Church
We believe the Church is the entire body of believers in Jesus Christ, who is the founder and only head of the Church. It includes both those who have gone to be with the Lord and those of us still here, who have turned from the world's patterns and dedicated ourselves to the work Christ gave us until He returns.
The Church is called to preach God's Word faithfully, rightly administer the sacraments as Christ instructed, and live in obedience to everything Christ commands. A local church is a community of believers organized around the gospel, gathering regularly for worship, teaching, fellowship, and reaching others with the good news of Jesus.
Humanity and Love
We believe Jesus summed up God's law in two commandments: love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. These commands reveal God's will for all of life—for how we order our families, communities, and societies, and for how we treat each individual person. They call us to honor God as our only supreme authority and to recognize that every person is created by Him with equal dignity and worth.
Sacraments
We believe that water baptism and the Lord's Supper are sacraments given by Christ to the church. When received in faith, they are means of God's grace—visible signs of our faith and tangible expressions of God's love and ministry to us.
The Return of Christ
We believe that Jesus will personally return, and this certain hope inspires us to live holy lives and share the good news with urgency and joy. When He comes again, He will fulfill all that has been promised—His complete and final victory over every form of evil.