BELIEFS

We believe that all humans are sick with a disease known as sin. Sin is the lack of reverence for God, the lack of trust in God. Sin is what makes all humans need a Savior. (Romans 3:23)

We believe that the second “person” of the Trinity, the Son of God, is the only hope of rescue and healing from sin. He, though fully God, did set aside His divine privilege and become fully human. (Philippians 2:6-8) By His perfect life, self-sacrificial death and miraculous resurrection Jesus did for us (humankind) what we could never do for ourselves. He reconciled us with God (John 3:16-17)

We believe in the absolute and essential deity, and in the personality of the Holy Spirit who convinces of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; regenerates, who indwells, seals, sanctifies, illuminates, and comforts those who believe in Jesus Christ; who baptizes believers at conversion into the Body of Christ and bestows upon them His gifts sovereignly as He wills and fills those yielded to Him.

We believe that God has freely given the forgiveness that leads to life through the work of our Savior Jesus. We don’t deserve God’s favor. We cannot earn God’s favor. It is only freely offered and freely received (Ephesians 2:8-9). The ability to trust this free gift is what we call the gift of faith.

We believe that the Holy Spirit binds Christians together to form the Church, or what we call the Body of Christ on earth. Jesus Himself does this work (Matthew 16:18). Through this Body, Jesus gives the gift of faith through the sharing of the Gospel, the story of God’s love in Jesus (Romans 10:17), and through His promised presence in the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion.

We believe that God has rescued us and is healing us for a purpose. We are meant to make an impact on our world for Jesus’ sake (Ephesians 2:10). In the power of the new life Jesus gives us, we are sent out to help others find rescue and healing in Christ Jesus (Mark 1:17). We are to bear the good fruit of “love for our neighbors” in obedience to our Lord’s command (John 15:12).

We believe that because of our broken, sinful nature, we must trust the Word of God as the source and norm of our lives together (2 Timothy 3:16-17). We continue to battle the power of sin in our own lives and to deal with the consequences of sin in the world (Ephesians 6:12). However, we know that ultimate victory over sin, death and the devil belongs to Jesus Christ according to the Word of God in Sacred Scripture. Our hope, then, is in the Living Word, Jesus Christ, revealed to us through the written Word, the Holy Bible.