There is one God and Lord over all. At His command, the universe was formed, and every being has breath. This is the God we worship, and He is the one to which we gladly submit our lives. He exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – each one God, co-equal and co-eternal. In Him, we live and move and have our being. There is no greater power, no greater love. So, we commit ourselves in proper response to His presence by honoring Him with our worship and serving Him with our everyday lives.
God is love. His person, nature, and plan radiate this love in every action of His will. We live in awe of a Lord who, while we continued to reject Him, sent His son to redeem us back into his family. He uses words like father, friend, and son/daughter to describe his relationship with us. Knowing that we could never do anything to deserve redemption or a relationship with Him, He gave it as a gift (grace) – through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Jesus is risen and, by his grace, we are redeemed. We live in light of and in gratitude for this incredible gift.
As we continue to direct our lives toward Him, He faithfully works in and through us. We believe the Holy Spirit actively inhabits the life of the believer today. We acknowledge that it is not by our might or our strength that we live righteously but only by the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, who reforms our character into the image of Christ. The Spirit further empowers us with spiritual gifts to continue the legacy of Christ – building his church and accomplishing the Father’s will on the Earth.
God Himself said at our beginning that humans were “very good,” elevating that adjective over his previous expressions about creation, being simply “good.” Unfortunately, humans chose sin instead of righteousness from the start. Thankfully, He loves us despite our sins. Scripture highlights His plans and purposes to redeem us back into right relationship to Himself. Though every human life falls short of righteousness, God in his goodness made a way for us to be called righteous again in Jesus. In Jesus, every person can return to God’s family and discover a fullness of life that is only found in Him – both in this life and the next.
At the core of our beliefs about the Christian life is Jesus’ statement in John 10:10.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
-John 10:10 NIV
We believe this verse beautifully summarizes the life that Scripture lays out for every one of us. God came not to take freedom and joy from us but to impart a fullness that is not otherwise possible in our lives.
People have conceived of countless ways to find fulfillment throughout time, but we believe each of these is simply a shadow of and poor substitute for the actual source. Only as we accept Jesus as Lord over our lives, laying down our preferences and plans in the light of his commands, do we discover the true fullness of life. For humans, the journey of discovery requires living out this faith, hope, and love. As we move forward in relationship, we will find God working with our will to sanctify us back to that fullness of life through his Holy Spirit.
We believe the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of Scripture. There is no greater source of authority, revelation, or truth. It is both our foundation for and the final authority in determining all doctrine. Even after all this time, the Word of God remains living and active. Every believer should engage in regular devotional reading for spiritual formation. As we pray and read, Scripture has the power to affect our lives radically.
We believe that the healthy local church is the body of Christ. Each believer becomes an active and vital part of His plan and purpose for creation through the church. It was God’s divine plan that men and women gathered together would continue the work of inaugurating His coming Kingdom, through His empowering Holy Spirit, in worship and mission. To fulfill their created purpose, we believe every person must be engaged in communion with God and the Christian community. As the incarnate expression of Christ on the earth today, we believe that the local church is the hope of the world.
We believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
the third day He rose from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic* church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
*universal
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, of things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the begotten of God the Father, the only-begotten, that is of the essence of the Father. God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten and not made; of the very same nature of the Father, by Whom all things came into being, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Who for us humanity and for our salvation came down from heaven, was incarnate, was made human, was born perfectly of the holy virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit.
By whom He took body, soul, and mind, and everything that is in man, truly and not in semblance. He suffered, was crucified, was buried, rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven with the same body, [and] sat at the right hand of the Father. He is to come with the same body and with the glory of the Father, to judge the living and the dead; of His kingdom, there is no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, in the uncreated and the perfect; Who spoke through the Law, prophets, and Gospels; Who came down upon the Jordan, preached through the apostles and lived in the saints.
We believe also in only One, Universal, Apostolic, and [Holy] Church; in one baptism in repentance, for the remission, and forgiveness of sins; and in the resurrection of the dead, in the everlasting judgment of souls and bodies, and the Kingdom of Heaven and in the everlasting life.
