What We Believe

These ancient creeds have been the standard confession of Christian faith since the days of the undivided church and they contain our primary doctrines.We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God.Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus perfectly saves us from the death we bring upon ourselves through our brokenness and sin. Our salvation is dependant solely upon this act of Jesus on the cross, and is not earned through our works. Rather, our works gratefully flow from our faith. God makes us able to do whatever good we do.

We believe in the Authority of the Scriptures.

The Scriptures contain all things necessary to salvation and are the foundation of our beliefs and actions. We believe that God uniquely inspired the human authors of the Scriptures and continues to uniquely inspire us today through study, prayer, and meditation upon Holy Scripture.

We believe in the Power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within all Christians at the time we confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The fullest evidence of the Holy Spirit is given in the fruits of the Spirit. Gal. 5:22-23. Their purpose is for the completion of Jesus’ ministry in the world. They are released for God’s sake and his use through our prayers and consciously submitted wills.

We believe in Holy Baptism & Holy Eucharist.

The sacraments are outward and visible signs of an inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace. The two great sacraments instituted by our Lord are Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. Other sacramental rites of the church are Confirmation, Ordination, Holy Matrimony, Reconciliation of a Penitent and Anointing of the Sick.

We believe that God Deserves our First Fruits.

God has blessed us with all that we have, and calls us to return to God the first fruits (Deut. 4:22-27) of our time, talent and treasure. This means that we are to support the work of God through the church by attending regularly, by finding our own ministry within the church, and by supporting the church finically. The tithe is a Biblical standard of giving, and we encourage all members to tithe or to move intentionally towards tithing. In addition, our call to be stewards of God’s world also includes care and nurture of our families, our homes, our communities, and the abundant natural resources that God provides.

We believe in the Ministry of All the Baptized.

All baptized persons, not just clergy, are ministers of the Church. We are all to bear witness to Christ and his Church wherever we may be; and according to the gifts given us, to carry on Jesus’ work of reconciliation in the world; and to take our place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.

We believe in Prayer.

God calls all people to pray, worship, and meditate upon Scripture regularly. All Christian people need to spend time in prayer with God and Scripture daily. At least once per week, all Christian people need to worship God with and among the gathered Body of Christ called the Church.