OUr Beliefs

We understand God as a Trinity—three persons in one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God, who is one, is revealed in three distinct persons. "God in three persons, blessed Trinity" is one way of speaking about the several ways we experience God. We believe the one God reveals himself as the Trinity distinct but inseparable, eternally one in essence and power.

We affirm God is "everlasting" and "infinite" in "power, wisdom, justice, goodness, and love."

God works in at least these seven ways: God creates, sustains, loves, suffers, judges, redeems, and reigns.

We believe in Jesus Christ, truly God and truly man, in whom the divine and human natures are perfectly and inseparably united.

He is the eternal Word made flesh, the only begotten Son of the Father, born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit.

As ministering Servant he lived, suffered and died on the cross. He was buried, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to be with the Father, from whence he shall return.

He is eternal Savior and Mediator, who intercedes for us, and by him all humans will be judged.

We believe in the Holy Spirit who proceeds from & is one in being with the Creator & Jesus. The Spirit convinces the world of sin, of righteousness & of judgment. The Holy Spirit leads humans through faithful response to the gospel into the fellowship of the Church. The Spirit comforts, sustains & empowers the faithful & guides them in all truth. In Hebrew & Greek, the words for Spirit, wind, & breath are nearly the same. In trying to describe God's activity, the ancients were saying that it was like God's breath, like a sacred wind. It could not be seen or held. But the effect of God's Spirit, like the wind, could be felt & known.

We believe that the church is the body of Christ, an extension of Christ's life and ministry in the world today.

We believe that the mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

We believe that the church is "the communion of saints," a community made up of all past, present, and future disciples of Christ.

We believe that the church is called to worship God and to support those who participate in its life as they grow in faith.

We believe that the Bible is the primary authority for our faith and practice. The Bible is a collection of 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible) and 27 in the New Testament. These books were written over a one-thousand-year period in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. In the Hebrew Bible we find legends, histories, liturgies for community worship, songs, proverbs, sermons, even a poetic drama (Job). In the New Testament are Gospels, a history, many letters, and an apocalypse (Revelation). Yet through it all the Bible is the story of the one God, who stands in a covenant relationship with the people of God.

The kingdom or reign of God is both a present reality and future hope. We believe in and trust the Lord of the future, and we lean into the future that God has promised. God goes before us, beckoning us into the new world that is already being created, calling us to join in the challenging work of fashioning it. However, when we're confronted with personal disasters or with the daily horror stories of society's ills, we may falter. Hope may seem to be unrealistic, naive optimism. Yet our hope is not in trends. Our hope is in the Lord of all creation and all history—a God who is still in charge and is actively at work transforming the world.

Genesis 1:27 asserts that we've been made in the image of the Creator.

Like God we have the capacity to love and care, to communicate, and to create.

We believe that humans can choose to accept or reject a relationship with God.

We believe we are never accounted righteous before God through our works or merit, but that we are justified or accounted righteous before God only by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that all humans need to be in relationship with God in order to be fully human.