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GOD -- We believe in one true God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
JESUS -- We believe Jesus Christ is the second person of the Trinity, fully and eternally God, and through the incarnation he also became fully man. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus lived a perfect life and died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. He was raised from the dead, ascended into heaven, and now serves as our high priest and mediator between God and people. THE HOLY SPIRIT -- We believe the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit convicts people of their need for salvation, draws them to faith in Jesus, and applies Christ’s saving work to all believers. The Holy Spirit indwells all followers of Jesus and leads, guides, gifts, and empowers them for godly living and service. |
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THE BIBLE -- We believe the Holy Scriptures, in their entirety, are inspired by God and wholly true and trustworthy in all they affirm. All the teachings of the Bible, when properly interpreted, are to be believed and obeyed. The Bible is our supreme authority in every matter of belief and conduct.
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HUMANITY -- We believe all human beings are created in God’s own likeness and therefore have inherent value and equality before God. Since the fall, human sin and guilt have rendered us subject to God’s wrath and condemnation. This has resulted in our alienation from God’s will, the suppression of God’s truth, and hostility toward God’s law. God’s love desires all to come to repentance and to be reconciled rather than condemned.
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SALVATION -- We believe salvation from the guilt, penalty, and consequence of sin has been achieved solely through the work of Jesus Christ – his perfect obedience, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, and exaltation as Lord. Jesus alone is truly God and truly human, the only mediator between God and humanity. There is salvation through no other person, creed, process, or power. Each sinner is justified before God and reconciled to God by grace which is entered into by faith in Jesus Christ. We believe Scripture affirms the normative way to express faith in Christ and personally participate in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is through baptism by immersion in water.
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THE CHURCH -- We believe there is one, holy, universal, and apostolic Church, which is the body of Christ, to which all true believers belong. The Church’s calling is to worship God and serve his purposes in the world. Scripture teaches believers are to gather together in local congregations for worship, prayer, Biblical teaching, fellowship, mutual encouragement, and disciple-making.
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MISSION -- We believe that as the Father sent the Son into the world, so the Lord Jesus Christ sends his church to participate in God’s mission by words and works. The church is called: to make Christ known; to proclaim God’s truth and the gospel of God’s grace; to make disciples among all nations; to exhibit God’s character through compassionate care for the needy; and to demonstrate the reality of God’s kingdom through creative and sacrificial living, the community of love, the quest for righteousness, justice and peace, and the care of God’s creation.
RETURN OF JESUS -- We believe that as the Lord Jesus ascended to his Father, so he will return personally, visibly, and in glory. He will raise the dead and bring salvation and judgment to final completion. God will then fully establish his Kingdom and finish the new creation – a new heaven and a new earth from which all evil and evildoers, all suffering and death, will be excluded and in which God will be glorified forever. |