Our theological beliefs hold to the teachings of the historic Christian church inaugurated by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and birthed by the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Though there is room for different understandings on lesser doctrinal issues within the framework of true Christianity, we hold firmly to the foundational Christian beliefs listed below regarding God, the scriptures, the person of Jesus, the Gospel, and salvation, the Kingdom of God and the return of Jesus. 

THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF GOD

We affirm our belief in the one-eternal God, Creator and Lord of the world, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who governs all things according to the purpose of his will. He has been calling out from the world a people for himself, and sending his people back into the world to be his servants and his witnesses, for the extension of his kingdom, the building up of Christ’s body, and the glory of his name. We confess with shame that we have often denied our calling and failed in our mission, by becoming conformed to the world or by withdrawing from it. Yet we rejoice that even when borne by earthen vessels the gospel is still a precious treasure. To the task of making that treasure known in the power of the Holy Spirit we desire to dedicate ourselves anew.

(Isaiah 40:28; Matthew 28:19; Ephesians 1:11; Acts 15:14; John 17:6, 18; Ephesians 4:12; 1 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 4:7)

THE AUTHORITY AND POWER OF THE BIBLE

We believe the Bible to be both true and authoritative. We make this claim because we believe God divinely inspired the original authors through the Holy Spirit to pen them. We also affirm the power of God’s word to accomplish his purpose of salvation. The message of the Bible is addressed to all men and women. God’s revelation in Christ and in Scripture is unchangeable. The Holy Spirit still speaks through them today. The Spirit illumines the minds of God’s people in every culture to perceive its truth freshly through their own eyes and thus discloses to the whole Church ever more of the many-colored wisdom of God.

(2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21; John 10:35; Isaiah 55:11; 1 Corinthians 1:21; Romans 1:16, Matthew 5:17,18; Jude 3; Ephesians 1:17,18; 3:10,18)

THE PERSON OF JESUS

Jesus Christ, being himself the only God-man, who gave himself as the only ransom for sinners, is the only mediator between God and people. There is no other name by which we must be saved. All men and women are perishing because of sin, but God loves everyone, not wishing that any should perish but that all should repent. Yet those who reject Christ repudiate the joy of salvation and condemn themselves to eternal separation from God. To proclaim Jesus as “the Savior of the world” is not to affirm that all people are either automatically or ultimately saved, still less to affirm that all religions offer salvation in Christ. Rather it is to proclaim God’s love for a world of sinners and to invite everyone to respond to him as Savior and Lord in the wholehearted personal commitment of repentance and faith. Jesus Christ has been exalted above every other name; we long for the day when every knee shall bow to him and every tongue shall confess him Lord.

(Galatians 1:6-9; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Timothy 2:5,6; Acts 4:12; John 3:16-19; 2 Peter 3:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; John 4:42; Matthew 11:28; Ephesians 1:20,21; Philippians 2:9-11)

THE GOSPEL

The Gospel is the good news that God himself, the Creator, has come to rescue us from sin, and renew all things, in and through the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf, to establish his Kingdom, through his people, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

  • This good news is initiated by God, in grace.

  • This good news is substitutionary: Christ has come, lived, died, and risen on our behalf.

  • This good news is participatory: we are involved in declaring and joining the work of God in redemptive history as his faithful, fruitful people.

  • This good news is news of a Kingdom, not just individual hearts. It is the Lordship of Jesus tangibly worked out across of all of creation.

  • This good news is powerful. It wakes people from death to life, promises the presence and power of God in us, and enables us to be a preview community of the work God will do in all creation.

(Colossians 1:15-20; John 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 1 Timothy 2:5-6); 1 Peter 2:24-25;1 Peter 3:18)

SALVATION

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole person and is offered freely to all who, by faith, confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Salvation is the ultimate sign of God’s grace to mankind. Our just reward for sinful living is eternal separation from God. Christ’s death on the cross and His blood serve as the atoning sacrifice that allows sinful mankind to be reconciled to a Holy and Righteous God. This reconciliation is available to anyone who repents of their sin and through faith confesses Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

(Genesis 3:15; John 3:3-21; Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-22; Revelation 3:20)

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The Kingdom of God is the comprehensive rule of God over everything—not only the rule of God in the lives of individuals or in the way we live together in the local church as a counterculture but in the way we live in every other sphere of society. In this view, God is king of the entire cosmos, not just of the people of God. Theologian Abraham Kuyper said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” Every Christian is called to be an agent of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, wherever they are called by God to serve.

(Psalm 47:7-8; Isaiah 2:2-4; Daniel 2:44; Mark 11:10; Isaiah 9:6-7; Mark 1:14-15)

THE RETURN OF JESUS

God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to eternal separation from God. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.

(Isaiah 2:4; 11:9; Matthew 16:27; 18:8-9; 19:28; 24:27,30,36,44; 25:31-46; 26:64; Mark 8:38; 9:43-48; Luke 12:40,48; 16:19-26; 17:22-37; 21:27-28; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:11; 17:31; Romans 14:10; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 15:24-28,35-58; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Philippians 3:20-21; Colossians 1:5; 3:4)