We believe in the Holy Trinity
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These three persons of the Trinity are perfectly united in One God revealed in three persons. (Matthew 28:18-20)
We believe in God the Father
The Father is the Creator—the one who fashioned the entire universe from nothing. We believe that the Father is still in relationship with His created universe and that He sustains it still. God the Father, our creator, desires to know us both personally and collectively and chose to reveal Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ so that we might know God’s love. (Genesis 1:1, Matthew 3:16-17)
We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God
Fully God and fully human, Jesus came and lived among us. In His spotless life, Jesus became the sinless sacrifice for our sins. He hung on a cross to die to take away our sin. But God raised Jesus, in bodily form, from the dead to demonstrate His power and redemption. In Christ, and through His actions, God has conquered death and opened to us the way of life everlasting. We believe that Jesus Christ is alive still. He has ascended to heaven and He will come again, in glory, to judge, to reign, and to redeem. In Jesus we have been offered forgiveness and salvation and shown the gift of grace, mercy and love. (John 1:1-5, 14; Luke 24:1-9)
We believe in God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the advocate—the power of God that is active and alive in the life of the Church, the world, and all believers. The Holy Spirit entrusts us with gifts, convicts us of sin, strengthens our faith, and empowers our witness of all that God has done, is doing and promises yet to do. The Holy Spirit walks beside us every step of our lives supporting, equipping, teaching, and directing us. (John 14:25-26; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11)We believe that the Bible is the living word of God
The Word of God is Jesus Christ as shared in the first chapter of John. The Bible is God’s written word to us that reveals the character and will of God. It is God’s love story to us. In its pages we see our own failings and fallings—but God’s love persists! We learn of this love by the story of Jesus Christ, his sacrifice, resurrection, and teachings. The Old and New Testaments are inspired by God and they are our authority in faith and life. Because the Bible is our authority and truth we use it as our teaching and our inspiration for life in God’s Kingdom. Within its pages we interpret using the two lenses of law and gospel. We recognize and interpret scripture using scripture. It is our norm and our measure in all walks of life and yet we also recognize that the Bible is not God—but that which points to the One we worship. (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21)
Salvation
We believe Sin is that which keeps us from God
It is our shortcoming and our failing to live the way that God intends for us. We sin by the things we do and by the things we don’t do. All of us sin in thought, word, and deed. Martin Luther described sin as the process by which we cave in on ourselves and stare at our belly buttons—our self-centered nature. Sin infects us all—we are born sinful. (Jeremiah 3:25; Romans 3:23)
We believe that God’s Grace is the only way that we are healed from the disease of sin. Grace is God’s free gift. No one can earn God’s favor by what they do or don’t do. It is nothing that we do—it is what has been done by Jesus Christ. Our relationship to God is restored because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. We are saved from the disease of sin by the Grace of God shown to us in Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16)
We believe in Forgiveness
God’s love is shown to us most clearly in the costly forgiveness found at the cross of Christ that reconciles a broken world. God, in infinite love, chose to forgive the unforgivable. We believe that we are called to embody forgiveness as we live forgiven and forgiving. (Psalm 130:3-4; Luke 1:76-79; Acts 13:38)
Sacraments
Sacraments are holy mysteries that reveal God’s grace and empower a person for Christian living in a real, tangible, and powerful ways