Statement of Faith

We confess and believe the great truths and abiding fundamentals of the Christian faith. This commitment is expressed through our alignment with the historic creeds of the Church, the two primary examples being the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed. We embrace a humble orthodoxy in partnership with others of like faith.  Our core beliefs are implied or declared in these historic creeds and may be summarized by the following statements:

  • We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
  • We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
  • We believe in the salvation of lost and sinful people by faith alone in Christ alone, and that regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
  • We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
  • We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of condemnation.
  • We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.
  • We believe in the inspiration, authority, and inerrancy of the Scripture.

The Apostles’ Creed

Though not written by the apostles, the Apostle’s Creed is the oldest creed of the Christian church and is the basis for others that followed.

In its oldest form, the Apostles’ Creed goes back to at least 140 A.D. Many of the early church leaders summed up their beliefs as they had an opportunity to stand for their faith—see, for example, 1 Timothy 6:12. These statements developed into a more standard form to express one’s confession of faith at the time of baptism. It is not Scripture, but it is a simple list of the great doctrines of the faith.

The word “catholic” refers to “the church universal” and was the word used in the original version of the Creed. It does not refer to the Roman Catholic Church, but rather the church, the body of Christ, as a universal fellowship. The phrase, “He descended into hell,” (indicated by “–“  was not part of the creed for the first six centuries and therefore is not included here:

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried. — The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; The Holy catholic Church, the Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

The Nicene Creed

This creed was formulated in 381 AD at the council of Constantinople. The Council at Nicaea was held in 325 AD, which gave the original form of this creed.  The council in 381 AD further developed that creed into what is today popularly called the Nicene Creed.1

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light from Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance the Father; by whom all things were made; Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose Kingdom shall have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life; who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spake by the Prophets.  And one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.”2

1 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), page 1169.
2 ibid.

Additional Resources:

The Lausanne Covenant

In July 1974, over 2,400 participants from 150 nations gathered in Lausanne, Switzerland, for the first International Congress on World Evangelization.

The resulting, Lausanne Covenant, drafted by an international committee chaired by John Stott, defined the necessity and goals of evangelism. The Covenant came to be regarded as one of the most significant documents in modern church history; it would bring together evangelicals from diverse backgrounds for missional partnership and shape much of their endeavors for the rest of the century. 

To view the Lausanne Covenant online go to https://www.lausanne.org/content/covenant/lausanne-covenant