Core Truths

Here are five core truths that our church believes. For a more complete explanation of our beliefs, see our full statement of faith.

1. Trinity.

The God of the Bible is one God who has always existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is one-in-three and three-in-one. He is the one, true, and living God. He is the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of the world who is worthy of all glory and honor. 

2. Scripture.

The Bible is God’s Word. The Holy Spirit spoke through the human authors of Scripture in such a way that the Bible is God’s Word to us. Scripture is inerrant, infallible, and sufficient. It is our only rule of faith and practice. As God’s Word, it is the final and supreme authority for each individual Christian and for our church as a whole.

3. Salvation.

Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone. Salvation describes God’s work to reconcile sinners to himself through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and through the application of Christ’s work to our lives by the Holy Spirit. It is entirely a free gift of God’s grace that we receive by faith in Jesus.

We confess with Scripture that salvation can be found in no other name than the name of Jesus. He is the only way to be reconciled to God. This salvation is a gracious gift of God that he maintains by his grace and power in such a way that all true believers endure to the end. 

The culmination of our salvation will happen when Christ returns.  When he returns, he will physically resurrect all people: those who believe will be raised to everlasting life with him in the new creation and those who have rejected him will be raised to everlasting punishment in Hell. The final state of all those who trust in Christ and confess that he is Lord is a glorified, embodied existence in the Lord’s presence in the new creation. 

4. Church.

A church is a community of believers who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and whom God has led by his Spirit to join together to worship and serve the Triune God. The church exists to glorify God the Father by exalting Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. To live out this mission, the church gathers and is sent. The church gathers to worship God, to be refreshed and renewed in the gospel, and to be equipped to serve. The Lord Jesus sends his church into the world as he was sent into the world in order to serve by declaring and displaying the gospel.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of his church. Each church is led by pastors and served by deacons. Under the direction of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, the congregation serves as the final earthly authority for a local church.

The Lord Jesus Christ gave his church two ordinances to practice: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These ordinances serve as visible displays of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they work together with the Word of God and by the Holy Spirit to grow believers in their faith. 

5. Value of Life.

All human beings are made in the image of God, and thus we affirm the value of all human life from conception onward. Our world today is often marked by a “culture of death”—a culture that praises power, glamorizes violence, and celebrates the oppression and even killing of the weak and vulnerable. Against such a world, we vociferously proclaim the value and dignity of all people no matter one’s age, ethnicity, or past.