What We Believe
THE BIBLE
We confess that the Bible is the Word of
God, consisting in the sixty-six books of
the Old and New Testaments, and that it is
the only infallible rule for faith and life,
revealing the righteousness of God for the
salvation of all who believe. We confess
that the truth of the Bible is both revealed
and applied to the lives of God's elect by
the power of His Holy Spirit.
GOD
We confess that there is one God, the
creator of all things visible and invisible,
infinite in being, glory, blessedness and
perfection; all sufficient, eternal,
unchanging, everywhere present, almighty,
all- knowing, perfect in holiness, justice,
mercy, and truth; abounding in faithfulness,
love, and jealousy for the honor of His own
Name. We confess that this one God eternally
exists in three Persons: The Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit.
THE FATHER
We confess that the eternal Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ is the Almighty Creator of
all things, and that from all of eternity He
determined to glorify himself by choosing a
people to belong to Him in the blessed
communion of His dear Son, and that by His
providential control over all things He
fulfills this purpose to the praise of His
glorious grace.
THE SON
We confess that Jesus Christ is the eternal
Son of God, sent from the Father to
accomplish His purpose of grace and glory in
the salvation of His elect people. We
confess that while ever the eternal Son of
God, he took a true human nature, conceived
by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin
Mary, and in His true humanity fulfilled all
the righteous requirements of God's law and
justice in a life of suffering, trial, and
unerring obedience to the will of the
Father. We confess that having been
confirmed in a perfect righteousness, He
offered His life as a sacrifice of atonement
for the sins of His people and thereby
accomplished their salvation and
reconciliation to God to the praise of His
glorious grace. We confess that our Lord
Jesus Christ, His sacrifice accepted by the
Father, is raised from his suffering and
death to eternal glory, and that He rules
over all things for the sake of His Church,
and continually applies the benefits He
secured by His sacrificial death to His
Church by the work of the Holy Spirit. We
confess that He shall return, in power and
glory, to judge the living and the dead and
bring in everlasting righteousness.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
We confess that the Holy Spirit is God, co-
equal with the Father and the Son, and that
He is sent from the Father and the Son to
apply and fulfill the redemption
accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ in the
lives of God's elect. We confess that in
applying the work Jesus Christ accomplished,
the Holy Spirit convicts of sin,
righteousness, and judgment, directing and
enabling the elect of God to true faith in
Jesus Christ and living in them to complete
the life of faith to the time of
resurrection and eternal union with Christ.
We confess that the Holy Spirit is He by
whom all true Christians live, and that all
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self
control is a fruit and testimony to His work
by the power of the gospel, so that all
praise and glory for the Christian life
belongs to God alone.
MANKIND
We confess that with the exception of Jesus
Christ, all human beings are subject to
moral depravity and spiritual death because
of the consequence of the sin of Adam, and
are by nature objects of wrath and liable to
eternal condemnation in the everlasting
torments of Hell. Although mankind can
attain to relative degrees of virtue and
moral goodness, by comparison to the perfect
standard of God's righteousness, the best
works that man can do are unacceptable and
corrupt. Moreover, no person, on account of
the spiritual death and moral depravity to
which all are subject, can come to God
unless he is drawn and given life by the
power of the Holy Spirit. We confess that
from all the mass of humanity, God has
chosen to save some and bring them to the
estate of forgiveness and eternal life in
Heaven, and that he has determined to
consign others to eternal destruction, due
to their sin and for the vindication of his
own glory and power.
THE CHURCH
We confess that there is one true, holy,
catholic and apostolic Church, consisting of
all persons who are redeemed by Jesus
Christ. We confess that this Church is
visibly expressed in assemblies which are
distinguished by the faithful proclamation
of the gospel, the observance of the
sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper,
and a loving intolerance of sin in doctrine
and life, overseen by elders who serve as
under- shepherds of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We confess that it is the duty of such
assemblies to seek to both recognize and
maintain the true unity which exists among
those who acknowledge, by the power of the
Holy Spirit, the One Faith of the gospel, as
the Church is God's.