The Bible Is Our Foundation – We believe the Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testament are the inspired Word of God, containing everything necessary for salvation. God reveals Himself through the Scriptures, which provides everything necessary to be in a right relationship with God, and other people. The Bible is God’s infallible gift to us, the final authority for our beliefs and the guide for our daily living. It is our true guide for faith and practice.

We believe God created us in His image to be in relationship with Him; that means each of us has great worth in God’s eyes. It is our sin and our lack of trust in God that distorts God’s original intention for us. Our self-centeredness and sin separate us from who God created us to be, from others and God.

We believe that in mercy, God has made a way for all of us to be reconciled to Him and have His image restored in us. By grace, God makes a way for us to respond to Him through faith. When we turn from our self-centeredness, and trust only in Jesus as Savior and Lord, and accept God’s forgiveness we are born again, and begin to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus. The Holy Spirit delivers us from our rebellion towards God and makes true love for God and others possible.

We believe sanctification is the work of God’s grace in us through the Bible, and the Holy Spirit,

enabling us to live into God’s will for our lives. The work of sanctification, some call “holiness,” moves us to respond to the will of God so sin loses its power over us, and we grow into living a life of love and right-relationship with God and with others.

We believe the Church is the transformed people of God, the living Body of Christ, and the community of God’s Kingdom, committed to grow into the likeness of Christ and to proclaim the Good News of salvation, love, reconciliation, healing, and hope.

We believe God’s grace invites us into connection and relationship with Him even before we recognize it (Prevenient Grace). We believe baptism is a sacred thing, and a means by which we are initiated into God’s family through a tangible act (by immersion, pouring or sprinkling). Infant baptism is one way we affirm this “prevenient” grace at work. We baptize infants, before they have conscious awareness of their need for God,because of our conviction that God is already reaching out to them through the Church to draw them into God’s love. We also baptize infants with the clear understanding that the parents are the primary spiritual guides responsible for helping their children experience a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, with the help of the Church.

We believe Holy Communion, The Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, is a sacred means in which Jesus is

present with us, and we remember His sacrifice for us and celebrate our new life through His death and resurrection. Our celebration of Holy Communion is open to all who will accept the invitation to“come to the Lord’s Table.”

We believe in one God, our Creator and Sustainer, who exists in three distinct but separate Persons:

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

​

God the Father is holy and eternal and chooses to be in a personal relationship with us, proclaiming his love for us and all God has created.

​

God the Son is the eternal Word of God. He became one of us – Jesus – who is fully human and fully God. He was conceived by the Holy

Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, and suffered and died as the only sufficient sacrifice for our sins. He conquered sin and

death by rising from the dead and ascended to the Father, where He intercedes for us, and will one day return as King and Judge in final

victory.

​

God the Holy Spirit is the eternal living presence of God, convicting us of our disobedience and rebellion against God, revealing God’s love

to us through Jesus, enabling us to experience new birth and new life, transforming us into the likeness of Christ and producing within us

the fruit of holiness and love.