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Theological Statements

What we believe about the inspiration of the Bible

We stand solidly in the Protestant commitment that the 39 books comprising the Old Testament and the 27 books that make up the New Testament are inspired by God. Inspiration does not mean that God dictated his words to his human writers but that his messages were expressed through human beings in such as way that the Bible models divine perfection bursting through the literature, methodology, and personalities of those living during the iterations of God's various invasions into real history.

What we believe about how to study the Bible

Bible readers have used the Bible to justify every manner of human behavior, from the sublime humanitarian efforts of Mother Theresa to the grotesque horrors of the Crusades. The Bible cannot sustain both the holy and the profane: the point of departure is in the discovery of the original author's intent in what was written. Good interpretation means hearing a particular text in the language, literature, culture and historical context of the writer and his recipients. Once the original meaning is ascertained the interpreter has the exciting task of asking how that original meaning applies in the third millennium A.D.

To do either of these jobs well, especially the latter, the Bible itself explains that the interpreter is dependent on the help of God’s Spirit mediated through meditation and prayer. The good Bible interpreter prays continually, studies seriously, has common sense and is a perceptive student of current affairs. When all these disciplines converge, the interpreter can use God’s Word accurately to speak to the pressing issues of the day.

What we believe about the reliability of the Bible

We believe that the events recorded in the Bible that weave together to form its basic storyline are accurate in what they affirm to teach. This historical accuracy has, and is, being verified through the constant stream of archaeological evidence testifying to the Bible’s veracity.

What we believe about the doctrines of the Bible

We believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons--the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory; that this triune God creates all, upholds all, and governs all.

We believe that the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, fully inspired, without error in the original manuscripts, and the infallible rule of faith and practice.

We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love. We believe that he concerns himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that he hears and answers prayer, and that he saves from sin and death all who come to him through Jesus Christ.

We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s eternal, only begotten son, conceived incarnate by the Holy Spirit. We believe in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles and teachings, his substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for his people, and personal, visible return to the earth. We believe that in his first coming, Jesus inaugurated the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God and that at his second coming the kingdom will be consummated.

We believe in the Holy Spirit who came forth in the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment to regenerate, sanctify, and empower for ministry all who believe in Christ. We believe the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ and that he is an abiding helper, teacher, and guide. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit and the exercise of all the Biblical gifts of the Spirit as proleptic evidence of the dawn of the life of the future into the present age.

We believe that all human beings are sinners by nature and choice and are, therefore, under condemnation. We also believe that God regenerates and baptizes by the Holy Spirit those who repent of their sins and confess Jesus Christ as savior and Lord.

We believe in the universal church, the living spiritual body, of which Christ is the head and all regenerated persons are members.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ committed two ordinances to the church: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe that in baptism and communion God’s people supernaturally encounter the risen Christ.

We believe also in the laying on of hands for the empowering of the Holy Spirit, for ordaining of pastors, elders and deacons, for receiving gifts of the Holy Spirit and for healing.

We believe in the personal, visible, appearing of Christ to earth and the consummation of his Kingdom; in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment and eternal blessing of the righteous and endless suffering of the wicked.

We believe in what is termed “The Apostle’s Creed” as embodying fundamental facts of Christian faith and endorse the historic orthodox creeds of the church.