What We Believe

The doctrine of this church is the system commonly called “The Reformed Faith,” as expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith, together with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms; an abbreviation of which, called “The Doctrinal Statement of this Church,” is as follows:

We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as inspired of God, and inerrant in all its parts in the original writings, and that they are of supreme and final authority in faith and life.

Scriptures: Nothing at any time is to be added to this Scripture, either by new revelations of the Spirit or by traditions of men. The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself.

We believe in one God existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-equal and eternal.

God: He is unchanging, boundless, immeasurable, eternal, almighty, all wise, holy, free and absolute. He accomplishes all things for His own glory according to the purpose of His own unchangeable and righteous will. He is loving, gracious, merciful, patient, and abundant in goodness and truth, the forgiver of iniquity, transgression of sin. He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him yet He is just in His judgments, hating all sin, and will by no means acquit the guilty. He has sovereign rule over His creation, to do by them, for them, or to them whatever He pleases. In His sight all things are open and clear; His knowledge is unlimited, infallible and not dependent upon the action of His creatures.

God has from all eternity ordained everything that happens, is not the author of sin, yet allows His creatures to act freely. He has predestined some to eternal life, others He has passed by, acting according to His sovereign choice. He has also foreordained the means of their salvation through Christ’s atoning sacrifice and the Spirit’s work.

We believe that man was created in the image of God, that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death, but also the spiritual death, which is separation from God; and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature.

Man: Adam, the first man, sinned against God’s covenant of works and brought ruin upon his race. This defilement renders us not only unwilling and unable to do what is good, but opposed to the good and completely inclined to all that is evil.

We believe that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, in the fullness of time became man, and so was and continues to be God and man, and that He was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.

Jesus Christ: He was sinless and undefiled. His righteous life among men, and His death, equipped Him to be our mediator before God’s throne, interceding for His people.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice and that all that believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood.

The Lord Jesus Christ: Christ’s atoning death for His people resulted in salvation – justification, sanctification, and glorification – the evidences of which are exercised in faith, repentance, and holy living.

We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, in His ascension in the heavens and in His present life there for us as High Priest and Advocate.

Resurrection: His resurrection guaranteed the bodily resurrection of every human being, whether a resurrection to life or to death, both eternal.

We believe in that blessed hope, the personal and visible return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Blessed Hope: This will usher in the judgment of condemnation on the wicked and the eternal blessedness of God’s people in His presence.

We believe that all who receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ are born again of the Holy Spirit, and thereby become the children of God.

Born Again: An act of regeneration of the Holy Spirit whereby a spiritually dead person is made alive. Those who thus exercise saving faith in Christ do so because God has given them a believing heart, unlike the heart of stone that was theirs by nature. Salvation is of the Lord!

We believe in the eternal security and everlasting blessedness of the saved, and the eternal conscious punishment of the lost.

Eternal Security: Believers, because of their new nature, are enabled by the Holy Spirit to persevere to the end, increasing in godliness and victory over personal sin before glorification. The unsaved are condemned on the basis of their own sinful works, falling short of God’s standard, and not coming under the forgiveness that is in Christ.

We believe that Christ instituted the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as the only Sacraments to be observed until He comes.

Baptism/Lord’s Supper: These picture the work of the Holy Spirit and of Christ, respectively, and are to be practiced only by those who are under the New Covenant and in fellowship with God and His people.

 

 
"Hope itself is like a star- not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. " Charles H. Spurgeon