I have grounded my faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior on the authoritative teachings of the Holy Scriptures. I strive to surrender my will to God daily. I choose to allow God to transform me as He conforms me to be more like Jesus. I seek to live in the spiritual community of the Church and try to be a witness of God’s grace in the world.
I believe in the triune God as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. I believe in the oneness of God, and the unique attributes and function of each Person of the Trinity. From Genesis to Revelation, the Holy Scriptures teach the truth of our One God who exists in three distinct persons, who remain in perfect relationship, harmony, and balance. The eternal Trinity is a mystery that cannot be explained fully in a way that our limited human intellects can understand.
I believe that God the Father created all things and by His will sustains and renews His creation. I affirm that the Son of God was the agent of creation, through whom God the Father worked, and that God the Spirit breathed life into all creation. I believe that male and female were created in the image of God, and that all was perfect and declared to be very good.
I believe that sin entered the world through the willful choice of both man and woman, and that perfect fellowship with God was broken and destroyed. The consequence for sin was death, as it always has been, and the curse of death impacted all of creation.
I believe that at the proper time, God the Father sent God the Son to rescue and redeem a sinful humanity, and to provide a bridge between Holy God and sinful people. God the Son became fully human, while retaining His Divine nature. God the Son became a humble servant, lived among us a perfect life, and purchased our forgiveness and freedom with His sufficient sacrifice on the cross. Through faith in Jesus the Son of God, His completed and sufficient work on the cross, we can be made right in God’s eyes. Only through genuine saving faith can any human be made right with God, and only through the substitutionary work of Jesus can any person receive the gift of grace and forgiveness. Through His death and resurrection, we who believe can have life now and life everlasting, as Jesus has made peace with God through His perfect sacrifice and payment for sin.
I believe that the Holy Spirit draws us to God and awakens our hearts to believe through the teaching/preaching of the Holy Scriptures, Christ-centered worship, and through the service done by His Church and the witness of creation. The Spirit guides us, helps us to walk by faith, and encourages, convicts, comforts, and secures us in Christ. The Holy Spirit is given to every believer as a seal and sign of God’s adoption. The Spirit affirms our inclusion in God’s grace through the sacrament of baptism and through the regular celebration of communion as a reminder of God’s grace personally experienced in our lives.
I believe that just as Jesus was given a glorified body after His resurrection from the dead, so shall every follower of Jesus be given a glorified physical body in God’s timing. The Holy Scriptures teach that Jesus is the one who went before us through death and into eternity, and that we can be assured that He will guide us through until that promise is kept to each of us. I believe that Jesus will come again in glorious triumph, and that every believer should look forward to that future day with expectation and anticipation. Until that time, we must live in the Body of Christ, the Church, work to fulfill our mission as God’s people here on earth, and seek to know Jesus and make Him known.