“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not because of works, lest any man should boast”
Ephesians 2:8-9
God
We believe that there is only one true God (the Triune God), who has revealed Himself to man through His Word, and that there are three distinct and equal persons within this one God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), who are alike eternal and equal in power, majesty, and glory.
The Bible
We believe that the Bible (the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments) is the inspired and inerrant Word of God and that it is the only source for Christian teaching and the only guide for Christian living (Scripture Alone).
God the Son
We believe that God the Son became a man (conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary) to be our Savior, that He lived a perfect life with no sin as our substitute, that He suffered the punishment of our sin for us on the cross, and that His body truly rose from the dead on the third day to give us the victory over death and hell.
Salvation
We believe that there is nothing that we can do to earn, merit, or deserve our salvation but that we are justified (declared innocent of our sin) by God’s grace (His undeserved love), for Christ’s sake (His death and resurrection), through faith (the gift of the Holy Spirit).
God The Holy Spirit
We believe that we can not by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior but that the Holy Spirit brings us to faith through the Gospel, so that we can trust in the perfect life, the sacrificial death, and the glorious resurrection of Jesus for our eternal salvation.
Faith
We believe that faith is nothing more than the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts, who enables us to repent of our sins, to trust in the merits of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, and to live according to God’s will to thank Him for our salvation.
The Means Of Grace
We believe that the Holy Spirit creates and strengthens faith in believers through the Means of Grace, which is God’s Word, and that this includes His written Word (the Bible), people proclaiming His written Word (preaching and teaching), and the Sacraments (God’s Word connected with visible elements).
Man
We believe that since man’s fall into sin all people are conceived and born with original sin, all people have sinned against God throughout their lives by thought, word, and deed, and all people deserve nothing but punishment because of their sin.
Baptism
We believe that the Sacrament of Baptism is a Means of Grace, through which we receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit (faith) and become members of God’s Kingdom (the Church), and that the children of Christian parents are also to be baptized.
The Lord’s Supper
We believe that in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper we receive the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ with the bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins and for the strengthening of our faith and that in this Sacrament we publicly proclaim our unity in what we believe and teach (close communion).
The Invisible Church
We believe that the Invisible Church includes all true believers, who have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that this Church exists wherever the Good News of Christ’s death and resurrection is proclaimed.
The Visible Church
We believe that Christ organized His Church on earth into local congregations, so that we can join together with our fellow believers to worship God and to hear His Word, that Christ wants His Church to be united in its teachings based solely on His Word, and that the Visible Church is divided into different denominations, because there are different teachings.
The Mission Of The Church
We believe that Christ has given us the mission to make disciples of all nations (students and followers of Jesus Christ) by preaching the Gospel (Christ’s death and resurrection), teaching God’s Word (the Bible), and administering the Sacraments (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper).
Judgement Day
We believe that God the Son will appear on the Last Day to raise all the dead and to judge all people, that all true believers will receive His blood-bought gift of eternal life in heaven, and that all unbelievers will be condemned to eternal damnation in hell because of their sin of unbelief.
Creation
We believe that God created the world out of nothing and still preserves it and that He made man in His own image (perfect and without sin) to be the crowning point of His creation and to take care of the world, in which we live.