BELIEFS
We believe in one Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.
We believe in the God who was revealed to Israel and has been revealed to us as the Most High God, the Holy One, the Creator and Provider of and for all things, the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We believe in Jesus Christ — that he is fully God and fully human, that he is “the image of the invisible God” through whom we see and know the heart of the Father, that he became incarnate for us, lived for us and in our place, died on the cross for the sin of the whole world, was raised on the third day and ascended into heaven where he rules as king and leader over all and from whence he will come again. We trust that all who believe in him receive life in his name through the Spirit.
We believe in the Holy Spirit — God the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ — who is the down payment of the kingdom of heaven the one who unites us to Jesus and to believers in every time and place, knitting us together as family no matter how far from one another we may be.
We affirm the Bible, the written word of God, as our principle rule of faith and practice and as the central way we hear and know the living Word, Jesus. One basic summary of the gospel that guides our belief and unites us with Christians all around the world is the Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell;
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick [the living] and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic [universal] church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.