Statement of Faith

I believe in God the creator. In sovereign love, God created all that is and proclaimed all of creation to be good. Distinguishing us from all other creatures, God created all of humanity in God’s own image, intrusting to us the stewardship of all creation. We were created to be a loving community of faith, living in eternal worship and in obedient fellowship with God, as well as in caring and altruistic relationships with our neighbors. But we rebel against God by hiding from God and God’s purpose for our lives, breaking God’s commandments, offending the image of God in our neighbors and in ourselves, and twisting truth into lies. Deserving of God’s judgment, we are separated from God and neighbor. Yet God chooses in sovereign love to redeem us and reconcile us to the loving relationships for which we were created.

I believe in Jesus Christ the redeemer. Hopelessly alienated from God, God takes the first initiative in our reconciliation—redeeming us in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Truly God, Jesus reveals to us the nature of God’s sovereign love. Truly human, Jesus reveals to us our true human nature and the community of love God intends. Healing the sick, blessing the children, binding the wounds of the broken hearted, eating with outcasts, forgiving sinners, and calling everyone to repent and believe—Jesus proclaimed and witnessed the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God. Unjustly condemned to death through crucifixion, Jesus suffered the full depth of human pain, showing the limitless extent of God’s love and giving his life for our sins. Raised from death to new life by God, the sinless life of Jesus was vindicated, the power of sin and evil was broken, and we are delivered from death to life eternal.

I believe in the Holy Spirit the sustainer and re-newer of life. By grace through faith, we are justified in the eyes of God, and reconciled with God and neighbor. Through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, we begin removing the chains of guilt and shame that alienate us. In the power of the Holy Spirit, we begin living into a loving and worshipful relationship with God, an acceptance and love of ourselves as children of God created in God’s image, and into relationships of love and harmony with all our neighbors. In the power of the Holy Spirit, God continues the work of reconciliation through the Church. In a community of believers in the power of the Holy Spirit, God guides us through God’s inspired Word as revealed to us in Scripture and in the Word proclaimed. In the power of the Holy Spirit, God binds us together as a community through baptism—the sign of our entry into the Church, the symbolic reminder of the cleansing of our sins, and the seal of God’s Spirit within us. In the Church through the power of the Holy Spirit, God feeds us at table with the body and blood of Christ. Through the bread of life and the cup of salvation, we are reminded of Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins and united as a community. Through the power of God’s Spirit, we break bread in the presence of Christ, opening our eyes to recognize our Lord, and giving us a foretaste of the kingdom.

Redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ and sustained by God’s Holy Spirit, we come together in the church as worshiping communities of the faith. United together in the Church universal, we become the body of Christ—continuing Christ’s ministry of witnessing to all the world the love, presence, and reign of God; sharing the Good News of salvation through the forgiveness of sins; sharing our joys and concerns, and living into the kingdom of God.