Core Beliefs
God is triune.
There is one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in three distinct, fully and equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless, eternal, and perfect knowledge, wisdom, and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory. He is perfectly good and ever-present.
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, the second member of the Trinity. He is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one person with two distinct natures. He is the promised Messiah who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended to heaven, and now sits at the right hand of God the Father as our Great High Priest, ruling over all creation. His sacrificial death on the cross is substitutionary and representative, and earned for His people righteousness by paying for their sins. Through His resurrection, He demonstrated victory over sin, death, and the devil. He will come again to receive His own to Himself and to reign in power and glory for all eternity.
The Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, fully God, and in all that He does, He glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its sin, regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He is the Spirit of Truth who leads the believer into all truth through the Word of Truth, the Bible. He indwells, regenerates, illuminates, guides, equips, and empowers believers through ongoing sanctification.
The Bible.
The Bible is made up of both the Old and New Testaments, consisting of 66 books. God, the Holy Spirit, moved the human authors to write the exact words He desired them to. The words in Scripture penned by human authors, therefore, are the inspired Word of God, without any error in the original writings, and the only final authority in all matters it addresses. It is the complete revelation of God’s will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.
Salvation.
Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of His people. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation. It is a work of divine grace that the Holy Spirit applies to all who believe, creating the gift of faith in their hearts and keeping them in that faith forever.
Sin.
God created Adam and Eve in His image, male and female, as sinless and perfect, but when Adam willfully chose to rebel against God and eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, mankind fell from their sinless state. Since then, in Adam, all human beings are sinners by nature and by choice; they are alienated from God and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ, the second Adam, can we be rescued, reconciled, and renewed.
Reason.
God has endowed human beings with the ability to reason and use logic for presenting a biblical defense against the culture's lies. It is our responsibility to give an answer with biblical thoughtfulness, clarity, kindness, and grace (1 Peter 3:15).
