GOD

We believe God has revealed himself to be the living and true God, perfect in love and righteous in all his ways; one in essence, existing eternally in the three persons of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

THE BIBLE

We believe the Bible is the authoritative record of God’s self-disclosure and is wholly trustworthy. All the books of the Old and New Testament are given by divine inspiration and are the written word of God, the only infallible rule of our faith and practice.

JESUS CHRIST

We believe the only Mediator between God and humankind is Jesus Christ our Lord, God’s eternal Son. Who, though he was God, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary and fully shared and fulfilled our humanity in a life of perfect obedience without sin. By his death in our stead, he revealed God’s love and upheld God’s justice, removing our guilt and reconciling us to God. Having redeemed us from sin, he rose bodily from the grave on the third day, victorious over death and the powers of darkness. He ascended into heaven where, at God’s right hand, he intercedes for his people and rules as Lord over all.

HOLY SPIRIT

We believe the Holy Spirit, through the proclamation of the gospel, renews our hearts, compelling us to repent of our sins and confess Jesus Christ as Lord. By the same Spirit we are led to trust in God’s mercy, whereby we are forgiven all our sins, justified by faith alone through the merit of Christ our Savior and granted the free gift of eternal life. We believe that the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual gifts to all believers for the edification of the body of Christ and that all gifts are essential and remain in operation today.

HUMANKIND

We believe that God, by his word and for his glory, freely created the world out of nothing and everything in it. God made man and woman in his own image, as the crown of creation, that they might have fellowship with him. Tempted by Satan, they rebelled against God. Being estranged from their Maker, yet responsible to him, they became subject to divine wrath, inwardly depraved, and, apart from grace, incapable of returning to God.

SALVATION

We believe that God graciously adopts us into his family and enables us to call him Father. As we are led by the Spirit, we grow in knowledge of the Lord, freely keeping his commandments and endeavoring so to live in the world that all see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. We believe salvation is a free gift of God attained through faith alone. It is by God’s love and sovereign election that one is brought to eternal life and not by good works.

THE CHURCH

We believe that God, through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, creates the church by calling sinners out of the whole human race and into the fellowship of Christ’s body. We believe the church is summoned by Christ to offer acceptable worship to God and to serve him by preaching the gospel and making disciples of all people, by nurturing the church through the ministry of the Word and sacraments and through daily pastoral care, by striving for social justice and by relieving human distress and needs.

THE RETURN OF CHRIST

We believe that God’s redemptive purpose will be consummated by the return of Jesus Christ. We believe Jesus will raise the dead, judge all people according to the deeds done in the body and establish his glorious kingdom. The wicked will be separated from God’s presence, but the righteous, in glorified bodies, will live and reign with him forever. Then creation will be restored and fulfilled and the whole earth will proclaim the glory of God who makes all things new. We believe the second coming of Jesus Christ will take place in a personal, physical, and sudden manner.