What we Believe
Creator of heaven and earth, and all things visible and invisible. We believe God is a Triune being - one substance, three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - eternally coexistent in a loving relationship of mutual submission one to another, interdependence and fruitfulness. In His love and unity there is no isolation; in His interdependence there is no absorption because each Person of the Trinity has otherness too; and in His fruitfulness there is no bareness due to lack of self-esteem or self-worth.
The only-begotten Son of God, proceeded of the Father before all ages, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God; begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven. And He became flesh by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man. He is God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds, and He is man, of the substance of his mother, born in the world; perfect God; perfect man, of reasoning soul and human flesh consisting; equal to the Father as touching His Godhead; less than the Father as touching His manhood, who, although He be God and man, yet He is not two, but is one Christ.
Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, fulfilling all the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. He descended into hell; the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven; and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. And of His kingdom there will be no end.
The Lord and Giver of life, who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who spoke through the prophets, and who dwells in every believer who confesses Jesus as Lord and Savior. We believe the Holy Spirit is a Person, not a thing or a power. The Holy Spirit relates to man in many different ways: He strives with man, instructs, regenerates, sanctifies, and comforts. He speaks, testifies, orders, reveals, creates, hovers, teaches, convicts, speaks, searches and reveals. Jesus baptizes believers with the Holy Spirit, who endues them with power to carry out God's mission, and with an intimate, spiritual prayer language unique to each believer. We believe the Holy Spirit manifests Himself in supernatural ways through the Church, for the edification of the same and as a witness to unbelievers.
God created man in His image and likeness and gave him dominion over the earth and everything that is in it. We believe God, in His sovereignty, has chosen to partner with man by giving him free will and authority. With this God-given authority, man freely chose to rebel against God, and in his fallen state will have to face the judgment of God. We believe the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross paid for the sins of humanity, and all who freely accept His gift, by faith, receive salvation - wholeness in spirit, soul and body, full partnership in the power and mission of the Kingdom of God, and will partake of the resurrection of the saints.
In one Church, the Body of Christ, made up of all who freely confess Jesus as Lord and Savior. We believe the Church is called to be a royal priesthood, living in victory over the powers of darkness by effectively manifesting God's power through the Holy Spirit and with Jesus' authority. This is primarily carried out through prayer, praise, worship, a fearless confrontation of demonic forces, and an expectation of the miraculous. The church's mission involves living as citizens, ambassadors (offering peace and reconciliation), and militia (in prayerful conflict against the forces of darkness).
God has revealed Himself to mankind generally through creation, and specifically through His Word. We believe in the plenary verbal inspiration of the Bible, inerrant in the original manuscripts and infallible in its truth for faith and life. We believe the whole canon of Scripture - Old and New Testaments - is inspired by the Holy Spirit and written through human agents under His prompting. We believe the Bible is the final authority in questions of doctrine, theology and life.