We Are Christian

We embrace what it means to be Christian in the historic sense. We affirm all of what have been called the ecumenical (or universal) creeds of the church that define orthodoxy (right belief). We love the summary of the Christian faith contained in the ancient Apostles’ Creed:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
      Creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
      who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
      and born of the virgin Mary.
      He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
      was crucified, died, and was buried.
      He descended to hell.
      The third day He rose again from the dead.
      He ascended to heaven
      and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
      From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
      the holy catholic church,
      the communion of saints,
      the forgiveness of sins,
      the resurrection of the body,
      and the life everlasting. Amen.

We Are Reformed

First, this means we are Protestant. We believe that God accomplishes salvation for His glory alone by grace alone through faith in Christ alone as revealed in Scripture alone.

Second, we also affirm the doctrines of grace. Each person of the Trinity is at work in redemption. We believe that man is born totally depraved and dead in sin, that God in eternity graciously and unconditionally elected sinners for salvation (not because of anything good in us, including our future faith); that Christ died to really atone for the sins of the people given to Him by the Father and secure their salvation; that the Holy Spirit must change the sinner’s heart and draw them irresistibly towards Christ; and that those who truly belong to Christ will persevere to glory and will not fall away from the faith.

Third, we are Reformed in that we hold to the articles of faith and believe in the validity and necessity of confessions summarizing the faith that are consistent with and subservient to authoritative Scripture. To be Reformed is to believe that our hearts and minds always need to be reformed, brought into the light of God’s truth.

We Are Evangelical

In recent history, evangelicalism is thought to be a political movement, but, historically, to be evangelical meant much more. It means to place the gospel at the center of one’s faith, emphasizing above all the death and resurrection of Christ to save sinners and recognizing our calling to take this good news to all the nations. As evangelicals, we believe in the necessity of conversion—that no one is “born Christian” and that every individual must repent of sin and embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to have eternal life.

We Are Baptistic

Although our church didn’t originate from the Baptist movement, we share our Baptist brothers’ conviction that only those who are capable of making a credible profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ should receive baptism and that the proper mode of baptism is by immersion. Thus, baptism is a sign of new life in union with Christ to be received by the person who has come to faith in Christ. Baptism does not justify a person or remove original sin but is an act expressing trust in Christ Who justifies and renews the believer.

As a church belonging to the Bible Fellowship Church denomination, we adhere to our 28 Articles of Faith, which is a much more detailed explanation of our doctrine.