The essentials of the Christian faith are found in the Apostles Creed, a short piece of Christian writings dating back to the 4th Century.  The purpose of this document was to give Christians a list of what all must believe in order to call themselves Christians.  The Apostles Creed is as valid today as it was almost 1600 years ago.

· We believe in God as the Father and creator of heaven and earth.

· We believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and treat him as our Lord.

· We believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born from the womb of Mary, who was a virgin,

· We believe that Jesus suffered, was crucified, died, was buried and descended into hell, but that three days later he rose from the dead.

· We believe that Jesus ascended into heaven and reigns with God, the Father.

· We believe that Jesus will return to earth a second time to pass judgment on all the living and dead.

· We believe in the Holy Spirit as a part of who God is, completing the Trinity.

· We believe in the unity of believers as one body that we call the universal church.

· We believe in the forgiveness of sins.

· We believe in eternal life and the eventual resurrection of the body.

The Bible

We believe the Bible is the divine word of God.  It is both inerrant and infallible.

History - The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew.  The books that are included in our Old Testament are the same as those found in the Jewish bible that dates to sometime between 200 BC and 200 AD.  The New Testament was first formed in 140 AD but only included one gospel and a collection of Paul’s letters.  It was not until The Council of Hippo in 393 and the Council of Carthage in 397 that the listing of the book of the Bible is finalized in the order we have today.  Three rules were used:

1. It had to be written or sponsored by an apostle.

2. It had to have orthodox content.

3. It had to be publicly used by a prominent church or a majority of churches.

Divine Word - We believe that the Bible was “organically inspired”.  This means that the Bible was written by men with their own styles, but that the messages and the meanings implied are directly chosen by God.

Inerrant - Because of this, we believe that there are no mistakes in the Bible. 

Infallible - As well, we believe that the Bible is 100% trustworthy as a guide for you life.  It will not fail you.

“Five Points of Calvinism”

We believe in an interpretation of the Bible that is often called the “five points of Calvinism” or “TULIP”.  Here is a brief explanation.

Total Depravity - Because only God is perfect, our “good” behavior always falls short of the glory of God.  From this comes the understanding that we cannot do anything that would earn us entry into heaven.

Unconditional Election - Because we cannot earn our way into heaven, God alone chooses, by His grace, those who will be saved.  God does not promise to choose us based on our meeting some conditions.  If that were the case, then we would have in part earned our way into receiving God’s grace and salvation. This is the part of Calvinism that is referred to as “predestination”.

Limited Atonement - Atonement means that whatever you have done that was wrong, has now been satisfactorily taken care of.  Justice has been satisfied. Jesus’ death on the cross was sufficient for everyone’s sins, but some people will go to hell.  Therefore the atoning work of Jesus is limited to those people who are saved.

Irresistible Grace - If you could refuse God’s saving grace, then you would again in part be saved by your choice. 

Perseverance of the Saints - Once you have been saved by God’s grace, you cannot become “unsaved”, because what God has done, no one can undo.  This is often called “once saved, always saved.”  This of course does not mean that we do not backslide at times.