Statement of Faith
 

The Triune God

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who know, love, and glorify one another. This one true and living God is worthy to receive all glory and adoration.

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Revelation

We believe that God has inspired the words of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments. These writings alone constitute the Word of God, utterly authoritative, without error in the original writings, complete in its revelation of his will for salvation, sufficient for all that God requires us to believe and do.

 

Creation of Humanity

We believe that God created human beings, male and female, in his own image. Men and women, equally made in the image of God, enjoy equal access to God by faith in Christ Jesus and are both called to significant engagement in family, church, and civic life.

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The Fall

We believe that Adam, made in the image of God, distorted that image and forfeited his original blessedness – for himself and all his progeny – by falling into sin through Satan's temptation. As a result, all human beings are alienated from God, corrupted in every aspect of their being and condemned to death-apart from God's own gracious intervention.

 

The Plan of God

We believe that from all eternity God determined in grace to save a great multitude of guilty sinners from every tribe and language and people and nation, and to this end he foreknew them and chose them, all to the praise of his glorious grace. In love God commands and implores all people to repent and believe, having set his saving love on those he has chosen and having ordained Christ to be their Redeemer.

 

The Gospel

We believe that the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ – God's very wisdom. Utter folly to the world, even though it is the power of God to those who are being saved, this good news centers on the cross and resurrection of Christ.

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The Redemption of Christ

We believe that, moved by love, the Word became flesh, fully God and fully human being, one Person in two natures. The man Jesus, the promised Messiah of Israel, was conceived through the Holy Spirit and was born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified, rose on the third day and ascended into heaven as our representative and substitute. On the cross he canceled the debt of sin and reconciled to God all those who believe. By his resurrection Christ Jesus was vindicated by his Father, broke the power of death, defeated Satan, and brought everlasting life to all his people. By his ascension he has been forever exalted as Lord and has prepared a place for us to be with him. We believe that salvation is found in no one else.

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The Justification of Sinners

We believe that Christ, by his obedience and death, fully discharged the debt of all those who are justified. By his sacrifice, he bore in our stead the punishment due us for our sins. By his perfect obedience, he satisfied the just demands of God on our behalf, since by faith alone that perfect obedience is credited to all who trust in Christ alone for their acceptance with God.

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The Power of the Holy Spirit

We believe that this salvation is applied to his people by the Holy Spirit. Sent by the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ and, as "another Helper," is present with and in believers. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and by his powerful and mysterious work regenerates spiritually dead sinners, awakening them to repentance and faith, baptizing them into union with the Lord Jesus.

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The Kingdom of God

We believe that those who have been saved by the grace of God through union with Christ by faith and through regeneration by the Holy Spirit enter the kingdom of God and delight in the blessings of the new covenant. Good works constitute indispensable evidence of saving grace. Living as salt in a decaying world and light in a dark world, believers should neither withdraw into seclusion from the world nor become indistinguishable from it. Rather, we are to do good to the city, for all the glory and honor of the nations is to be offered up to the living God.

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God's New People

We believe that God's new covenant people is manifest in local churches of which Christ is the only Head. The church is distinguished by her gospel message, her sacred ordinances, her discipline, her great mission, and, above all, by her love for God, and by her members' love for one another and for the world.

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Baptism and the Lord's Supper

We believe that baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordained by the Lord Jesus himself. The former is connected with entrance into the new covenant community, the latter with ongoing covenant renewal. They are God's pledge to us and our public submission to Christ.

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The Restoration of All Things

We believe in the glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the resurrection of both the just and the unjust-the unjust to eternal conscious punishment in hell and the just to eternal blessedness in the presence of him who sits on the throne and of the Lamb. On that day the church will be presented faultless before God by Christ, and his people will be enthralled by the immediacy of his ineffable holiness, and everything will be to the praise of his glorious grace.

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Distinctives

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We rally around the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and prioritize Christ-like love, humility, and unity. To that end, Christ Church does not divide around baptism, the gifts of the Spirit, or other matters secondary to the Gospel. You will find believer’s baptism and infant baptism, continuationists and cessationists, and people from all kinds of Christian backgrounds.

As a part of the Acts 29 church planting network, we affirm these five distinctives:

• We are passionate about gospel-centrality

• We enthusiastically embrace the sovereignty of God’s grace in saving sinners

• We recognize and rest upon the necessity of the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit for all of life and ministry.

• We are deeply committed to the spiritual & moral equality of male & female and to men as responsible servant-leaders in both home and church.

• We embrace a missionary understanding of the local church and its role as the primary means by which God chooses to establish his kingdom on earth.

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Creeds

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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.

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* “catholic” means “universal”

 

Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,

      the Father almighty,

      maker of heaven and earth,

      of all things visible and invisible.

 

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,

      the only Son of God,

      begotten from the Father before all ages,

           God from God,

           Light from Light,

           true God from true God,

      begotten, not made;

      of the same essence as the Father.

      Through him all things were made.

      For us and for our salvation

           he came down from heaven;

           he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,

           and was made human.

           He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;

           he suffered and was buried.

           The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.

           He ascended to heaven

           and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

           He will come again with glory

           to judge the living and the dead.

           His kingdom will never end.

 

And we believe in the Holy Spirit,

      the Lord, the giver of life.

      He proceeds from the Father and the Son,

      and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.

      He spoke through the prophets.

      We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.

      We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

      We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,

      and to life in the world to come. Amen.

 

Confessions

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Our Elders broadly affirm the Westminster Standards (the Westminster Confession and Larger & Shorter Catechisms) and the Three Forms of Unity (namely, the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort).