We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator, Sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We affirm decision-making based on Scripture, tradition informed by Scripture, and godly wisdom instructed by Scripture. The infallible, authoritative, and trustworthy written Word of God is a complete and unified witness to God’s redemptive acts, which culminated in the incarnation of the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Bible, uniquely inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the supreme and final authority in matters of faith and doctrine.
The Word of God, incarnate and written, provides the foundation for the following doctrines, which we affirm along with the Apostles and Nicene creeds:
We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator, Sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is the Living Word become flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His birth of the Virgin Mary. He who is true God became true man. His two natures are united in one person forever. He lived a sinless life and died on a cross, a perfect sacrifice for our sins, according to the Scriptures. On the third day He rose bodily from the dead and ascended into heaven, where, seated at the right hand of the almighty Majesty on high, He mediates as our High Priest and Head of the Church. Jesus Christ is the exclusive Messiah–the only way to salvation, the only truth, and the only life—in whom people may put their trust and obtain eternal life.
The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to the hearts of sinful, repentant people. He convicts us of sin and draws us to the Savior. Jesus baptizes His disciples in the power of the Holy Spirit and empowers them through multiple infillings to do the supernatural work of ministry in His name. The Holy Spirit illumines the Holy Scriptures, instructs the hearts of believers, and corporately and consensually guides us into all truth.
Because we are estranged from God and condemned by our fallenness, our salvation is wholly dependent upon the work of God’s unmerited favor and graciousness. God credits His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, thereby justifying them in His holy presence. Only those who are born of water and the Holy Spirit and receive Jesus Christ, in word and obedient action, as Savior and Lord, become children of God, members of the Body of Christ, and heirs of eternal life.
The One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is comprised of all people who, through saving faith in Jesus Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, are united together in the Body of Christ. The Church finds her visible, yet imperfect, expression in worship communities where the Word of God is preached in its integrity, the sacraments are administered, scriptural discipline is practiced, and loving fellowship is maintained to nurture the believers in the life of Christ. For her perfecting, the Church awaits the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ will come again to the earth—suddenly, personally, visibly, and bodily—on the last day, to judge the living and the dead and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. We seek to serve Christ faithfully in the world as His ambassadors as we anticipate joyfully His appearing.
The Christian’s obligation is to follow the Messiah’s first and great command, the Great Commandment: “‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:29b–30). We, individually and corporately, are commanded and therefore decide of our own God-given free will to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. Our mission is to demonstrate that we are Christians by certifying our Holy Spirit-inspired and -empowered nature, demonstrating almighty God’s gracious love through us, individually and corporately, in word and action, by pursuing the highest and best interests of our neighbors, showing them the same concern we have for ourselves.
As we strive to meet the standards of God’s love, we are to fulfill the risen Jesus of Nazareth’s Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19–20a).
Human beings were created in God’s likeness and image. The creation serves and is sustained by the Creator. We were created for communion with God and one another in harmony and in accordance with the Holy Scriptures. Communion with God and others is marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Self-control includes fidelity in heterosexual marriage, abstinence from any homosexual contact, and continence outside the bonds of marriage. It also includes moderation in all matters that could jeopardize the health, safety, and legal standing of the individual created in God’s image. In matters where human law, custom, or reason conflict, or appear to conflict, with God’s commandments, as revealed in Scripture, the disciple’s loyalty to Scripture takes precedence.
We affirm the Author of Life, the stewardship of creation, through environmental preservation, and the protection and validation of the irrevocable and inherent sanctity and dignity of all forms of human life, from conception to the grave. We affirm peaceful resolution and reconciliation of conflicts between persons, groups, and nations, where possible.
This Communion recognizes the divine institution of the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Eucharist (also known as Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper), ministered with unfailing use of Christ’s words of institution and the elements ordained by Him.