Our Beliefs
We believe the Bible is the written word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error in the original manuscripts. The Bible is the revelation of God’s truth and is infallible and authoritative in all matters of faith and practice. In other words, we believe that what the Bible says, God says, therefore it is to be received just as it is, the very word of God.
We believe in the Holy Trinity. There is one God, who exists eternally in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are the same in substance and equal in power and glory.
We believe that all are sinners and totally unable to save themselves from God’s wrath, except by His mercy and that salvation is found nowhere outside of Jesus Christ.
We believe that it is God who seeks us out as those who are lost and hostile to Him by nature. Salvation is by Grace through faith and that is the gift of God unless we should decide to brag about what we have done to save ourselves (cf. Ephesians 2:8). Our salvation is purely based on His grace, not on any human individual merit, or foreseen faith. The only thing which we have submitted to our salvation is our need of it.
We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, who through His perfect life and sacrificial death atoned for the sins of all who will trust in Him, alone, for salvation.
We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells God’s people and gives them the strength and wisdom to trust Christ and follow Him.
We believe that Jesus will return, bodily and visibly, to judge all mankind and to receive His people to Himself.
We believe that all aspects of our lives are to be lived to the glory of God under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Scripture
Scripture is foundational because it defines our beliefs.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Tim. 3:16
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 1:20
The Bible is our infallible and divine authority in all matters of faith and life.
Every member needs to be reading, meditating and studying the Scriptures.
Sovereignty
All Presbyterian beliefs are determined by a basic thought about God: He is sovereign in all things.
This doctrine teaches that God governs His creation, His creatures and all their actions. Even when we think of the ordinary events in the lives of every man, we think first of God.
We believe that everything that happens takes place according to the will of God and can be fully understood only in the will of God. Nothing can come to any man that He does not allow for His own purposes and glory.
He overrules the actions of evil men and brings their evil to nothing.
He works all things after the counsel of His own will and turns all things, even apparent evil, to ultimate good in the lives of those who love Him, who are the called according to His purpose.
Isaiah 40
Salvation
The central purpose of God’s revelation in Scripture is to call individuals to fellowship with Himself.
Originally created to have fellowship with God, man chose to go his own independent way, thus alienated himself from God and suffered the corruption of his nature, rendering him unable to please God.
The fall took place in the Garden of Eden and all people since have suffered the consequences and are in need of the saving grace of God.
Salvation is wholly a work of God’s free grace, not the result of human works or goodness, and is appropriated by faith alone.
God alone saves those whom He draws to Jesus by His Holy Spirit.
He convinces them of their sin and enlightens them so that they repent of their sins and trust in Jesus Christ.
God alone knows who are His, therefore, we are to call all people to repent and trust in Jesus Christ.
Every member knows these truths.
Humanity
For all people there is a life to come, a resurrection of the body, and a future judgment.
At physical death the believer enters immediately into eternal fellowship with the Lord. The non-believer at physical death enters into eternal separation from the Lord.
The bodies of all the dead will be raised, some to a resurrection of glory, some to a resurrection of condemnation.
Two aspects of God’s judgment:
Believers for their quality of works to be rewarded or not, there being no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Unbelievers for their sin and their rejection of Christ.
Sacraments
We believe in two sacraments initiated by Christ: Lord’s Supper and Baptism.
Beginning with the Old Testament, the two sacraments were Circumcision and the Passover. These were translated over to Baptism and the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament. They are signs and seals of God’s blessings.
Baptism – Matthew 28; Acts 2:39; 16:14
Lord’s Supper – Luke 22:14-20; I Corinthians 11:23-28
Baptism
Baptism is a Sacrament which signifies and seals God’s covenant promise to be a Father to His own and to their children. It visibly represents the way the Holy Spirit comes upon the person on whom the promise is fulfilled. It is a Sacrament which belongs to any one professing faith in Jesus Christ.
Infant Baptism
We believe that baptism belongs to the children of believers when a household of faith exists. Because we have visible, as well as historical evidence that in a Christian home children may grow in the true nurture and admonition of the Lord, we believe that the covenant sign and seal of the Lord’s presence (baptism) belongs to such children.
Lord’s Supper
The Lord’s Supper not only tells of the Lord’s death but His resurrection, reign and return.
We believe Christ is spiritually present and spiritually received.
The Lord’s Supper reminds us of the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection to believers who receive it.
All Believers, member or not, are encouraged to receive the Lord’s supper. It is offered monthly.
The Church
Union with Jesus Christ is membership in Christ’s body, the Church.
There is one true Universal Church, which is composed of all people everywhere, living and dead, who have trusted in Christ alone for salvation, without regard to organizational affiliation.
God commands us to assemble together for the purposes of worship, edification, and mutual encouragement, and wherever God’s people meet in obedience to this command there is a local expression of the church.
It is the responsibility of each member to keep the unity of the spirit for the building up of the Body, and to work with other members to show Christian concern for the needs of people everywhere, and to fulfill our Lord’s final command to His church – to spread the Good News of redemption throughout the world.
For more on our doctrinal beliefs, follow the link to the Westminster Confession: