Statement of Faith

Statement of Faith

Baptized as an infant and raised within the love and fellowship of the church, I believe that Jesus Christ has moved in my life as Lord and Savior all my days. Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ I have been blessed, forgiven, saved and redeemed. I believe that the chief end of my life is to serve Jesus Christ and enjoy God forever.

I believe that Jesus Christ is fully God, fully human. Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God. Our loving God is also known as Creator and Holy Spirit. In sovereign love, God created the world good. By the Holy Spirit God continues to move with power and grace in our world. Although it is never the desire of our loving God, all humanity and I have sinned, falling short of the glory that is God’s intention. I believe that God is working for the reconciliation of all creation. God’s work is expressed in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. On the cross of Jesus all sin is forgiven; evil and death are defeated. In the resurrection of Jesus the power of God is made known, bringing salvation and redemption to God’s people. In God’s time the day will come when all creation will proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God.

In everlasting love, the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth. In everlasting love, the love and grace of God called the church into being to serve and obey Jesus Christ. Blessed by the presence of Christ, the church is called to gather and pray, worship and proclaim, work for a just and peaceful society and call all people to repentance and renewal in Christ. God has graced the church by setting apart pastors, elders, deacons, teachers, leaders and prophets, being present even in the midst of two or three gathered believers, and offering visible grace through the Sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism. The one sufficient revelation of God is Jesus Christ, the Word of God incarnate, to whom the Holy Spirit bears unique and authoritative witness through the Holy Scriptures, which are received and obeyed as the word of God written.

Inspired by conviction and faithfulness, the holy and apostolic church has flowed like a river of life through the centuries and around the world. I am in awe of the breadth and depth of the church. Differences in style and doctrine, language and culture, polity and procedure, moral commitment and social witness are all undergirded by the essential unity of the one church of Jesus Christ. I am called and privileged to serve within one of the many faithful traditions of the visible church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Through the gift of prayer I believe we have the opportunity to be constantly attentive to the presence of God. The people of Jesus Christ are called to pray constantly, worship earnestly with heart and mind, breakdown all dividing walls of hostility, fight the principalities and powers of the world, and wait for the Lord, crying out, “Come, Lord Jesus!” Amen!