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As a church, we believe:
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God has revealed Himself to be the
living and true God, perfect in love and righteous in all His ways; one in
essence, existing eternally in the three persons of the Trinity: Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
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God, who discloses Himself to
humankind through His creation, has savingly spoken in the words and events of
redemptive history. This history is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the incarnate
Word, Who is made known to us by the Holy Spirit in sacred Scripture.
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Scripture is an essential part and
trustworthy record of this divine self-disclosure. All the books of the Old
and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, are the written word of God,
the only infallible rule of faith and practice. They are to be interpreted
according to their context and purpose and in reverent obedience to the Lord
Who speaks through them in living power.
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God, by His word and for His glory,
freely created the heavens and the earth. He made man and woman in His own
image, as the crown of creation, that they might have fellowship with Him.
Tempted by Satan, they rebelled against God. Being estranged from their Maker,
yet responsible to Him, they became subject to divine wrath, inwardly depraved
and apart from grace, incapable of returning to God.
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The only Mediator between God and
humankind is Jesus Christ our Lord, God’s eternal Son, Who, being conceived by
the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, fully shared and fulfilled our
humanity in a life of perfect obedience. By His death in our stead, He
revealed the divine love and upheld divine justice, removing our guilt and
reconciling us to God. Having redeemed us from sin, the third day He
rose bodily from the grave, victorious over death and the powers of darkness.
He ascended into heaven where, at God’s right hand, He intercedes for His
people and rules as Lord over all.
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The Holy Spirit, through the
proclamation of the Gospel, renews our hearts, persuading us to repent of our
sins and confess Jesus as Lord. By the same Spirit, we are led to trust in
divine mercy, whereby we are forgiven all of our sins, justified by faith
alone through the merit of Christ our Savior and granted the free gift of
eternal life.
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God graciously adopts us into His
family and enables us to call Him Father. As we are led by the Spirit, we grow
in the knowledge of the Lord, freely keeping His commandments and endeavoring
so to live in the world that all may see our good works and glorify our Father
Who is in heaven.
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God, by His word and Spirit, creates
the one holy catholic and apostolic church, calling sinners out of the whole
human race into the fellowship of Christ’s body. By the same Word and Spirit,
He guides and preserves for eternity that new, redeemed humanity which, being
formed in every culture, is spiritually one with the people of God in all
ages.
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The church is summoned by Christ to
offer acceptable worship to God and to serve Him by preaching the Gospel and
making disciples of all nations; by tending the flock through the ministry of
the Word and ordinances, through daily pastoral care, by striving for social
justice and by relieving human distress and need.
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God’s redemptive purpose will be
consummated by the return of Christ to raise the dead, to judge all people
according to the deeds done in the body and to establish His glorious kingdom.
The wicked will be separated from God’s presence, but the righteous, in
glorious bodies, shall live and reign with Him forever. Then shall the eager
expectation of creation be fulfilled and the whole earth shall proclaim the
glory of God Who makes all things new.
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