We believe in Jesus Christ and the gospel (good news) that he not only brings, but that he is! We strive to be gospel-centered in all we think, say and do. We allow the Bible (God's revealed Word) to be the guide for our faith and practice. Does this mean we always agree and think the same way as how to apply Biblical principles? No! We know there will be diversity in perspectives and opinions, just like in any family. We are thankful that our tradition allows and encourages that kind of diversity. What we affirm is this:
- In essentials, unity
- In non-essentials, liberty
- And, in all things charity (or love)
Now what are the essentials agreed on by this church family?
- We believe that God the Father created all things out of nothing and that humans, both male and female, are the capstone of creation because we are created in His image. In the beginning, God declared all of creation very good.
- We believe that through willful human action, sin and death entered God’s good world. The result of this sin was a break from the created good. This break causes each of us and our communities to have an alienation from God, from each other, from ourselves, and from creation.
- We believe these two essential truths explain so much about our lives and our world! We affirm the vestiges of goodness seen in our culture, in the arts, and in people. Yet, we also recognize that the fallen nature of this world explains the evil often found in ourselves, in others, and in our culture. Such evil is called sin, which is anything short of the perfect goodness found in God and in His creation.
- We believe that since none of us live perfectly in accord with our created goodness, we desperately need a saviour. This saviour is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Son of God and the only means of salvation. His call is for each of us to daily repent of our sinfulness and to walk in faith.
- We believe that our walk of faith does not happen through our strength. The Holy Spirit is given to all who believe in Jesus as their only hope for salvation to begin the process of restoration back to being the person God made us to be. The Holy Spirit transforms our heart so we want to follow God, and the Holy Spirit continues to work to help us grow. Thus, the entire Christian life is founded on grace, and we are transformed as we believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- We believe that God is a God of justice and holiness. One day, perhaps very soon, Jesus will come back to make all things new and right and beautiful again. He will come to restore and redeem. He will also come to judge and declare what is good and right from what is evil and crooked. We look forward to His coming when sin, death, disease, and all evil will be finally and completely destroyed.
These are some of the pillars of our faith. We are part of a larger denomination called the Christian Reformed Church of North America which hold to a number of creeds and confessions.
We affirm three creeds—the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed—as ecumenical expressions of the Christian faith. We also affirm three confessions—the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort—as historic Reformed expressions of the Christian faith, whose doctrines fully agree with the Word of God.
Along with these historic creeds and confessions, we recognize the following Reformed expressions of the Christian faith, adopted by synod (our annual assembly) as contemporary testimonies: the call for unity, justice, and reconciliation of the Belhar Confession and the witness of Our World Belongs to God: A Contemporary Testimony.