Biblical preaching and teaching
We believe the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God and each inspired author had an intended meaning by the words and sentences he wrote. We want to know what the intended meaning is. The question is not, “What does this passage in the Bible mean to us?” but “What did the inspired author mean when he wrote it?” Therefore, we consider the meaning of words used in the original Greek and Hebrew manuscript, the culture the inspired author lived in, and why he was writing.
The worship of our resurrected Lord and Savior in spirit and in truth.
When you come to one of our worship services, our goal is to lead you in worship of God that is pleasing to Him. This worship must be full of Biblical truth (see above) and offered sincerely by a heart and mind that is open to and hence being moved by the Holy Spirit. With worship in spirit and in truth as our goal, the music we use can be diverse. We do not strive to emulate a particular style of worship. (John 4:24)
The glory of God
The ultimate goal of all of our ministries is to glorify God. We serve the people of our church, the people of our community, and the peoples of the world so that they might delight in God by being a disciple of Jesus. Unto this end we unashamedly call people to repentance and faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior (Matt. 28:16-20; Rom. 10:14-25). To put it bluntly, we do not desire to be another social program. We are disciples of Jesus, seeking to make other disciples of Jesus unto the glory of our Father in heaven.
Delighting in God
There is only one true God and He is eternal. He has always been and always will be. (There are many gods that are now worshiped; all but the one true God are false gods. They did not create life nor can they sustain it.) The one God exists in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and we call this truth the Trinity. How one can be equally and three simultaneously is beyond our ability to understand. It is a mystery to us, but we know it is true because this is how God reveals himself in the Bible.
God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) created all that exists and He sustains it constantly by His sovereign power. For this reason, He is the one rightful king who deserves glory and honor.
When God created all things, it was good. There was not one speck of evil in all His creation and the first humans, Adam and Eve, knew perfect joy. Misery did not exist. There was no lying or greed or hate or anxiety or pain or hurt or distrust or any other misery. There was only love, joy and peace. God protected Adam and Eve, met all their needs, gave them purpose and meaning (taking care of the creation he had made), and gave them sinless fellowship. They loved each other as husband and wife; God loved them, and they loved God. They delighted in God their King; they worshiped Him, enjoyed the creation he gave them, and gave Him the glory due His name.
And then sin entered the world. First, some of the angels committed treason against God their king. They rebelled against God, wanting to put their leader (who we now call Satan) on the throne in place of God. After they fell, Satan put before Adam and Eve the same temptation, and they too committed treason against God their King. They ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – wanting to be like God.
Because God is a holy king, he was justly angry with them. He banished them from his kingdom and sentenced them to death – a sentence he had warned them of before they sinned and which must be paid in full.
Because we are descendants of Adam and also have sinned against God, we are under the same sentence of death, which is not non-existence but eternal punishment in hell. Hell is real and the Bible describes it as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Eternity in hell is deserved because God created us to live forever in his perfect kingdom, but we have committed treason against him, ignoring his commands and not giving him the honor he is due.
God's just judgment against Adam and Eve and all mankind could be the end of the story for humankind, but thanks be to God, it is not. God is compassionate and gracious; slow to anger, abounding in love. He provided a way for the debt of humans to be paid so that we can be forgiven and once again be part of God's kingdom, delighting in Him.
The way of salvation is Jesus, God's only son. Jesus, who is God (part of the trinity) also became man, by being miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin, Mary. He lived in this world full of sin and temptation, and yet he did not sin once, not even a little. Not in thought, word or deed did he sin. As a sinless man, he willingly went to the cross and endured his own Father's wrath against the sin of those who come to see sin for what it is (treason against our creator and king) confess their sins, not wanting to sin any longer, and trust in (have faith in) the free salvation Jesus offers.
Upon confession of sin and faith in Jesus, we once again begin to delight in God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit fills our lives, and we begin to love God with heart, soul and mind, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Although we still struggle with sin and temptation in this life, we are constantly becoming more like Christ and look forward to the day when Jesus will come again and renew the heavens and the earth, raise us from the dead and make us perfect, as he is perfect.
In Word and in deed, we are committed to proclaiming this truth about God and mankind to people from all the nations of the world, because we long to have people delight in God with us.
What we value as we seek to fulfill our mission
Biblical truth is summarized and systemized into doctrinal statements. All churches have core beliefs; ours are written so that they can be read, studied, taught from, and used to unify us with others who hold to the same beliefs. We especially savor what are known as the doctrines of grace, which are well summarized with the statement, “we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone” (Eph. 2:8-9). The following are three doctrinal statements we adhere to:
-The Heidelberg Catechism
-The Belgic Confession
-The Canons of Dort
The passionate use of gifts
Every Christian has the ability to help proclaim the truth in love, and we seek to provide a variety of opportunities to do so ... teaching children and young people, planning activities for them, going on short-term mission trips, teaching Sunday school classes, making and delivering meals to people who are ill, doing maintenance on the church building, designing pamphlets, working in a food pantry for the hungry, providing music leadership to our church are just a few of numerous possibilities.
Intentional, goal-oriented ministries of mercy to our community. This is something we have recently started to pour a lot of energy and thought into. We are going to do what we are able to ... encourage children and teenagers to use their lives well; fight poverty and hunger; foster racial reconciliation; strengthen marriages and families; give aid to the elderly, minister to those who are longing to leave behind sexual immorality, drugs, homosexuality, or any other sin that is ruling their life.
Intentional, goal-oriented ministry to the nations of the world
We support a variety of missionaries, and we encourage the members of our congregation to go on short-term mission trips.
Healthy Families
The importance of family is emphasized in the opening chapters of the Bible. It is our aim to help traditional families (husband and wife) and single-parent families raise their children well.