Statement of Faith

I believe we are God’s beloved children, created to worship in joyful gratitude for the life and gifts God provides. I believe in the Triune God, a loving dance of three persons. I believe Jesus is a Palestinian Jew, crucified by the Roman Empire in the 1 AD. He is fully divine and fully human; lived, died, and resurrected in an act of life-saving grace for humanity, conquering death, sin, and evil in the world. I believe that followers of Christ know God through the words and actions of Jesus’ life. Jesus had compassion on the margins of society, the weak, the outcasts, and the sinners. In Jesus, born in a stable by a teenage mother, who rides to his death on a young donkey, God stands in solidarity with the helpless and suffering in a special way. I believe the Holy Spirit  is a gift that dwells within us and the world today, energizing others to join in God’s work. It is the unexpected, imaginative wind of God’s will, rushing into the places and people you may least expect it.

I believe that we live in the “already but not yet” Kingdom of God where systems and powers of sin are still present until Jesus comes again in glory, so that the children of God may dwell with God. I confess ways in which humanity continues to fall short of what is good and true, yet bare these things to God with community, confident that God will forgive and lead us into new life through accountability and change. I believe that humans are made in the image of God. Diversity of race, ethnicity, sexuality and gender, etc., are vital in the church’s understanding of the fullness of who God is. It is the Church who joins in the work of God, as co-workers, to bring the good news of God to the world. I believe that the children of God have been saved by Jesus Christ, who as both elected and reprobate, saves people from sin that separates us from the love of God. Until this saving act is brought to fulfilment, we live in a space of tension— balancing privilege, power, accountability, and humility within our lived experiences. There is mystery in how this will happen and what it will look like.

I believe that the Church spans the whole world with communities situated in their own worshiping contexts, called to love God and love their neighbor together. I believe the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are physical manifestations of God’s grace; a sign and seal of new life with God in community. In Baptism we see the promise of new life with Christ through water, symbolizing the unity of God’s spirit within a person and Christ, then the rest of the Church. It reminds believers that grace is freely given and already upon one’s life from the beginning. Gathering for Cup and Bread is a unique time where Christ meets us in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice, the promise of his coming, and the joy found in shared community around a Table.

I believe the Bible contains the Word of God for you and for me, as revealed by the Spirit through its content. It is authoritative for the life of Christians and inspired by God. Written by human hands, it requires interpretation through community in the Spirit, sometimes calling for trust, and other times challenge. I believe that God is present in the wrestling, seeking, and doubting of faith. God continues to lead believers in faith and understanding, which is always being renewed and discerned in community.