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CREED

In keeping with our commitment to truth and fostering unity in the universal Body of Christ, we find the ancient creeds (i.e., The Apostle’s Creed and The Nicene Creed) to be reliable and sufficient statements of the core truths of Christianity. Their proximity to the original Apostles focuses these creeds most concisely on the essential truths of the Gospel. Since the points made in the Apostle’s Creed are contained in and expanded upon in the Nicene Creed, we present the Nicene Creed here:

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through Him all things were made. For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit He became incarnate from the virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered death and was buried. On the third day He rose again in accordance with the scriptures; He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son He is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy universal and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

SCRIPTURE

It should be noted that our submission to Scripture’s authority both instructs and judges all that we think and do. The Bible (the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments) inspires and corrects our doctrine and our conduct. Let it be clear that the Scriptures have primacy over any creeds, confessions, or statements of faith and that while we may find creeds like this useful in communicating our beliefs, our benchmark must continually be the clear teaching of Scripture.

UNITY

Given our confidence in the Scriptures, our belief in the power and reliability of the Holy Spirit to lead God’s Church, and God’s own assurance that He will ultimately work all things (including our ignorance and failures) together for good, we cannot seriously presume that the formulation of and debate over precise doctrinal statements is the mission for which Christ established his Church.

To be truly Christian means more than debating about what Christians are and who deserves the name. Debate about who exactly is the “right kind” of Christian deserves even less attention. We are unified in the essentials and will not be divided by distinctives.