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THEOLOGICAL CONVICTIONS

Biblical Authority and Understanding

• We affirm the Bible is the inspired, infallible, authoritative Word of God.

• We affirm that we are living within God’s redemptive-historical story that is constructed and governed by God’s covenants and promises.

• We affirm that understanding the Bible correctly requires use of consistent exegetical principles that include the grammatical/literary, historical, language, and theological dimensions.

• We affirm the illumination of the Holy Spirit as the author of God’s Word, the Bible.

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Reformed Confessional Theology

• We affirm the Apostles’, Athanasian, and Nicene Creeds as a member of the global Church.

• Because their doctrines align with our understanding of God’s Word, we affirm the Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, and the Canons of Dort as historic Reformed expressions of the Christian faith. These doctrinal standards help us to understand the Bible, direct the way we live in response to the gospel, and locate us within the larger body of Christ.

• We affirm the Belhar Confession as an appendix to the Belgic Confession so that the Belhar’s contemporary declaration of unity, justice, and equality is framed within the context of the Belgic’s view of humanity, Scripture, and God’s saving work through Jesus Christ. Founded on these Biblical truths, the Belhar Confession adds its prophetic call for unity and reconciliation to the Church’s witness to the world. Christ himself is our peace, tearing down the dividing wall of hostility among all peoples.

• We affirm the Great Lakes Catechism on Marriage and Sexuality as a confessional appendix to the Heidelberg Catechism so that its affirmations regarding human sexuality are read within the context of the Heidelberg Catechism’s teachings on sin, salvation, and service.

• We affirm that future confessional statements may be adopted as confessional addendums to the Heidelberg Catechism or the Belgic Confessions.

 

The Church

• We affirm that the church is a sent people, founded and inspired by the Holy Spirit.

• We affirm that the church is the heart of God’s mission for the world.

• We affirm that as a sent community, the church is called to multiply. From the earliest days of the church’s founding, groups of believers sent out planters to establish new communities of Christian faith where people’s lives were transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• We affirm the mission of multiplication as the core mission of every church and will prioritize our resources to continue planting new communities of Christian faith in our generation.

• We affirm that the call of every relationship, person and leader is to live as a spirit-filled Christian who is growing in spiritual maturity (becoming more like Christ every day).

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