We believe in the only true and living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; who is holy love, eternal, unchangeable in being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. The Holy Trinity speaks through the holy scriptures, the events of nature and history, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, but uniquely in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

God’s words and actions in creation, providence, judgment, and redemption are witnessed by the covenant community in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. God inspired persons of the covenant community to write the scriptures. In and through the scriptures God speaks about creation, sin, judgment, salvation, the church and the growth of believers. The scriptures are the infallible rule of faith and practice, the authoritative guide for Christian living.

God’s mighty act of reconciling love was accomplished in Jesus Christ, the divine Son who became flesh to be the means by which the sins of the world are forgiven. Jesus Christ, being truly human and truly divine, was tempted in every respect as every person is, yet he did not sin. While fully sharing human life, Christ continued to be holy, blameless, undefiled, and throughly fitted to be savior of the world, the only hope of reconciliation between God and sinful persons. Jesus willingly suffered sin and death for every person. On the third day after being crucified, Christ was raised from dead, appeared to many disciples, afterward ascended to God, and makes intercession for all persons.

God acted redemptively in Jesus Christ because of the sins of the world and continues with the same intent in the Holy Spirit to call every person to repentance and faith. The Holy Spirit works through the scriptures, the sacraments, the corporate worship of the covenant community, the witness of believers in word and deed, and in ways beyond human understanding. The Spirit moves on the hearts of sinners, convincing them of their sins and their need for salvation, and inclining them to repentance and faith toward God.

Saving faith is a response to God, prompted by the Holy Spirit, wherein persons rely solely upon God’s grace in Jesus Christ for salvation. Such faith includes trust in the truthfulness of God’s promises in the scriptures, sorrow for sin, and determination to serve God and neighbor. Persons do not merit salvation because of faith, nor is faith a good work. Faith is a gift made possible through God’s love and initiative. Yet God requires the response of faith by all who receive salvation and reconciliation. When persons repent of sin and in faith embrace God’s salvation, they receive forgiveness for their sin and experience acceptance as God’s children.

The church, as the covenant community of believers who are redeemed, includes all people in all ages, past, present, and future, who respond in faith to God’s covenant of grace, and all who are unable to respond, for reasons known to God, but who are saved by his grace. Because the church in the world consists of persons who are imperfect in knowledge and in the power to do God’s will, she waits with eager longing for the full redemption of the family of God. Until that time God wills that all believers worship and witness through the church in the world and promises to guide her life and growth through the Holy Spirit. The church in the world never exists for herself alone, but to glorify God and work for reconciliation through Christ. Christ claims the church and gives her the word and sacraments in order to bring grace and judgment to persons.

Sacraments are signs and testimonies of God’s covenant of grace. Circumcision and passover are the sacraments of the Old Testament; baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the sacraments of the New Testament. They are given by God and through his presence, word, and will are made effective.

Baptism symbolizes the baptism of the Holy Spirit and is the external sign of the covenant which marks membership in the community of faith. In this sacrament the church bears witness to God’s initiative to claim persons in Christ, forgive their sins, grant them grace, shape and order their lives through the work of the Holy Spirit, and set them apart for service.

The Lord’s Supper was instituted by Jesus Christ on the night of his betrayal. It is a means by which the church remembers and shows forth Christ’s passion and death on the cross. The sacrament is also a perpetual means given to the church to celebrate and experience the continuing presence of the risen Lord and her expectation of the Lord’s return. The elements used in this sacrament are bread and the fruit of the vine, which represent the body and blood of Christ. The elements themselves are never to be worshipped, for they are never anything other than bread and the fruit of the vine. However, because the sacrament represents the Savior’s passion and death, it should not be received without due self-examination, reverence, humility, and grateful awareness of Christ’s presence.