An Historic Faith FOUNDATION - Our faith is based upon the unchangling Word of the Living God. The Bible and the Bible alone is our final authority for all matters of life and doctrine. WORSHIP - With God’s Word as our foundation and the pillars of the historic Anglican Faith and the Reformation church as our statements of faith, we are convinced that God is glorified by worshippers whose attention is upon Him and His attributes (I Chronicles 16:29; Psalm 96:9), transcending what we think we need or want (John 4:23;  Hebrews 12:28-29). Therefore, our gifts and talents as as a people are exercised through glorifying the Triune God in our public and private worship. PREACHING & TEACHING - We stand in the confidence that God’s Word is a powerful, two-edged sword, with power to save. (Hebrews 4:12; I Corinthians 1:18) When the Bible is faithfully taught and honestly received, all the blessings of God are present for His people. COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS - Therefore, our life as a congregation is dependent upon Biblical, expository preaching. In a world increasingly fractured by cultural, economic, and generational barriers, the church is called to be Christ’s Body. In our infinite variety we are one through the death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, living in the hope of His soon return. (Romans 15:5-6; I Peter 1:3-5) Therefore, our desire as a congregation is to be Christ like in fellowship, service, and love. HISTORIC TRADITION - We affirm: (1) One Bible - the Word of God, (2) Two Testaments - thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and twenty-seven books of the New Testament as Holy Scripture, (3) Three Creeds - the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed as early statements of belief, (4) Four Councils - the first four ecumenical councils of the early church: First Council of Nicaea (325), First Council of Constantinople (381), Council of Ephesus (431), Council of Chalcedon (451). Five Centuries - the first five centuries of the early church established the rule of orthodoxy as based upon the Scriptures and defined the historical Christian faith.

The Three Universal Creeds

The Apostles' Creed I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic* Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen. The Nicene Creed I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spake by the Prophets. And I believe in one holy Catholic* and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead; and the life of the world to come. Amen. The Athanasian Creed Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic* faith. Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one: the glory equal, the majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three Eternals, but one Eternal. As there are not three Uncreated nor three Incomprehensibles, but one Uncreated and one Incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, and the Holy Ghost almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords, but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be God and Lord, So are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say, There be three Gods, or three Lords. The Father is made of none: neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone: not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son: neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is before or after other; none is greater or less than another; But the whole three Persons are coeternal together, and coequal: so that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshiped. He, therefore, that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity. Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe faithfully the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right faith is, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; God of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man of the substance of His mother, born in the world; Perfect God and perfect Man of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood; Who, although He be God and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ: One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking the manhood into God; One altogether; not by confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ; Who suffered for our salvation; descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead; He ascended into heaven; He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty; from whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give an account of their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire. This is the catholic faith; which except a man believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.   (* Catholic is defined as universal, Christian; not a particular denomination.)

The Four Ecumenical Councils

The Four Ecumenical Councils - the orthodox teaching of the first four ecumenical councils of the early church: (1) First Council of Nicaea, (325) - repudiated Arianism and Quartodecimanism, adopted the original Nicene Creed. This and all subsequent councils are not recognized by nontrinitarian churches— e.g. Arians, Unitarians, Latter-day Saints and members of other Mormon denominations, and Jehovah's Witnesses. (2) First Council of Constantinople, (381) - revised the Nicene Creed into present form used in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches and prohibited any further alteration of the Creed without the assent of an Ecumenical Council. (3) Council of Ephesus, (431) - repudiated Nestorianism, proclaimed the Virgin Mary as the Theotokos (Greek Η Θεοτόκος, "God-bearer" or more commonly "Mother of God"). This and all following councils are not recognized by the Assyrian Church of the East. (4) Council of Chalcedon (451) - repudiated the Eutychian doctrine of monophysitism, described and delineated the "hypostatic union" and two natures of Christ, human and divine; adopted the Chalcedonian Creed.