Statement of Faith

We believe that God, who is Himself Truth and speaks truth only, inspired the 66 books of the Bible to reveal Himself to lost mankind through Jesus Christ as Creator and Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God’s witness to Himself. We believe the Scriptures, written by men prepared and superintended by God’s Spirit, are the infallible and only inerrant Word of God and therefore the supreme and final authority for faith and life.

We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe that God is infinite in being, all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, everywhere present, almighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. We believe that God is the maker of heaven and earth.

We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He is the divinely appointed mediator between God and man. He took upon Himself human nature, was born of a virgin, lived without sin, perfectly fulfilled the law, performed miracles in support of His mission, and was the Christ of Old Testament prophecy. We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross for the salvation of sinners, and that his vicarious substitutionary death made atonement for the sin of the world and is efficient for all who repent and believe. We believe in the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father and in His imminent and visible return to this earth to judge the world in righteousness.

We believe that God originally created man in His own image and free from sin, to reflect holiness by obedience to His commandments. The first man transgressed the command of God and fell from his original holiness and righteousness, whereby his posterity inherit a nature corrupt and wholly opposed to God and His law, are under condemnation, estranged from their Creator, and eternally lost. We believe that salvation from eternal punishment and restoration of fellowship with God is secured only by His grace through faith in Christ, who bore the sins of His people in His own body on the cross. We believe that justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal of sinners, who believe in Christ, from all sin, through the satisfaction that Christ has made; not for anything wrought in them or done by them; but on account of the obedience and satisfaction of Christ, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith. We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells all who receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and that the Holy Spirit is responsible for the regeneration of believers and for the continuing work of sanctification.

We believe that the head of the church is the Lord Jesus Christ and that the church is the body of Christ. Christians are called to be identified with Christ in baptism, to remember His death in the Lord’s Supper, and to preach the gospel to all nations. We believe that the school is the handmaiden of the church, whose mission is to minister to and support the church.

We believe that those who are regenerated are also sanctified by God’s word and Spirit dwelling in them. This sanctification is progressive through the supply of divine strength, which all saints seek to obtain, pressing after a heavenly life in cordial obedience to all Christ’s commands. We believe that the faith of believers should be visible in concrete forms – a model of personal and social behavior. We believe that as Christians we seek to be faithful disciples of Christ, enduring in love, obedience, and unity until He comes again. We believe that the term “marriage has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture” (Gen. 2:18-25).

We believe that God has appointed a day, wherein he will judge the world by Jesus Christ when everyone shall receive according to his deeds; the wicked shall go into everlasting punishment; the righteous, into everlasting life.

*Orthodox, evangelical churches and Christians disagree as to the interpretation of the clause in the Apostles’ Creed that Jesus Christ “descended into hell.” Some churches even omit it from their recitation of the creed. Consequently, no assent to that clause is required for board membership, faculty or staff employment, or student enrollment.