For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
Grace – n. An undeserved gift paid for entirely by the giver and given to a person of the giver’s choosing, not on the basis of the receiver’s ability, intelligence, character, background, race, religion, or gender, but completely and absolutely by the love and kindness of the giver. Antonyms: reward, prize, payment
God as the Source of Grace We worship one God in three Persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God has created all things, and humans in His own image; all life, truth, holiness, and beauty come from Him. His Son Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, rose and ascended to reign in glory. His Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and our need for a Savior, regenerates us in the new birth, and brings spiritual gifts to be used for the building up of our fellow Christians, and for ministry to the world.
The Bible as the Revelation of Grace We accept and trust the canonical 66 books of the Old and New Testaments as the wholly reliable revelation and record of God’s grace, God breathed through the Holy Spirit via human authors as the true word of God written. God has revealed His Person, His promises, and His plans in the Bible to lead us to salvation, to be the ultimate rule for Christian faith and conduct, and to be the supreme authority by which the Church must ever reform itself and judge its traditions and actions.
Salvation as the Work of Grace We believe that Jesus Christ came to save lost sinners - people who serve their own desires before God's or others. All humans are born with this sinful bent, away from God and towards our own desires and priorities, and this work has earned us wages of death and eternal separation from Him. But God has shown mercy over justice – He has chosen to save sinners by sending His Son Jesus into the world. Living the perfect and sinless life we never could, Jesus met God's requirements for earning eternal life. Then Jesus accepted the charges of our sins and endured the punishment required by God’s justice, by dying on the cross, thus paying the terrible fine for for all who trust in Him. By raising Christ bodily from the dead, God proved him to be Lord and Savior and proclaimed his victory over Satan, sin, and death. There is nothing a human can do to earn eternal life, for all humans sin. And if a person trusts himself to pay for his sin by dying, he stays dead dead (physically AND spiritually, horribly). So salvation is a gift from Christ alone, because of Grace alone, accomplished through lifelong Faith (trust) alone.
The Church as the Community of Grace We hold that the Church is God’s covenant community – a group of people under the umbrella of God’s salvation promise-plan. Its members, drawn from every nation, having been justified by amazing grace through faith(trusting), inherit the promises made to Abraham (Genesis 12 & 15) and fulfilled in the life, death and coming back to life of Christ. As a fellowship of the Spirit manifesting his fruit and exercising his gifts, the Church is called to worship God, grow in grace, and be witnesses about Jesus and his Kingdom. God’s Church is one body and must ever strive to discover and experience that unity in both truth and love which it has in Christ, especially through its confession of the faith of the apostles, the teaching of Scripture, and the celebration of the Gospel Sacraments.
The Sacraments as Signs and Seals of Grace We maintain that the Bible shows us that God has again and again proclaimed and enacted invisible results through visible signs. (Eg. The tree of knowledge ; the rainbow; the brass serpent on the pole, ) A sacrament is an outward, visible sign of an inner, invisible reality. Baptism and Holy Communion are Gospel Sacraments –
1) they proclaim the gospel, a kind of pantomime telling of the Good News,
2) they are visible signs of our justification (being considered by God to be “right” with Him) and sanctification (the process of the Holy Spirit continually pressing, molding and forming human lumps of coal so that we may be diamonds for presentation to Jesus someday),
3) For those who repent and have an active, living faith, they are true ways by which God delivers His grace.
Baptism is the sign of forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Spirit, new birth to righteousness and entry into the fellowship of the People of God.
Holy Communion is the sign of the memorial of his one, perfect, completed and all-sufficient sacrifice for sin for all He came to save; of the living, nourishing presence of Christ through his Spirit to his people; and an occasion to offer through him our sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise.
Ministry as the Stewardship of Grace We Share, as the People of God, in a royal priesthood common to the whole Church, and in the community of the Suffering Servant. Our mission is the proclamation of the gospel by the preaching and living God’s Word, by caring for the needy, challenging evil and promoting justice, and a more responsible use of the world’s resources. It is the particular calling of bishops and presbyters, together with deacons, to build up the body of Christ in truth and love, as pastors, teachers, and servant-leaders of the servants of God.
'One pastor, many ministers'
Christ’s Return as the Triumph of Grace We look forward expectantly to the final revelation of Christ’s grace and glory when he comes again to raise the dead, judge the whole world, claim His chosen people and bring His Kingdom to its eternal fulfillment in the new heaven and the new earth.
