What We Believe
How we believe matters just as much as the content of our faith.
As such, we strive for simplicity and unity in the essentials of the faith, we leave room for diversity in the non-essentials, and we aim for love in all things as we Pursue Jesus and Practice Love together.
We believe that there is only One Living and True God,
who is infinitely perfect and holy and eternally existing in three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory; and that this Triune God is All-knowing, Everywhere-present, All-powerful, the Creator of all things and Ruler over all things.
We believe in the Person of the Holy Spirit,
who is fully God, and who has the ministry of glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ and convicting people of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness, and judgment. He serves as the instrument of God the Father in drawing sinful people into repentance and belief in Jesus Christ, as the Father grants them repentance and gives them the gift of faith, whereby they confess Jesus Christ as Lord. We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ and that He is an abiding Helper, Teacher, Guide and Giver of spiritual gifts, as He empowers the believer for godly living and service.
We believe that the Holy Scriptures,
both Old Testament and New Testament, are the Word of God, fully inspired without error in the original manuscripts, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that they alone are the infallible, supreme, Divine and final authority for faith and life, and are the complete revelation of God's will for the salvation of people.
We believe that all people are created in the image of God
and were originally intended to live with and glorify Him and to thereby enjoy Him forever. We believe that all people have fallen into sin and are, therefore, separated from God. All people are sinners by nature as well as by choice and thereby are under the just condemnation of God. We also believe that only through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be obtained.
We believe that all people who are saved receive their salvation through God's grace,
being justified by faith, not by works. Furthermore, we believe that the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only ground for justification and salvation for all who believe, and only such as receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are born of the Holy Spirit and thus become children of God. We also believe that faith without the fruit of faith (deeds of obedient trust) is not true faith.
We believe in the universal Church,
the living spiritual body, of which Christ is the Head and all regenerated persons are members. The true Church is therefore composed of all such persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and are united together in the body of Christ.
We also believe in the local church,
consisting of a company of believers in Jesus Christ who associate together for worship, ministry, training, witness, and fellowship. We believe the mission of the church is to equip the disciples of Jesus for fruitful ministry in the Kingdom of God. Furthermore, we believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Head of the local church, and that every local church has the right under Christ to decide and govern its own affairs in obedience to the Word of God.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ committed two ordinances
to the Church to be observed by it during the present age: (1) Baptism*, and (2) the Lord's Supper, open to all believers. We believe in water baptism of the believer in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We believe that the Lord's Supper was instituted by Christ for the commemoration of His death. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. We also believe that neither of these two ordinances is to be regarded as a means of salvation.
We believe in the personal, imminent, and visible return of our Lord Jesus Christ to earth,
and that this "blessed hope" has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer.
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead,
the final judgment, and the resurrection of the believer to everlasting blessedness and joy with the Lord, and the resurrection of the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment.
Our Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our beliefs. For the purposes of Victory Christian Fellowship, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline, the Board of Elders shall serve as Faith Reformed Church's final interpretive authority on the Bible's meaning and application. The following additions flow from our Statement of Faith:
We believe in the sanctity of human life. All human life is sacred, from the moment of conception until death.
We believe in the sanctity of marriage. Marriage is a commitment uniting one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, ideally for a lifetime. God intends for sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other.
We believe that any form of sexual immorality is sinful and offensive to God.
We believe God wants every person to be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity.
