Faith Statement

I believe in the one triune God: The Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.  I believe that God, out of unmerited, unconditional love, created the universe and all that is in it.  God made man and woman in God’s own image and gave them dominion over the earth.  These three sentences bring joy and excitement to me.  The fact that our creator loves us and has purpose for us is at the core of what brings me to ministry.      Although human sinfulness entered the world and separated us from God, God continued to love us!  We were hopeless out of relationship with God.   But God did not leave us desolate.  God’s love was manifested through covenant with the nation of Israel until God fulfilled the prophesied promise of reconciliation through the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I believe that Jesus Christ is the self-revelation of God.  Jesus, fully God and fully human, is God’s demonstration of love to all people.       It is by grace alone through faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ and his atoning death on the cross that we can now be reconciled to God.  Because of this grace, we are called to respond by faith in repentance – turning toward God – turning to the acts of love that God will enable within us.  These acts of love once again give our lives purpose – to participate in the mission of God – to demonstrate God’s love for each other and the world.       I believe in the Holy Spirit’s presence in the world and in the life of believers as a fulfillment of Jesus’ promise before his death to send a comforter.  It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can hear, believe, and proclaim the gospel. It was through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit that the Holy Scriptures were both inspired and are interpreted for our lives today.  The Holy Spirit works in the world to call people to God, and in believers to guide us and empower us in our roles in God’s mission.  I believe that the Holy Spirit gives each believer spiritual gifts which are demonstrations that we were each called into being for a holy purpose.  I believe that God has called me to help enable God’s people to discover, develop, and use their gifts for God’s mission with joy and thanksgiving.      I believe the Church, as a community of reconciled people, should worship God both corporately and individually through prayer, psalms, and by the reading and listening to God’s word being proclaimed.  I believe that the church should act firmly with love and without coercion or manipulation in regards to Jesus’ directive to take the good news of the gospel to all nations: baptizing and teaching.  I believe the Church is called into deep concern for the sufferings of humanity and is called into action to meet human need and to work for peace and justice in the world.  I believe the Church should also bear the burdens of the members of the body of Christ by nurturing and providing for one another.  I believe that I am personally called to have a ministry that encourages and balances all of these things:  evangelism, social justice, and the nurturing of believers.       I believe that the sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, are signs of the real presence and power of Christ in the Church – signs and seals of an invisible grace.  These sacraments are signs that God seals the believer and the church in redemption, renewing our identity as the people of God and marking us for service.  In baptism the Spirit seals on our hearts God’s covenant promise of grace.  In the Lord’s Supper, the Spirit makes Christ present to us by lifting us into the presence of the risen and ascended Christ.