Basis of Faith
What We Believe
The following is a description of the essential aspects of our belief. It is our statement of faith.
The Bible
We believe the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God. We believe in their entire trustworthiness and authority for all matters of Christian faith and life.
God
We believe in one God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God, was incarnate on earth as fully God and fully man. He died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins and was then bodily resurrected.
Salvation
We believe that all human beings are sinful by nature and action and that we can receive forgiveness and salvation only through a personal faith in Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit dwells within believers, enabling us to become more like our Lord Jesus and equipping us with gifts for ministry.
The Future
We believe in the personal return of our Lord Jesus Christ as King of all creation.
Mission Statement
Our vision is to grow ever more deeply in our love for God–in our hearts, through our thoughts, and with our choices–as we abide in Christ and share God’s healing grace by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our Denomination
Our Denomination: The Evangelical Covenant Church
Below is a historical statement from the Preamble of the Constitution and Bylaws of the Evangelical Covenant Church.
The Evangelical Covenant Church is a communion of congregations gathered by God, united in Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey the great commandment and the great commission. It affirms its companionship in faith with other church bodies and all those who fear God and keep God’s commandments.
The Evangelical Covenant Church adheres to the affirmations of the Protestant Reformation regarding the Bible. It confesses that the Holy Scripture, the Old and the New Testament, is the Word of God and the only perfect rule for faith,
doctrine, and conduct. It affirms the historic confessions of the Christian Church, particularly the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed, while emphasizing the sovereignty of the Word of God over all creedal interpretations.
In continuity with the renewal movements of historic Pietism, the Evangelical Covenant Church especially cherishes the dual emphasis on new birth and new life in Christ, believing that personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is the
foundation for our mission of evangelism and Christian nurture. Our common experience of God’s grace and love in Jesus Christ continues to sustain the Evangelical Covenant Church as an interdependent body of believers that recognizes but transcends our theological differences.The Evangelical Covenant Church celebrates two divinely ordained sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Recognizing the reality of freedom in Christ, and in conscious dependence on the work of the Holy Spirit, we practice both the
baptism of infants and believer baptism. The Evangelical Covenant Church embraces this freedom in Christ as a gift that preserves personal conviction, yet guards against an individualism that disregards the centrality of the Word of God and the mutual responsibilities and disciplines of the spiritual community.
The Evangelical Covenant Church has its roots in historical Christianity, the Protestant Reformation, the biblical instruction of the Lutheran Church of Sweden, and the great spiritual awakenings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
These influences, together with more recent North American renewal movements, continue to shape its development and distinctive spirit. The Evangelical Covenant Church is committed to reaching across boundaries of race, ethnicity, culture, gender, age, and status in the cultivation of communities of life and service.
The Evangelical Covenant Church, in order to accomplish its mission and purposes, has formulated and adopted this Constitution and Bylaws. The Constitution recognizes that the highest constituted authority of the Evangelical Covenant Church is the convention of delegates known as the Annual Meeting, which alone can adopt and amend the Constitution and Bylaws. The Evangelical Covenant Church shall be governed by this Constitution and Bylaws, its Articles of Incorporation, and all applicable laws.
Please visit The Evangelical Covenant Church for more information.