The Trinity

God is one divine essence who is eternal in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God the Father

God the Father is the Creator and preserver of the universe, to Whom the entire creation and all creatures are subject.

God the Son

Jesus Christ, true God and true man, by His perfect obedience and substitutionary death on the cross, has purchased our redemption from sin, death, and the Devil. God the Father together with Jesus, the Word incarnate, and the Holy Spirit created Adam and Eve in His image but the Devil led them into disobedience and sin from which they and all humanity are unable to be freed apart from Jesus Christ. Through His death, Jesus paid the debt of sin for the whole world, that all who believe in Him will have eternal life. He arose from the dead for our justification in the body in which He was crucified. He ascended into heaven, where He is now seated at the right hand of God, the Father, as our interceding High Priest. He will come a second time personally, bodily, and visibly to gather the believers unto Himself. He will judge the living and the dead and make an eternal separation between believers and unbelievers. His kingdom shall have no end.

God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is a divine person eternally one with the Father and with the Son, who sanctifies us. Through the Word of God, He convicts of sin, leads to repentance, and calls to a life of faith in the Gospel. He regenerates, sanctifies, and preserves believers in the one true faith. He comforts, guides, equips, directs, and empowers the church to fulfill the great commission. The Holy Spirit graciously gives spiritual fruit and gifts to all believers.

Means of Grace

Christ’s redemption is made known to humanity through the means of grace, namely the Word and the sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper). God speaks through the Word both Law and Gospel; through the Law He brings sinners to know their sinfulness, through the Gospel He brings sinners to believe in Jesus Christ, to be justified, to enter the process of sanctification, and to have eternal life as the Holy Spirit awakens them to see their sin, convicts them of their guilt of sin, and calls them to repent and believe, inviting, and enabling them to accept God’s grace in Christ. All who believe are forgiven and credited with Christ’s righteousness. The Word then teaches and guides the believer to lead a godly life.

Baptism

In the Sacrament of Baptism, God offers the benefits of Christ’s forgiveness to all people; the cleansing of sin and granting newness of life to all who believe. The baptismal life calls all believers to daily repentance, drowning to sin and rising in Christ. Because the sinfulness of human nature passes on from generation to generation and the promise of God’s grace includes little children, we baptize infants, who become members of Christ’s believing church through baptism. All believers need to come to know that they are sinners with a nature that opposes God. Through the Holy Spirit, they need to confess their sinfulness and yield to God; and possess for themselves forgiveness of their sin through Jesus Christ, as they are led from the faith received in baptism into a personal faith in Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

Holy Communion

In the Sacrament of Holy Communion, Christ is truly present, offering His body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine. Through the bread and the wine and the Word of God, Christ declares the forgiveness of sin to all believers, and strengthens their faith. Our Lord Jesus instituted Holy Communion for the remembrance of Him.

The Bible

The Bible containing the Old and New Testaments is the inspired Word of God and is free from error. It is the authority for the life and faith of all believers.

Salvation

Eternal salvation is offered to all people through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is by God’s grace through faith alone that a believer has salvation in Christ.