* Scripture is the Word of God and all of its claims are true.

* God created the world and everything in it in six days.

* The Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all distinct persons, but are one God.

* The central message of the bible is that every person is a sinner and deserves the punishment of death, but God chose to save some through the saving work of Jesus Christ.

* Through Adam's sin, we all inherited the sinful nature and the punishment of death.

* Through Christ's perfect obedience and His atoning work on the cross, the elect receive eternal life in heaven.

* Christ will return on the last day to gather all those who put their faith in Him into His heavenly kingdom.

 

A good summary of the main teachings of the bible can be found in the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Larger Catechism, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

 

The entire bible is about Christ. That's what Christ himself said in Luke 24. He pointed out that all the Scriptures point to His life, suffering, death, and resurrection. This means that every sermon and bible study must point to Christ because every passage in the bible must ultimately be about Christ. There is no deeper way to understand any part of the bible than to see how it points to Christ.

 

The second reason is that we expect and welcome non-Christians and new Christians to be at each and every worship service. We want to be a church where people can freely learn and examine the ideas of Christianity whether they are long-time churchgoers, new to the Christian faith, or still question the validity of Christian claims. We welcome non-Christians and invite them to learn about God from a friendly, gracious group of people.

 

The third reason is that Christians continue to sin and their hearts are grieved by their sinfulness. Christians need to be reminded on a regular basis of the gospel - that their sins are forgiven and Christ has paid the penalty for their sins.

 

 

 

The first reason is that God commands it in Genesis 12:1-3 and Matthew 28:18-20 and many other places in the Bible. The Apostle Paul always seemed to start churches in major cities, because they were strategic. The cities influenced the culture and mindset of entire nations and empires.

 

The second reason is that starting a new church is one of the most effective ways to reach out to non-Christians and people who used to go to church but stopped going for some reason or another. The statistics show that non-Christians and people who stopped going to church are more likely to visit a new church than an old, established church.

 

The third reason is that we like small churches. When a church gets too big, people can get lost and become anonymous. We like knowing each person who comes to our church so that we can pray for each person by name. Small churches have the intimacy and relationship-building between the pastor and its members that lead to a loving and caring community of believers. The tipping point for when a church becomes too big to know one another is about 150. So we think once a church gets to about 150-250 people, it's time to start a new church. That's our vision.