What We Believe
"In essential matters, we desire unity; in non-essential matters, we desire liberty; in all matters, we desire charity." This traditional maxim is an excellent reminder that there are some issues of faith that are non- negotiable while there are others that are strictly a matter of tradition, personal preference, or pragmatism. At First Congregational, we hold to the historic Christian faith. We make no apology for this. However, in the Congregational tradition, we also allow great freedom for the individual conscience to be formed by Christ and led by the Holy Spirit.
The following Statement of Faith will help you understand what we believe and teach at First Congregational:
Statement of Faith
I. The sixty-six canonical books of the Old and New Testaments are inspired of God and inerrant in the original autographs. They constitute the only infallible guide in faith and practice and are fully trustworthy and of supreme authority in all they say.
II. There is one sovereign God, the Creator and Preserver of all things, infinite in being and perfection. He is eternally existent in three persons: the everlasting Father, His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and the Holy Spirit, the giver of life; who are of one substance and equal in power and glory. God created the Heavens, the earth, and all things therein out of nothing, by His spoken word, and for His own glory.
III. Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, which is to say, He is Himself very God. He took upon Him our nature, being conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary, thus in the Lord Jesus Christ divine and human natures were united in one Person, both natures being whole, perfect, and distinct. He lived a sinless life and died upon the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice for the sin of the world. He arose from the dead in the body in which He was crucified and ascended into heaven in that body glorified, where He is now, our interceding High Priest.
IV. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Triune God. He applies to man the work of Christ, indwells and gives life to believers, enables them to understand the Scriptures, empowers them for godly living, and equips them for service and witness.
V. Man, created directly by God and in His own image, did, through the sin of Adam and Eve and in direct disobedience to God’s revealed will, fall from his original sinless state. Through this fall man incurred both physical and spiritual death so that all human beings are born with a sinful nature that leads them to sin in thought, word, and deed. From this condition man is saved only by the grace of God, through faith, on the basis of the work of Christ. All who receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God and are enabled to offer spiritual worship acceptable to God.
VI. There is one holy, universal, and apostolic Church, the body of Christ, composed of all the redeemed, and consisting of communities of Christ’s people. The Church is to glorify God by worshiping Him in spirit and in truth with confession, prayer, and praise; by preaching the Word and properly administering the sacraments; by cultivating lives characterized by the fruit of the Spirit; by proclaiming the gospel of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth; by caring for all of God’s creation and actively seeking the good of everyone, especially the poor and needy.
VII. This is our Blessed Hope - that Jesus Christ will soon return to this earth, personally, visibly, and unexpectedly, in power and great glory, to gather His elect, to judge the nations, to bring His Kingdom to fulfillment, and to raise the dead – the just to everlasting reward and the unjust to everlasting retribution, and as the reward is conscious, so is the retribution.
First Congregational Church is:
1. Congregational – Standing in the heritage of the great Puritan movement, we believe that the local church is subject only to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, while at the same time it is called to fellowship and partner with other churches for the glory of God and the promotion of the gospel. In Congregationalism there is great freedom of conscience for the individual, but this is balanced by our belief in covenant – that we are joined in a deep relationship with Jesus Christ and other believers in the local church.
2. Reformed – We believe that the Protestant Reformation reclaimed many wonderful truths of Scripture, these being:
i. Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone
ii. Solus Christus – Christ Alone
iii. Sola Gratia – Grace Alone
iv. Sola Fide – Faith Alone
v. Soli Deo Gloria – The Glory of God Alone
3. Evangelical – We firmly believe and teach that Jesus Christ is God, and that it is through a relationship with Him that we know God and have eternal life. We desire that all would come to know the Savior.
4. Historic – Our faith does not exist in a vacuum. The truths that we hold dear are not only revealed in God’s Word, but have been lived by God’s people for thousands of years. We recognize this and in all our formulations and statements we strive to be faithful as we "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3).
A. The Apostle's Creed - is used by our Confirmation Class and studied by our young people in order to understand the basics of the Christian faith.
B. The Nicene Creed – is our standard for membership in First Congregational.
C. The Savoy Declaration – is an excellent statement that spells out in 32 chapters the fundamentals of Congregational belief and practice. It has served as the foundation of Congregational theology since 1658.
The following Statement of Faith will help you understand what we believe and teach at First Congregational:
Statement of Faith
I. The sixty-six canonical books of the Old and New Testaments are inspired of God and inerrant in the original autographs. They constitute the only infallible guide in faith and practice and are fully trustworthy and of supreme authority in all they say.
II. There is one sovereign God, the Creator and Preserver of all things, infinite in being and perfection. He is eternally existent in three persons: the everlasting Father, His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and the Holy Spirit, the giver of life; who are of one substance and equal in power and glory. God created the Heavens, the earth, and all things therein out of nothing, by His spoken word, and for His own glory.
III. Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, which is to say, He is Himself very God. He took upon Him our nature, being conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary, thus in the Lord Jesus Christ divine and human natures were united in one Person, both natures being whole, perfect, and distinct. He lived a sinless life and died upon the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice for the sin of the world. He arose from the dead in the body in which He was crucified and ascended into heaven in that body glorified, where He is now, our interceding High Priest.
IV. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Triune God. He applies to man the work of Christ, indwells and gives life to believers, enables them to understand the Scriptures, empowers them for godly living, and equips them for service and witness.
V. Man, created directly by God and in His own image, did, through the sin of Adam and Eve and in direct disobedience to God’s revealed will, fall from his original sinless state. Through this fall man incurred both physical and spiritual death so that all human beings are born with a sinful nature that leads them to sin in thought, word, and deed. From this condition man is saved only by the grace of God, through faith, on the basis of the work of Christ. All who receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God and are enabled to offer spiritual worship acceptable to God.
VI. There is one holy, universal, and apostolic Church, the body of Christ, composed of all the redeemed, and consisting of communities of Christ’s people. The Church is to glorify God by worshiping Him in spirit and in truth with confession, prayer, and praise; by preaching the Word and properly administering the sacraments; by cultivating lives characterized by the fruit of the Spirit; by proclaiming the gospel of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth; by caring for all of God’s creation and actively seeking the good of everyone, especially the poor and needy.
VII. This is our Blessed Hope - that Jesus Christ will soon return to this earth, personally, visibly, and unexpectedly, in power and great glory, to gather His elect, to judge the nations, to bring His Kingdom to fulfillment, and to raise the dead – the just to everlasting reward and the unjust to everlasting retribution, and as the reward is conscious, so is the retribution.
First Congregational Church is:
1. Congregational – Standing in the heritage of the great Puritan movement, we believe that the local church is subject only to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, while at the same time it is called to fellowship and partner with other churches for the glory of God and the promotion of the gospel. In Congregationalism there is great freedom of conscience for the individual, but this is balanced by our belief in covenant – that we are joined in a deep relationship with Jesus Christ and other believers in the local church.
2. Reformed – We believe that the Protestant Reformation reclaimed many wonderful truths of Scripture, these being:
i. Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone
ii. Solus Christus – Christ Alone
iii. Sola Gratia – Grace Alone
iv. Sola Fide – Faith Alone
v. Soli Deo Gloria – The Glory of God Alone
3. Evangelical – We firmly believe and teach that Jesus Christ is God, and that it is through a relationship with Him that we know God and have eternal life. We desire that all would come to know the Savior.
4. Historic – Our faith does not exist in a vacuum. The truths that we hold dear are not only revealed in God’s Word, but have been lived by God’s people for thousands of years. We recognize this and in all our formulations and statements we strive to be faithful as we "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3).
A. The Apostle's Creed - is used by our Confirmation Class and studied by our young people in order to understand the basics of the Christian faith.
B. The Nicene Creed – is our standard for membership in First Congregational.
C. The Savoy Declaration – is an excellent statement that spells out in 32 chapters the fundamentals of Congregational belief and practice. It has served as the foundation of Congregational theology since 1658.
