What We Believe

This church acknowledges as its sole Head Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of all people.

It acknowledges as siblings in Christ all who share in this confession.

It looks to the Word of God in the Scriptures and to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to strengthen its creative and redemptive work in the world.

It claims as its own the faith of the historic Church expressed in the ancient creeds and reclaimed in the basic insights of the Protestant Reformers.

It affirms the responsibility of the Church in each generation to make this faith its own.

In accordance with the teaching of our Lord and the practice prevailing among evangelical Christians, it recognizes two Sacraments: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion.

One expression of this faith is this:

We believe in God, the Eternal Spirit,
who is made known to us in Jesus our brother,
and to whose deeds we testify:

God calls the worlds into being, creates humankind in the divine image, and sets before us the ways of life and death.

God seeks in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.

God judges all humanity and all nations by that will of righteousness declared through prophets and apostles.

In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord, God has come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the whole creation to its Creator.

God bestows upon us the Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.

God calls us into his church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to be his servants in the service of the whole human family, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil, to share in Christ’s baptism and eat at his table, to join him in his passion and victory.

God promises to all who trust in the gospel: forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace, the presence of the Holy Spirit in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in that kingdom which has no end.

Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto God.

(Updated version of The Statement of Faith prepared by the late Dr. Robert Moss, former president of the U.C.C., and presented to the General Synod in 1977.)