What we believe
We are a
Christian church. We worship the God who is revealed in the Bible as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We hold to the ancient ecumenical creeds: the
Apostles’ Creed, the
Nicene Creed (c. AD 381), and the
Definition of Chalcedon (c. AD 451). The Scriptures themselves are our final and infallible authority for both faith and practice.
We are a
Reformed and Evangelical church. We subscribe, with a handful of exceptions below, to the
Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), a summary of biblical teaching. You don’t have to know and accept everything written in the confession to be part of Christ Church. But that is what you can expect to be taught and preached.
We are a
Presbyterian church. We are a mission church of
Christ Covenant Reformed Church within the
Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Apostles' Creed (2nd century)
I believe in God the Father Almighty; Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the virgin, Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into Hades. On the third day He rose again from the dead, ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Nicene Creed; Constantinople (381)
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from Heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the virgin, Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into Heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord, and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the Prophets. And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church; acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Definition of Chalcedon (451)
Following, then, the holy fathers, we unite in teaching all men to confess the one and same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This self same one is perfect both in deity and in humanity; truly God and truly man, with a rational soul and a body; consubstantial with the Father according to His deity, and consubstantial with us according to the humanity; like us in all respects, sin only excepted. Before the ages He was begotten of the Father, according to the deity, and in these last days, for us and for our salvation, He was born of Mary the virgin, who is Godbearer according to His humanity; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only-begotten, to be acknowledge in two natures; without confusing them, without interchanging them, without dividing them, and without separating them; the distinction of natures by no means taken away by the union, but the properties of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one subsistence; not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same only-begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as from the beginning the prophets have declared concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the symbol of the fathers has handed down to us.
Exceptions to The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647)
7.2 - Of God’s Covenant with Man (cf. 19.1,6)
While we agree with the original intent of the Westminster Divines, we believe the usage of the phrase "covenant of works" is open to misinterpretation by modern Christians. By way of clarification, we deny that any covenant can be kept without faith, and we affirm that good works flow out of faith in God, and not vice versa.
21.8 - Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day
We believe that along with works of piety, necessity, and mercy, the command also calls us to rest our bodies on the Sabbath (Gen. 2:2-3; Ex. 16:30 ; 31:15-17). We do not believe the intention of Scripture was to exclude recreation, especially in the context of the fellowship of God’s people.
23.3 - Of the Civil Magistrate
Delete the last phrase, which reads "and to provide that whatsoever is transacted in them be according to the mind of God." The final phrase gives the Civil Magistrate authority over spiritual matters, which amounts to a form of Erastianism.
24.4 - Of Marriage
Delete the last sentence, which reads, “The man may not marry any of his wife’s kindred, nearer in blood than he may of his own: nor the woman of her husband’s kindred, nearer in blood than of her own.”
25.6 - Of the Church
Delete the last phrase, which reads "but is that Antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the Church against Christ, and all that is called God."
27.4 - Of the Sacraments
Ministers of the Word should ordinarily lead in the administration of the Sacraments, yet we believe that it is permissible for the sacraments to be administered with the oversight of any elder, lawfully ordained.