We believe the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God. The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament are the complete and divine revelation of God to man. The Scriptures are inerrant and infallible in the original languages and have been providentially preserved and will continue to be preserved until all are fulfilled. The Bible is, therefore, the supreme and final authority in all matters of doctrine, faith, and life. (Psalm 12:6-7; Psalm 119:105; Matthew 5:17-18; II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20-21)

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All three persons are co-eternal, co-existent, and of one essence. (Genesis 1:26; Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; John 14:10, 26; II Corinthians 13:14)

We believe in the Father who planned the works of creation, redemption, and providence. (1 Corinthians 8:6; John 14:12,13; Romans 8:15)

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, manifest in the flesh and forever existing with the Father and the Holy Spirit as true God. He was begotten of the Father before all time, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary in the likeness of man. He executes the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King. (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6; John 1:1-3,14,18, 8:58, 10:30-33; Luke 1:30-37; Philippians 2:5-7)

We believe the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment; regenerates the sinner by the Word of God; permanently indwells each believer; seals, enlightens, instructs, and guides every believer; and is the sufficient power for godly living, Christian service, and spiritual worship. (John 3:5-7; 14:16-17,26, 15:26, 16:7-15; Romans 8:9,26; I Corinthians 12:12-14; Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30; Acts 10:38)

We believe that Jesus Christ died to save His people from their sins, according to the Scriptures, both as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice; therefore, all who believe in Him are justified on the grounds of His shed blood and not of good works. We believe He arose bodily from the dead on the third day in the same body in which He suffered and died. We also believe our Lord ascended into Heaven where He is seated at the right hand of the Father and is the High Priest and Divine Advocate to the Father for all who believe. We believe Jesus Christ has procured for every believer eternal redemption and everlasting life by His finished work on the cross and His unceasing ministry of intercession in glory. (Matthew 1:21; Mark 16:19; John 3:16,20,27, 10:26-28; Romans 5:9, 6:23; Ephesians 2:8,9,13; I Corinthians 15:3-4; Hebrews 4:14-5:10, 7:22-25, 8:1, 9:12; I John 2:1)

We believe that it pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to create, or make of nothing, the world, and all things therein, whether visible or invisible. We believe that man was created by the direct spoken act of God in the image of God. We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female, and that these two distinct complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God. (Genesis 1:1-2:7, 2:18,21-22; Psalm 33:6, 139:13-16; John 1:3,10; Colossians 1:16-17)

We believe that man sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death which is separation from God. As a result, all human beings are born with a sinful nature, are totally depraved and all fall short of God’s standard. (Genesis 3:1-3:24; John 1:3,10; Romans 3:10-12,23; 5:12)

We believe that the true church is a spiritual body composed of all who have trusted Christ as their Savior and have been justified by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone. The Church is united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Jesus Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. We believe that Scripture commands believers to gather together to devote themselves to worship, prayer, and teaching of the Word.

At the return of Christ, the bodies of the dead shall be raised up. The righteous in Christ will enter into full possession of eternal bliss in the presence of God, and those not in Christ will be condemned to eternal death separated from God in Hell. (John 5:28-29; I Corinthians 15:51-57; I Thessalonians 4:13-17).

We believe eternity will be spent in a literal Heaven for believers and a literal Hell for unbelievers. (Psalms 9:17, 16:11; Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:46; John 5:28,29, 14:1-6; Romans 2:6-8; Philippians 1:21,23; Revelation 20:10-15, 21:1-8)

We believe Satan is a fallen angel, the prince of demons, the god of this age, the enticer and deceiver, the adversary of Christ and His people and the accuser of the brethren, and he and his angels will be cast into the lake of fire for eternity. (Genesis 3:1,13-15; Job 1:6-12, 2:1-7; Matthew 4:1-11, 25:41; John 8:44; II Corinthians 4:3,4; I Peter 5:8; Revelation 12:9-11, 20:1-3,7-10)

We believe that through the shedding of Christ’s blood, all who by faith in that sacrifice believe and trust in Christ are born again into the family of God. They are God’s children, joint heirs with Christ and shall never perish being eternally secure in the hands of the Son and Father. We believe that the Holy Spirit sanctifies the hearts of believers by removing the corruption of sin and working to make them more like Christ, enabling them to do good works and live lives exemplified by the fruit of the spirit. (John 1:12, 3:16, 5:24; Romans 10:9-10; John 10:27-30; Ephesians 4:24; I Corinthians 10:13, II Corinthians 5:17, 7:1; I Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 2:11)

We believe that God has established the family as the foundational institution of human society. The husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the Church and submit to the headship of Christ. The wife is to submit herself to her own husband as the church is to submit to the headship of Christ. Children are a heritage from the Lord and are commanded to honor and obey their parents. Parents are responsible for teaching their children spiritual and moral values and leading them through consistent lifestyle examples and appropriate admonition, correction, and discipline. We believe we are to love one another to live in peace with others as far as we are able, settle our differences among ourselves, be patient, kind, tender-hearted toward others to consider others before ourselves, to encourage one another up, bear one another’s burdens and rejoice in truth. (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Psalm 127:3-5; Proverbs 19:18, 22:15, 23:13-14; Mark 10:6-9; Ephesians 5:21-33, 6:1-4; Colossians 3:18-21; Hebrews 13:4; I Peter 3:1-7, John 13:34; Romans 12:8 & 10; Hebrews 12:4; 2 Corinthians 13:6, 11; 1 Corinthians 13:4; Phil 2:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:11; Ephesians 4:2)

We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life. (Genesis 1:26-28; Job 3:16; Psalm 51:5, 139:14-16; Isaiah 44:24, 49:1,5; Jeremiah 1:5)

We believe that God created marriage to be exclusively the union of one man and one woman and that intimate sexual activity is to occur exclusively within that union. We believe any acts of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgenderism, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery or pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of human sexuality. We believe that God created two genders and disapproves of attempts to treat gender as a choice by either 1) portraying oneself as something other than the gender of birth, or 2) by formally changing gender through reassignment. However, we believe God offers redemption and restoration to all sinners who will repent of their sin and seek His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity. (Genesis 1:27, 2:24; Leviticus 18:1-30; Deuteronomy 22:5; Matthew 19:4-6; Romans 1:26-29, 7:2; I Corinthians 5:1, 6:9, 7:1-16; Hebrews 13:4, Acts 3:19-21; Romans 10:9-10, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31)

The statement of faith does not exhaust the extent of our beliefs. The Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, and the proper conduct of mankind, is the sole and final source of all that we believe. For purposes of our faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline at Epiphany, our Leadership Team, after seeking wise counsel, will prayerfully render a decision if there is an issue of conflict or conduct.