Statement of Faith

"Be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asks you the reason of the hope that is in you."
         I Peter 3:15

As an evangelical church in Ithaca, NY with a Bible-centered ministry in an intergenerational, international, intentional context:

• We believe in one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• We believe that Jesus Christ, of one substance with the Father, was begotten of Mary, a virgin, by the Holy Spirit and was born man, in every respect as we are but without sin and is the only mediator between God and mankind.
• We believe that all persons are sinners and under condemnation, but that those who repent and trust in Jesus Christ as their Saviour become children of God through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.
• We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly by grace. The Son of God, who was himself completely without sin, voluntarily took upon himself our sin in obedience to the will of the Father. By his death in the sinner's place, the just for the unjust, he made a full and complete atonement. In raising Christ from the dead on the third day, God bore witness to the completion of his atoning work.
• We believe in the universal church, a spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all regenerated persons are members. Membership in a local church does not necessarily constitute membership in the body of Christ.
• We believe that the local church is to be a company of believers in Christ, baptized on a credible profession of faith, observing the Lord's supper and associated in worship, fellowship and the task of sharing Christ with a lost world. The ordinances are commanded of all believers but are of no effect apart from the believer's faith.
• We believe in Christ's bodily resurrection and ascension and in the personal, visible return of Christ in judgement, power and glory. The dead in Christ will be raised and the living believers will be gathered with them in his presence.
• We believe that the final destiny of every person will be determined entirely by his/her relationship to Jesus Christ at the final judgement of all persons by Jesus Christ.
• We believe in an appropriate Christian lifestyle, religious liberty and voluntary cooperation for the promotion of the cause of Christ.