OUR THEOLOGICAL BELIEFS

Below is a simple summary of our beliefs. Essentially, we believe that the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) is a truthful summary of what the Bible teaches. The WCF was written approximately 1640. This link will take you to a version which includes Scripture proofs.

The Holy Bible: The Bible is God's Word to us, written by the prophets and apostles of the Old and New Testament. Being God's Word, it has the power to change us through the work of the Holy Spirit. We believe it is inspired, perfectly accurate and fully authoritative.

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God's Eternal Decrees: God has decreed, according to "the counsel of his own will" all things pertaining to creation, providence and salvation. "For from him and through him and to him are all things." This decree includes the predestination of the elect. 

The Triune God: God is three persons in one being, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, much like a human family is one "thing" made up of many persons. What the Father decrees, the Son does and the Spirit applies. Each person in the Godhead is equally God, and Christ is both completely God and completely man, which enables him to be our mediator and our sacrifice. Having died on the cross for our sins, Jesus was raised to life on the third day and now reigns with God on high. 

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Sinful Humans: All people, everywhere, from birth, are born into sin. Adam and Eve fell, and all of their descendants, including us, fell with them. Sin and death are now the "normal" human condition. We all sin. We all die. That's why we need a Savior. That's why Jesus died on a cross--to take our sin and be our death.

Grace and Saving Faith: God's grace for all his elect, for all who believe in Jesus Christ, unblinds them. God's grace, his love and favor, overwhelm us with the truth, that we might finally see and believe in Jesus. This is saving faith--faith that rests solely and only on Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The single best summary of this is taught in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." Thus, by faith we are both forgiven and declared righteous ("justified") in the eyes of the Holy, Sovereign God.

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The Church: Jesus is the Head of the Church--his body. The Church is sent to make disciples of all the nations by faithfully preaching the gospel, praying for God's power to move, faithfully administering the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and by living holy lives. The Church is "grafted" into Israel, and God has a single plan of salvation--faith in Jesus--for all people, whether Gentile or Jewish. Members of the church joyfully submit to those called and equipped to govern the church, love one another deeply, use their spiritual gifts to build each other up in grace, and seek to raise their children in the Lord. All people who have ever been saved are the Church and they will inherit the kingdom of God when Christ returns in bodily form on the last day. 

Heaven and Hell: Heaven and hell are real, eternal states, where all humans eventually reside. Those whom God has saved in Christ, inherit heaven, which is not "up there" but comes down here as a new earth and new heavens. Into that realm no evil passes, and God himself dwells with his people eternally. No sorrow, sickness, evil or death can enter the new heavens and new earth. Hell is also eternal. It is place of judgment, grief and torment reserved for all wicked beings, spirit and human, of which there is no end. 

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The Christian Life: Christians are people who live by faith in Jesus Christ. They gather weekly for worship, they care for the poor and lonely, they love one another, they know that the kingdom of this world is not the kingdom of God, they forgive one another, they repent constantly of their sins and idolatry, they trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to use them, change them and make them more like Jesus Christ, and they have an unshakeable source of joy--heaven, itself. As a church, we are Christians who are trying to follow Jesus and be salt and light in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. We are not here to judge the world and condemn it; that is God's job. We are here instead to preach Christ crucified, and to stand up for just and righteous laws in our own nation. 

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Marriage and Sexuality: Marriage is a life-long​ promise of faithful love made between one man and one woman, such that they become one. This is God's creation and God's intent--which humans have routinely attempted to change, ignore and prevent, from ancient polygamous practices, to modern day same-sex unions. Only in marriage between a man and woman is sex, beautiful and holy. All other sexual practice is sin. God's grace gives us the strength to overcome sexual temptation, be forgiven of sexual immorality and walk in holiness--even when our desires are strong, unsought and for members of the same sex. Honoring God with our bodies also includes accepting our createdness, our gender at birth, and does not seek to change it, but rather trusts God in all things.  

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