What We Believe
Affirming the Essentials of the Christian Faith
In 2009, the Session of First Presbyterian affirmed the following documents as accurately expressing the essentials of the Christian faith. These documents originated as summaries of a Wednesday Night ID class titled "Living the Essentials of the Faith: RAISE." The RAISE acronym stands for Revelation, Anthropology, Incarnation, Sanctification, Eternity.
Regarding Issues Debated in the Church
In 2001, 2009, 2011 and again in 2014, the Session of First Presbyterian wrote and affirmed the following three tenets:
1. Jesus Christ is Lord God of all and the only way of salvation.
2. The Holy Scripture is God's revealed Word, the only infallible rule for faith and life.
2. The Holy Scripture is God's revealed Word, the only infallible rule for faith and life.
3. God's people are called to holiness in all aspects of life. This includes honoring the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, the only relationship in which sexual activity is appropriate.
In Conformity to the Larger Church
We affirm the ecumenical creeds of the Church universal, namely the Nicene Creed and the Apostle’s Creed, as well as the confessions coming out of the Protestant Reformation, such as the Westminster Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism.
