OUR FAITH
"IN ESSENTIALS, UNITY; IN NON-ESSENTIALS, LIBERTY; IN ALL THINGS, CHARITY."
As a community of faith, we stand in the legacy of the Protestant Reformation, a major corrective movement in 16th century Christianity. The Reformation has historically shaped numerous churches in many denominations. Though Christianity is the world's largest religion, we hold the conviction that Christianity, in its various forms, cannot be reduced to a mere system of human-made beliefs, rituals, and symbols about an alleged and otherwise unknown, transcendent other.
We believe that the gospel, or the good news of Jesus Christ, has real consequences that are both spiritual and social. We find forgiveness of sins through the shed blood of Christ, thereby making our relationship with God possible. Our spiritual relationship with God brings with it a social responsibility to practically help people in need both near and far. We are called, thus, to love God wholeheartedly and to love other people as ourselves.
We affirm that the essence of the Christian experience is defined by embracing a personal and obedient relationship with Jesus Christ as universal Lord and Savior. We embrace Christ because Christ embraced us. This redemptive relationship with God is realized through His earthly life, death, and resurrection on our behalf.
The Christian Bible, when read through the Spirit's guidance in the corporate life of the church, is our authority on all matters of faith and practice. We actively embrace and publicly confess the essentials of the biblical witness as expressed in the ancient Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, affirmations of faith that have united Christians across the centuries.
As a community of believers, we publicly pose the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism and affirm the truth of its answer as it relates to each of us individually. Consider this question and answer.
"What is your only comfort, in life, and in death? That I belong -- body and soul, in life and in death--not to myself, but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven, not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him."
So let it be in the lives of the people who belong to the Cumberland and Guinea congregations, and may it be such in your life as well.
