Our Beliefs

At Free Grace, we hold to the historic Christian faith. That is, we believe in the all-surpassing glory of God – that God alone is worthy of worship, honor, and service. We believe in the surprising depth of human sin – that all of us are broken by sin and experience pain and suffering in life. We believe in the all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ – that he alone is our Savior and can bring healing, hope, and salvation through his death on the cross. We believe in the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives today – that once we trust in Christ and his work only we are bound together with each other in him. This requires us to come together to bring him the glory he deserves and to seek him out in all our lives. We believe that this is good news not just for us but is to be shared with our community, our region, and the whole world and we have a part to play in that.

We believe that the teaching of the Bible has been well summarized by the church through the ages. And we look to those, including both the Nicene Creed and the Westminster Standards, as expressions of our belief.

The Nicene Creed
The Nicene Creed is one of the most widely used creeds, or statements of belief, in the Church. It was first affirmed by the Church as a summary of biblical teaching at the Council of Nicea in AD 325.

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
	maker of heaven and earth,
	of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God,
	begotten of the Father before all worlds;
	God of God, Light of Light,
	very God of very God,
	begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father;
	by whom all things were made;
	who, for us and for our salvation
	came down from heaven,
	and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary,
	and was made man;
	and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate;
	he suffered and was buried;
	and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures,
	and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father;
	and he shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead;
	whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life,
	who proceeds from the Father and the Son;
	who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified;
	who spoke by the prophets;
	and we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church;
	we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;
	and we look for the resurrection of the dead,
	and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The Westminster Standards
The Westminster Standards are several documents written in the 17th century to provide a synopsis of the Bible’s teachings. The Westminster Confession of Faith is a detailed statement of what we believe. The Larger and Shorter Catechisms are statements of what we believe in question and answer format (FAQ style). All may be found online at http://opc.org/confessions.html.