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STATEMENT OF FAITH

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Providence Church accepts these nine articles as our Statement of Faith and essential truths with which all members must agree:

 

1.  The Scriptures

We believe that the Holy Bible is God’s inspired, inerrant revelation to man and is the only certain, sufficient, and infallible rule from which we draw all saving knowledge. All our creeds, confessions, and Church documents are tried by His Word.

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2.  God

We believe that there is one true God. He eternally exists in three persons, and in the unity of the Godhead there are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who are equal in every divine perfection, and who execute distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption. From all eternity, God decrees all that shall come to pass, yet so without sinning or violating the will and responsibility of man.

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3.  The Fall of Man

We believe that Man was created in holiness, under and capable of fulfilling the law of his Creator, but by voluntary transgression fell from that state. As natural heirs of our first parents, we are under the federal headship of Adam and share in his guilt. All men are inherently sinful and eventually become actual transgressors of the law of God. In this state, all men deserve the just punishment due to their sin, namely death.

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4.  The Person and Work of Christ

We believe that sinners are relieved of their sin debt only through the mediatorial offices of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Prophet, Priest, and King. He freely took upon himself our nature, yet without sin or diminishing of His deity. He perfectly obeyed the law of God and by His death made a full atonement for sin. He is risen from the dead and now sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us.

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5.  The Way of Salvation

We believe salvation is dependent on the gracious and ever-present work of the Triune God: regeneration is a work of grace wrought on our hearts by the Holy Spirit enabling us to understand the word of God and believe; faith is saving belief in Jesus Christ and all His works; coupled with faith, repentance is the inevitable response of a person who has been regenerated and is now able to see his sin. Repentance involves a godly sorrow and a turning from sin. Justification is based upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who imputes his righteousness to sinners and unites them to Himself by grace. All this is by faith alone.

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6.  The Christian Life

We believe that sanctification is the process by which the elect are made partakers of God’s holiness and progress toward His perfection. Sanctification is begun in regeneration and is carried on in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Believers participate in sanctification by attending to the word of God, and by practicing self-examination, self-denial, watchfulness, and prayer. All true saints of God will persevere to the end and will one day be raised up in the power of the One who keeps them secure.

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7. We believe that God created male and female, two distinct sexes, biologically binary from the moment of conception so that they might be joined together in the covenant of marriage, one man and one woman becoming one flesh. We reject all attempts to redefine marriage to include same sex partnerships because homosexuality and the joining of same sex persons in marriage is contrary to God’s good created order. Likewise, we reject transgenderism, including any denial of or attempt to change one’s God-given sex, as a perversion of God’s good created order. The church has a divine right to embody her beliefs in her practices and to carry out the mission Christ has entrusted to her without interference or hindrance from civil rulers who may embrace notions contrary to God’s good created order as it pertains to marriage, homosexuality, and transgenderism. (See Appendix A to this Constitution for a broader explanation of what we believe concerning human sexuality.)

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8.  A Gospel Church

We believe that the Lord Jesus is the Head of the Church, which is composed of all covenant members. God has declared that all members of his body are to congregate together in local assemblies for regular worship on the Lord’s Day. All true Churches of God observe the two sacraments commanded by our Lord and Savior: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism with water in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace or his engrafting into Christ to walk in newness of life. The Lord’s Supper is a memorial of Christ and His death through sacred use of bread and wine and is to be observed by the Church until the end of the world.

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9.  Last Things

We believe that it is appointed for men once to die and after that the judgment. On the last day Christ will return and will raise the dead bodily, both the unrighteous and the righteous. All will be judged by Christ and shall receive according to their deeds: those who die in their sin will go into everlasting punishment and those united to Christ will enter everlasting life.

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