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Our Beliefs

What We Believe

 

We at the Mountain Presbyterian Church believe and confess that the Bible is the infallible Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit and is the final authority in all matters of our faith. We believe in One God who is the sovereign creator and sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We believe that Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, was born of the virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, and was raised to life again by the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus Christ is truly God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever.

We believe that God the Father sent His Son to die for the sins of His people and effectually calls us to faith through the preaching of the Gospel. We confess that it is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone that we are forgiven, justified, and made right with God. We believe that Christ will return to earth again to judge the living and the dead and at the resurrection believers in Christ will be glorified to live eternally with God in the new heavens and new earth.

 

 

ECO - "Essential Tenets"

I.  God's Word: The Authority for Our Confession

A.  We glorify God by recognizing and receiving His authoritative self-revelation, both in the infallible Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and also in the incarnation of God the Son.

II.  Trinity and Incarnation: The Two Central Christian Mysteries

A.  Trinity - With Christians everywhere, we worship the only true God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - who is both one essence and three persons.

B.  Incarnation - Jesus Christ is both truly God and truly human.

 

III.  Essentials of the Reformed Tradition

A.  God's grace in Christ

  1. The present disordered state of the world, in which we and all things are subject to misery and to evil, is not God's doing, but is rather a result of humanity's free, sinful rebellion against God's will.
  2. No part of human life is untouched by sin.  Our desires are no longer trustworthy guides to goodness, and what seems natural to us no longer corresponds to God's design.
  3. In union with Christ through the power of the Spirit we are brought into right relation with the Father, who receives us as His adopted children.

B.  Election for salvation and service

  1. Having lost true freedom of will in the fall, we are incapable of turning toward God of our own volition.  God chooses us for Himself in grace before the foundation of the world, not because of any merit on our part, but only because of His love and mercy.
  2. Through His regenerating and sanctifying work, the Holy Spirit grants us faith and enables holiness, so that we may be witnesses of God's gracious presence to those who are lost.

C.  Covenant life in the church -

  1. In Christ, we are adopted into the family of God and find our new identity as brothers and sisters of one another, since we now share one Father.
  2. Within the covenant community of the church, God's grace is extended through the preaching of the Word, the administration of the Sacraments, and the faithful practice of mutual discipline.

D.  Faithful stewardship of all of life

  1. The ministries of the church reflect the three-fold office of Christ as prophet, priest, and king - reflected in the church's ordered ministries of teaching elders, deacons, and ruling elders.
  2. Jesus teaches us that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with our entire mind.  There is no part of human life that is off limits to the sancifying claims of God. 

E.  Living in obedience to the Word of God Progress in holiness is an expected response of gratitude to the grace of God, which is initiated, sustained, and fulfilled by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.