Statement of Faith

This statement of faith contains the essential biblical doctrines that guide the ministry of our school. These primary doctrines define the perspective from which all classes are taught and are one criterion used in the hiring of faculty and administration. Issues not addressed — either directly or by logical extension — in this statement of faith will not be emphasized in the teaching of the school. Many such issues are important and may arise upon occasion, but the school recognizes that Christians are at liberty to reach different conclusions regarding them. However, the school's recognition that Christians disagree on these topics should not be interpreted to mean that the school believes there are no right answers to questions regarding them. Issues that arise that are not settled by this statement of faith will ultimately be resolved by reference to historic, orthodox Christian doctrines.

We believe:

1. God is sovereign. God sovereignly controls all things and works them all for His glory. His plans and purposes always prevail; nothing can thwart them.

2. The Scriptures are inerrant. God's written Word, the Bible, is free from error in the original text and completely trustworthy. We submit to its authority, acknowledging it to be inspired by God and carrying the full weight of His authority.

3. God deals covenantally with His people. God is the same God of both the New and the Old Testaments and has always dealt graciously with His people through means of a covenant, which is a relationship that God establishes with His people and guarantees by His word. Because God chooses to keep the terms in His covenant with mankind even when mankind breaks the terms, the believer's confidence and hope is in God's covenantal faithfulness rather than human performance. Through the historical stages of creation, fall, redemption and glorification, God is gracious and faithful to His people.

4. God created all that is. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit has always existed from eternity past and was pleased to create the universe from nothing. God spoke and everything was created, including humans. Man and woman were created in the image of God with the purpose of glorifying Him and enjoying Him forever. All that God created was good.

5. Mankind rebelled against God. By desiring to be like God, the first man and woman distrusted and disobeyed God and were therefore put at enmity with God. All mankind, as Adam's heirs, participated in his fall and are by nature and by choice sinners without any power to save themselves and restore themselves to a right relationship with God.

6. Jesus came to save sinners. Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God and the only Savior of the world. Fully God and fully man, He was born of a virgin and lived a sinless life. At God's initiative, Christ alone secured salvation for believers by His substitutionary atonement on the cross and by His righteous life imputed to them. Jesus rose bodily from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and will come again in power and glory.

7. Believers are justified by faith alone in Christ alone. Believers do not deserve salvation from the penalty of sin and the just wrath of God, and they cannot earn it. Justification is granted solely by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

8. Believers are sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit. Whereas justification is the one-point-in-time declaration of righteousness, sanctification is the progressive growth in personal holiness in the believer's life. The Holy Spirit convicts the believer of sin and leads him to repentance that he may live a godly life and perform good works for God's glory.

9. All will face a final judgment and resurrection. At the second coming of Christ, the saved and the lost will be bodily resurrected and judged. The saved will be resurrected to eternal life, and the lost will be resurrected to eternal condemnation.