“I am not my own, but belong — body and soul, in life and in death — to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.”
Heidelberg Catechism, Answer 1
This is who we are. We’re not perfect, but we hope to be a community where people who aren’t perfect can find the one who is. Jesus doesn’t just “save” us – he recreates us from the inside out, and heals our relationship with our Father in heaven. Part of this happens in an instant. Other parts of this renewal happen through the rest of our lives. We humbly come together hoping that we can welcome everyone God is bringing to life through faith in Jesus.
Living this faith takes on a particular shape and flavor of daily life shaped by the Bible. God speaks to us through his Word and details a way of life that focuses all love and action as worship to our God through Jesus. Christians all over the world may express this biblically-shaped life with different words, but our congregation has expressed it in The ACTS Mission Statement which sounds like this:
Our Vision: As committed followers of our Savior Jesus Christ we share our faith, story and talents to glorify God. As Jesus leads us in faith we encourage others to join us in His service.
Our Mission: We strive to spread God's word in our community and beyond, to love, serve, and forgive our neighbors as the Lord through His Word and Holy Spirit has taught us to do. This mission continues our ACTS mission statement living out the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:16-20
Praying passionately
Woshipping authentically
Sincerely and regularly studying God’s Word
Discipling and being discipled
Sacrificially loving fellow sinners
Faithfully serving the body of Christ
Recognizing others’ needs and meeting them in Christ’s love
Encouraging others in the faith
We call ourselves Christian because we are followers of Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he is the center of human history.
We’re called Reformed because we grow on a branch of the church tree that emerged from the Protestant Reformation in sixteenth-century Europe.
We’re a Church because we believe God has called us together to be a people who belong to him and live for him.
We are a denomination born in America in 1857. Our roots are in the Protestant Reformation in the Netherlands, specifically influenced by the theologians John Calvin and Abraham Kuyper. We are over 1,000 congregations in the United States and Canada.
What unites us and binds us together? Among other things, we agree on certain core beliefs. That is one of the reasons we gather to worship and to work, pursuing God’s plan for this world. We believe in the Bible as the authoritative Word of God. And we speak with a Reformed accent. The bulk of what we believe we hold in common with the Christian church around the world and throughout the ages. Three creeds adopted by the worldwide church centuries ago summarize the most important tenets of our faith: the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.
CONFESSIONAL DOCUMENTS
The Apostles’ Creed
The Nicene Creed
The Athenasian Creed
The Heidelberg Catechism
The Canons of Dort
The Belgic Confession
THE CONTEMPORARY TESTIMONY
Our World Belongs to God
The Belhar Confession
OTHER LINKS OF INTEREST
The Christian Reformed Church in North America crcna.org
CRCNA Beliefs & Position Statements
Barnabas Foundation Barnabasfoundation.org