We believe in the God of the Bible, who is one God with three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. Each is equally God, and each is fully God, though without compromising the three distinct persons who are all coeternal, and coequal as God. We believe in God the Father. Who is not only the Father within the Trinity, but in the Old Testament, he is known as the Father of Israel, God’s chosen people. And now, if we are in Christ, we are grafted into this family, and God is also our Father, for those who put their faith in him. We believe in God the Son, who stepped down onto this earth as a man, Jesus, the Christ, 2000 years ago. He is both fully God and fully man. He lived a perfect, sinless life. And then he went to the cross, where he suffered for our sins, died, was buried, resurrected, and then he ascended to the right hand of the Father, where he is now, until the day of his return. We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who is sent by the Son from the Father to be our Helper. He is our comforter and our counselor; he bears witness about the truth, he guides us towards it, and illuminates it for us. He also intercedes on our behalf to the Father. We believe this God—this triune God—in the beginning, created all of the universe in 6 days, and rested on the seventh.

We believe that God has made himself known to the world so that people might come to have saving faith in him through two things: Jesus Christ, and Scripture. God has also revealed himself to us in a general sense through creation (which points to the reality that there must be a Creator), which is sufficient for revealing his eternal power and divine nature, so that all are without excuse, but this acknowledgement is not the same as saving faith. We believe that Jesus Christ, the Son, is the perfect, complete, tangible revelation of God, the image of the invisible God. We also believe in the Scriptures, which alone are the inspired words of God, written by humans through divine inspiration. Scripture—the Bible, the Inspired Word—is the 66 books that make up the Old and New Testaments. The Bible, being ultimately authored by the perfect God, not by flawed men, is therefore inerrant, or without error. And the whole counsel of God's inspired word is totally sufficient for someone to believe in Jesus Christ and have saving faith in his name. Not only is Scripture sufficient, for us to believe; but it is also authoritative, for us to obey. In the Bible, we see God's good design for our lives, and we see his instructions for our lives, so that we would read it and respond to it in surrender. The words of God are to be believed, the commands of God are to be obeyed, and the promises of God are to be trusted. But the Bible isn't meant to be read like a normal book. The Bible is meant to be the place where we meet and see God. And, as such, we cannot properly understand the beauty of what God wants to reveal to us without him! And so we readily acknowledge that Scripture cannot be understood in its right beauty apart from the Spirit of God illuminating and interpreting it for us.

We believe that all of human life is created in the image of God by God himself. Every life, therefore, from the moment of conception onward, has intrinsic worth, and is deeply and personally loved by God, and individually made with value and purpose. All of humanity, both male and female, as equal image-bearers of God, are given authority and dominion over the earth, and are charged with governing creation and glorifying our Creator. Sex is, by God's good design, intentionally exclusive to the covenant of marriage, and the covenant of marriage exclusive for one man and one woman until death do them part.

DISTINCTIVE: Men and women are created with equal dignity and value, but are simultaneously distinct in design, and are given by God different, complementary roles in both the home and church. Neither has superiority over the other, but both genders work together in different ways to best magnify the glory of God.

Though God created humanity perfect, it’s pretty clear today that something happened between the time of creation and today. And we see this in Genesis 3, literally right after God created humanity, when Adam and Eve, the first two humans, were tempted by Satan to rebel against God, which they did! This consequently severed humanity’s relationship with our Creator, as God is a holy and perfect God, and us, in our sin, cannot stand in the presence of God. Because of this sin, the human race inherits a corrupt and sinful nature that stands in rebellion against God, who is our ultimate King and Judge. In our unregenerate, or unsaved, state, we are totally depraved—slaves to sin—and are unable to save ourselves from the just condemnation that we deserve from God because of our sin.

From the very moment that mankind abandoned God, God made a promise. A promise that he would rescue his people—the very people who had sinned against him. Our brokenness did not repel the Lord; it actually drew him nearer in love, like a doctor longing to heal the sick.

And so God the Father sent the Son to come and live the perfect life that we were meant to live, and then die the death that we deserve to die as rebels to the throne. And so Jesus was born of a virgin, and was without sin, which qualified him to take on our sinfulness when he went to the cross. And then he, by his own will, went to the cross, where he not only endured excruciating physical pain of being tortured and nailed to a piece of wood, but more than that, he also endured the spiritual pain of the fullness of the just wrath of God being poured out onto him for the sins of his people.

We believe that salvation is only for those who believe in and surrender to Jesus Christ, and that there is no other name or way that we can be saved. This salvation is readily and freely available to anyone and everyone who turns from their sins in repentance and turns to Christ. We receive this salvation by grace through faith in the finished work of the cross, and in doing so, we are justified by God, and our sins are forgiven.

DISTINCTIVE: What we at Doxa see in the Bible is that from beginning to end, salvation is entirely the work of the Lord. You are saved by grace through faith, not your works! There is nothing you can do to earn or even contribute to your salvation. Which means that, unless God saves us, we are unable to save ourselves. Without his redemptive initiative, humanity wants nothing to do with God, and cannot and will not choose God, as we, by nature, are opposed to him. But the Bible tells us that in love, God predestined his children for adoption, and then sent his Son to take the punishment of the sins of his children on the cross. And then, the Spirit opens our eyes and hearts to God’s irresistible grace, bringing God’s children to faith.

Now, as believers in Jesus Christ, we are therefore joined together with his Church, which is the body of believers throughout all of human history who God has chosen in order to radiate and reflect his glory to the world. The Church is composed of genuine followers of Jesus Christ who have personally surrendered to him as their Lord and Savior. The Church is commissioned by God to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; teaching them to obey all that Christ commanded.

As the body of Christ, we are Christ’s ambassadors and representatives to the lost world around us. We reflect the light of Christ in both truth and love to a world that is lost in darkness.

The Church is called by God to worship together, pray together, sit under the proclaimed word of God together, fellowship with each other, and build each other up through our individual talents and gifts that we have received from the Holy Spirit.

In this, the Church is given two specific ordinances: the baptism of the believer, and the taking of the Lord's Supper.

The first step of obedience that a Christian is called to is baptism, which is where—after a public profession of faith—the new believer is immersed in the water and brought up, symbolically demonstrating the believer sharing with Christ in his death and resurrection. The old self—the pre-Christ self—has passed away, it was put to death with Christ on the cross, and now the believer walks in the newness of a regenerated life in Christ.

Just like baptism, taking the Lord’s Supper is reserved exclusively for those who have repented and believed in the Gospel. This ordinance—the bread and the wine—was instituted by Jesus Christ on the night that he was betrayed, and it symbolizes how his body was broken and his blood was shed for our sins on the cross. We as believers take of the Lord’s Supper regularly, and we do so with reverence, remembrance, and repentance.

The Bible not only uses the language of the Church being the body of Christ—it also calls the Church the bride of Christ. And as the bride of Christ, what that means is that we eagerly await the day when Christ returns and we are united with him for the rest of eternity. In this return, which is Christ’s Second Coming, or the Final Judgment, God—in perfect justice and righteousness—will separate the bride of Christ from the rest of the world.

Satan and the demons, along with all of those judged outside of Christ, will be eternally and finally separated from the goodness of God, and will endure eternal separation and punishment for their sins against God in Hell.

The believers—those who have been by grace through faith imputed with Christ’s righteousness—will be taken home, where we will spend eternity in Christ’s perfect kingdom, under Christ’s perfect rule in the new heaven and the new earth, where all things will have been restored to original, sinless perfection as they were meant to be.