Statement of Faith
Trinity Church has adopted as its own statement of faith
the Westminster Confession of Faith 1647. We believe it to be a reliable
(but not infallible) summary of Biblical doctrine. It is our prayer that the Church at
large will recover the truths expressed in this historic document, that she will debate
the issues where there is not full agreement, and that in due time she will rise up as one
and edit the Westminster Confession, adding articles to address modern heresies, using the
same principles of sola Scriptura and consensus that she employed at its
first drafting.
This statement of faith is not intended to define the boundaries of our
fellowship. Some Christians will certainly differ with some of what is set forth here.
Such Christians are nevertheless welcome to fellowship together with us. Our basis for
fellowship is a biblical confession of the lordship of Jesus Christ, and the absence of a
scandalous lifestyle.
This statement of faith does represent the doctrinal understanding of the
leadership of Trinity Church, and it is our intention that the teaching and preaching at
Trinity Church reflect
this understanding. Procedural standards for our church government can be found in our
Constitution.
We have also included here a modern statement of faith and
three historic creeds to further define what we believe. This may seem to some like an
overabundance of doctrine, but we believe with Jonathan Edwards, that good religion is
heart religion, and that God always accesses the heart through the mind.
The following is a distillation of the Westminster Confession of
Faith, and an accurate summary of what we at Trinity Church believe. If you wish to view the
confession in its entirety, just click Westminster
Confession of Faith, 1647 here. We have also included a
Modern Statement of
Faith, three Historic Creeds, and three
Appendices discussing the proper use of creeds, and some minor
disagreements we have with the Westminster Confession.
God’s Word
We believe the Bible to be the only inerrant Word of God. It is our only ultimate and
infallible authority for faith and practice.
God’s Nature
We believe God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom,
power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth; we believe there is but one true and living
God; that there are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost;
and that these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory; we
believe God has foreordained whatever comes to pass; that God made all things of nothing,
by the word of His power, in the space of six days, and all very good; and that God
preserves and governs all His creatures and all their actions.
Man’s Fall into Sin
We believe our first parents, though created in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness,
sinned against God, by eating the forbidden fruit; and that their fall brought mankind
into an estate of sin and misery.
Christ the Savior
We believe God determined, out of His mere good pleasure, to deliver His elect out of the
estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer; we
believe the only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the
eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continues to be, God and man in two
distinct natures, and one person, forever; we believe Christ, as our Redeemer, executes
the office of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king. We believe Christ as our Redeemer
underwent the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, the cursed death of the cross, and
burial; He rose again from the dead on the third day, ascended up into heaven, sits at the
right hand of God, the Father, and is coming to judge the world at the last day.
The Work of the Holy Spirit in Salvation
We believe we are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual
application of it to us by his Holy Spirit; we believe God requires of us faith in Jesus
Christ, and repentance unto life to escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin;
we believe by His free grace we are effectually called, justified, and sanctified, and
gathered into the visible church, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of
salvation; we believe that we also are given in this life such accompanying benefits as
assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of
grace, and perseverance therein to the end; that at death, we are made perfect in
holiness, and immediately pass into glory; and our bodies, being still united in Christ,
rest in their graves, till the resurrection; and at the resurrection, we shall be raised
up in glory, we shall openly be acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and
made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.
Man’s Purpose
We believe man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
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