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What We Believe

At Covenant Grace we seek to draw each of our beliefs, values, and resulting practices from the truths we find in the Bible.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our Lord will stand forever...

(Isaiah 40:8)

 

Our Values

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Truth

God delights in truth. We seek to please God by submitting to his true, perfect, and all sufficient word - the Bible.  We learn it, teach it, and live according to it. Not only that, we are to be people of truth, opposing lies, honest in our dealings, and standing for what is right.

Summary of beliefs

At Covenant Grace, we believe in the:

  • Sovereignty of God 

  • Authority and Inerrancy of the Bible

  • Power of Expository Preaching

  • Effectiveness of Personal Evangelism

  • Importance of Small Group Ministry

  • Centrality of the Gospel in All We Do

  • The Fulfillment of God’s Promises

  • Mankind’s Desperate Need for Grace

We are members of the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) whose practices largely align with Baptist traditions​. Our theology is largely Reformed in nature and we appreciate the insights of the 9Marks Network into how a Healthy Church functions.

If all that is a foreign language to you, that's fine! It just shows that we've thought a lot about how a church should be and why. Come get to know us!

Or keep reading below to learn more.

You might also want to know our stance on

contemporary issues →

Digging Deeper: Essentials and Distinctives

Our beliefs fall into one of these two catergories.

Essentials

Essentials define the core of our beliefs.  As members of the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) we unite around a Statement of Faith that summarizes the essential beliefs of true and Biblical Christianity.

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While we are united around the essential truths of Biblical Christianity, we also have strong convictions on other subjects that are important. 

Membership at Covenant Grace only requires agreement with the Statement of Faith (i.e. the essentials). However, our distinctives constitute the teaching position of the church and all who join us are asked to live in harmony with them for the sake of unity. Please extend us grace where our ideas differ from yours and we will do that same for you. And together we can help each other grow as we dig into the Bible to find what God says.

More About Our Distinctives

Specifically, what makes us uniquely Covenant Grace Church: the Distinctives that define our Teaching Position

...they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so...

(Acts 17:11)
 

Distinctively

Baptist

We believe that baptism should only be performed for those who make a credible profession of faith in Jesus Christ.  If you aren't there yet, that's ok, you are welcome to join us.  We'd love to walk you through what it means to have faith in Christ, and a personal, saving relationship with Jesus. 

What is "Theologically Reformed"? There are long and short answers to this question.  In a nutshell, we believe that God is sovereign over everything - there is nothing outside his authority. This is comforting for Christians because it means he can and will accomplish all that he has set out to do - namely save people who put their faith in Jesus Christ.

Theologically
Reformed

More about our theological positions

The following are a few more specifics about what we believe and how we worship. Except where they overlap with our Statement of Faith, we believe a person may differ from us on these points and still have a personal relationship with Jesus. But these explain our best understanding of the Bible on each point and hence define our practices and our teaching position.

We believe that salvation has always been and always will be by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone according to Scripture alone as our authority.  The basic tenets are called the Five Solas, or five pillars, of Reformed Theology (Sola means “only”).  More on this subject below and on various other sites including Ligonier Ministries.

We believe God is sovereign even over our salvation.  These biblical truths are summarized in what are called the Doctrines of Grace:  Total depravity, Unconditional election, Definite atonement, Effectual calling and Preserving Grace. You can find more on this subject below or in this article.

Our Confession

Elder-led and Self-governed

Regulative Principle

Complementarian

Summary

While membership and participation at Covenant Grace does not require one to hold all these views, these are the teaching positions of the church.  Please note that where this is overlap between distinctives and essentials as put forth in our Statement of Faith, the essentials remain, well, essential.

The Five Solas of Reformed Theology

Sola Scriptura - Scripture Alone

Sola scriptura, sometimes referred to as the formal principle of the Reformation, is the belief that “only Scripture, because it is God’s inspired Word, is our inerrant, sufficient, and final authority for the church” (God’s Word Alone, 23). Notice, the basis of sola scriptura is Scripture’s inspired nature. As Paul says, “All Scripture is breathed-out by God” (2 Tim. 3:16–17). That cannot be said of church tradition, councils, or church leaders, as important as they all may be. While Scripture may have many human authors, it has one divine author. The Holy Spirit, Peter tells us, carried along the biblical authors so that what they said, God himself said (2 Pet. 1:21), down to the very words. For that reason, Scripture is also inerrant, inerrancy being a corollary of inspiration. Inerrancy means that Scripture is true, without error, in all that it asserts. As the Holy Spirit carried along the biblical authors, he ensured that their human words reflected his own holy character. Hence Scripture is truth because God himself is truth. It is, after all, God’s Word. Inerrancy is essential not only because it provides warrant for our assurance, giving us every reason to believe Scripture is trustworthy, but inerrancy also distinguishes Scripture from all other fallible authorities. Scripture alone is our infallible, inerrant authority. Last, sola scriptura means that only Scripture is our sufficient authority. Not only does Paul say all Scripture is God-breathed, but on that basis, Scripture is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Or as the Belgic Confession says so well, “We believe that those Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God, and that whatsoever man ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein.” Sola Scriptura teaches us, in the end, that all other authorities in the Christian life serve underneath Scripture, while Scripture alone rules over other authorities, for it alone is God’s inspired, inerrant, and sufficient word.

Doctrines of Grace

Total Depravity

The first man, Adam, sinned, and his transgression and guilt were immediately imputed to all mankind (Christ excepted). By this one act of disobedience, he became morally polluted in every part of his being—mind, affections, body, and will. By this sin, death entered the world, and Adam’s fellowship with God was broken. Adam’s guilt and corruption were transmitted to his natural offspring at the moment of conception. In turn, each of his children’s children inherited this same radical fallenness. Subsequently, it has been passed down to each generation to the present day. Adam’s perverse nature has spread to the whole of every person. Apart from grace, our minds are darkened by sin, unable to understand the truth. Our hearts are defiled, unable to love the truth. Our bodies are dying, progressing to physical death. Our wills are dead, unable to choose the good. Moral inability to please God plagues every person from their entrance into the world. In their unregenerate state, no one seeks after God. No one is capable of doing good. All are under the curse of the law, which is eternal death.

Where we stand on Contemporary Issues

As part of the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA), we agree with their statements on today's hot topics.

"We believe and practice,

'In essentials unity;

in non-essentials liberty;

in all things charity.'

 

In that light, we seek to address social movements and cultural trends that can create division among us..."

 

Read more at EFCA.org

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