This is what Ilagan Christian Church confesses. It is not everything the Bible teaches, and it is not a test of who may worship with us. It is a plain account of the ground we stand on, so that you know what you are joining before you join it.
The Bible
The Bible — sixty-six books, Old and New Testament — is the written Word of God. It was given through human authors carried along by the Holy Spirit, and it is therefore true and trustworthy in everything it affirms. It is the final authority for what we believe and how we live. No tradition, leader, experience or feeling outranks it. See 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:21.
God
There is one God, eternal, holy, and good, who exists as three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Each is fully God; there are not three Gods but one. He depends on nothing and no one. He is perfectly just and perfectly merciful, and He does not have to choose between the two. See Deuteronomy 6:4 and Matthew 28:19.
Creation
God made everything that exists, out of nothing, by His word, and it was good. The world is not an accident and it is not divine. It belongs to God and it still answers to Him. See Genesis 1:1 and Colossians 1:16.
People, and what went wrong
Every human being is made in God’s image and has real dignity from conception onward. Every human being is also a sinner. In Adam we turned away from God, and that turning runs through all of us — not merely in the wrong things we do but in what we want. We cannot fix this ourselves, and left to ourselves we would not want to. See Genesis 1:27 and Romans 3:23.
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, who became a man without ceasing to be God. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived the life we owed and never sinned. He is the only mediator between God and man. See John 1:14 and 1 Timothy 2:5.
The cross and the empty tomb
Jesus died in the place of sinners, bearing the penalty we had earned, and He rose bodily from the grave on the third day. His death actually accomplished forgiveness; it did not merely make it possible. He ascended to the Father and reigns now as Lord over everything. See 1 Corinthians 15:3 and Romans 4:25.
Salvation by grace
We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Nothing we bring — our family, our giving, our decency, our religious effort — contributes to it. God declares guilty people righteous because of what Christ has done, and receives them as sons and daughters. Good works follow salvation as its fruit; they never purchase it. See Ephesians 2:8 and Titus 3:5.
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit gives new life to those who were spiritually dead, makes Christ known to them, lives in every believer, and slowly makes them like Jesus. He gives gifts to the church for the good of the whole body, not for private display. See John 3:5 and Galatians 5:22.
The church
The church is not a building or an event but the people God has called to Himself, gathered in local congregations. We commit to one another: we meet on the Lord’s Day, we submit to the preaching of the Word, we care for each other practically, and we accept the loving correction of the church. Membership is a real commitment, not a mailing list. See Hebrews 10:25 and Acts 2:42.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
Christ gave the church two signs. Baptism marks the beginning of the Christian life and belonging to God’s people. The Lord’s Supper is the ongoing meal of the covenant, where we receive Christ by faith and are made one body. They are not empty rituals and they are not magic; they are means by which God strengthens faith. See Matthew 28:19 and 1 Corinthians 11:26.
The Christian life
Following Jesus touches everything: work, money, marriage, parenting, speech, politics, how we treat the poor and the stranger. God’s law is not a ladder to climb to Him but the shape of a life lived in gratitude. We expect to grow slowly, to fail often, and to be forgiven every time we return. See Micah 6:8 and Romans 12:1.
The end
Jesus Christ will return in person, visibly, to judge the living and the dead. There will be a real resurrection of the body. Those who are His will be with Him forever in a renewed creation; those who refuse Him will be justly and finally separated from Him. History is going somewhere, and it is going where God intends. See Acts 1:11 and Revelation 21:3.
Have a question about any of this? That is a good sign, not a problem. Ask us, or come and talk to one of the elders after a service.