We are part of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. Learn more about our denomination in this video.
What We Believe
The Bible
We believe the Bible is the Word of God. It is a collection of books written by dozens of authors over thousands of years who were inspired by one God. The Bible is one way that God both reveals himself and speaks to us. We encourage others to read and study it, and that’s also why we spend much of our worship service listening to God through the Bible.
Although the Bible is a collection of different books, together they form a cohesive story that teaches us about God, ourselves, our relationship to God, our world, and what the future holds. We believe this cohesive story can be broken down into 6 distinct acts, or parts.
The 6 Acts of the Bible
Creation is what the Bible calls the beginning; when God created everything to exist in perfect harmony. Everything was good and as it should be. It is here that we are created by God in the image of God. God calls us his absolute best creation and has a deep, unconditional love for us.
The Fall is when humanity turned our backs on God and became separated from the perfect harmony in which God designed us to live. Because our human nature is to think we know best, humanity pridefully rebelled against God. This rebellion caused God’s perfect creation to become infected with sin. Sin affects us to this day and is all the brokenness that we see in people and the world around us. Even though sin affects us and our world, the image of God in us desires wholeness and hope.
Israel is God’s people trying to return to our desired perfect harmony with God. Both God and God’s people want to be in right relationship with each other, but God’s people continuously sin, mess up, and cannot return to the perfection from which we fell. On our own, humans can never live up to God’s perfection. If we were to return to our perfect harmony with God, we would need an antidote to cure our infection of sin.
Redemption is the climax of this cohesive story. It seems as if sin will permanently overtake humanity, and we are unable to save ourselves. However, because of God’s great love for us and for all creation, he would not let sin win. To beat the infection of sin, God sends the antidote. God sends himself down as a human who we call Jesus. Jesus, being fully human and fully God, could take on the brokenness caused by sin without being overcome by it. Jesus was put to death on a wooden cross, signifying that sin is a spiritual death. Nevertheless, even death could not hold Jesus (God) down. Jesus rose from the dead 3 days after being put to death, meaning that the infection of sin has been defeated. It will not have the last word. Humanity has been saved of our infection. Jesus returned to heaven and promised to come back to beat sin once and for all.
Church is the act we are in right now. Before Jesus returned to heaven, he gave us a helper who we call the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is also God and helps us to understand this cohesive story in the Bible, who God is, and our relationship to God. Out of gratefulness to what we know because of the Holy Spirit’s help, we are called to live out our faith in life through worship, praise, and service to God. One way of doing this is by sharing the Gospel, or good news, of Jesus beating our infection of sin by dying and being raised from the dead.
New Creation is the final act of the story but has not yet happened. It is what Christians wait for expectantly and look towards. Jesus promised that he will return to beat sin once and for all. When this day comes, we will finally be able to experience perfect harmony with God again. Humanity will be forever able to live the way God designed us to live—with God. While we don’t know when Jesus will return, we are confident in his promise to us.
This cohesive, 6-Act Story summarizes what we find in the Bible. This story tells us where we’ve been, how we got to where we are now, and what to expect for the future. While we don’t have all the answers, we know we can trust God to fulfill his promises of a New Creation.
What Being a Christian Reformed Church Means
The CRC (Christian Reformed Church) is one of many ways Christians around the world practice and express their faith. We call ourselves Christians because we wholeheartedly want to follow Jesus and his teachings. We believe that the Bible is one of the best ways to interact with Jesus’ teachings for us. We acknowledge all people as fellow Christians who accept the teachings of the Bible as summarized in the Apostle’s Creed.
We call ourselves Reformed because we trace our traditions and practices back to the Protestant Reformation led by John Calvin in the 16th century. John Calvin was one of many people who fought to return Christianity to its biblical foundations.
We call ourselves a church because it simply means Christian community. God called us to be a community of people that live for him and make his name known. Our faith guides our daily lives and influences our decisions. We make mistakes like everyone else, but we put it upon ourselves to be champions of goodness, truth, justice, and reconciliation in our world.