Doctrinal Beliefs
We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are inspired by God and inerrant in the original writings, and that they are of supreme and final authority in faith and conduct. Accordingly, based on Scripture we believe:
In one eternal supreme being, God. He is infinite, but personal. All His thoughts, motives and actions are morally pure, righteous and good. God is triune, existing as one God in three distinctive persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each simultaneously sharing the divine essence and co-equal in nature, power and glory. God is the all powerful, all knowing, sovereign creator and sustainer of all that exists apart from Himself. While transcendently separate from His creation, He is also among it. (Deuteronomy 6:1, Isaiah 44:6-8, Genesis 18:25, Exodus 34:6-7, James 1:17, Psalm 25:8-10, Genesis 1:26, II Corinthians 13:14, Daniel 4:34-35, Isaiah 45:5-7, Colossians 1:15-17, Romans 8:28-29, Psalms 139:1-12, Psalms 90:2, Romans 8:15-16)
Everything that has being, outside of God Himself, was brought into existence and is sustained in existence by God. Everything that exists in the universe was created by God out of nothing, and therefore has meaning as a purposeful creation of God. The creation includes both the spiritual unseen universe and the physical seen universe. The spiritual realm includes angels and other spiritual beings and is a place where God's presence is especially evident. The cosmos, God's complex, orderly physical creation, declares God's existence, majesty, and divine attributes. The truth revealed in God's "Book of Works," the physical cosmos, will never contradict the truth revealed in His "Book of Words," the Bible. The cosmos operates uniformly under laws designed by God, but is also open to His divine intervention as He chooses. (Genesis 1:1, Psalm 90:2, Colossians 1:15-17, Psalm 33:6-9, Psalm 104:24-32, Jeremiah 10:6-13, Revelation 4:1-11, Romans 1:18-20, Luke 1:36, Exodus 4:1-5)
That Jesus Christ, the second person of the trinity, is Himself God. Christ, as God incarnate, possessed a human nature, though sinless, while simultaneously existing as divine. We acknowledge and accept as actual: Christ's entrance into time and space through the virgin birth, His works of power, His sinless life, His death on the cross, the resurrection of His body from the dead and His ascension into heaven. Currently, Christ sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding for His people while awaiting the consummation of His kingdom. (John 1:1-5, 18, John 8:58-59, John 10:31-38, John 14:7-9, Matthew 1:18-25, Colossians 1:15-19, Philippians 2:5-8, John 5:36, John 2:11, Hebrews 4:15, Romans 8:34-39, Hebrews 7:25, Hebrews 9:9-13, I Peter 2:22)
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit is not just an impersonal "force," but is Himself God, possessing all of the divine attributes and exercising divine authority. The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ and saves people by: convicting them of sin and righteousness, regenerating them, indwelling them, and empowering them for a life of service to God. (I Corinthians 3:16, II Corinthians 13:14, John 3:5-8, I Corinthians 2:12-13, Titus 3:5-6, John 14:16-18, John 16:7-15, Acts 1:8, I Corinthians 12:1-11, Galatians 5:22-23)
Man, male and female, is God's special creation, uniquely designed to relate to God and to glorify Him. Man bears the image and likeness of God as a personal being who possesses the capacities of self-reflection and self-determination. While not autonomous, man is free to think and act under God's sovereign rule, and thus can impact his world significantly. Because of these abilities, man is morally responsible to God to fulfill His purposes in righteousness. Man is a social being, designed to live in relationship with God and with one another. The first humans, Adam and Eve, chose to rebel against God rather than honor, trust, and obey Him. Because they defied His authority, all mankind has inherited a sin nature from birth. Sin impacts man's total being and causes him to be hostile towards God. As a sinner, man is estranged from God, under His just wrath and incapable of pleasing Him by his efforts alone. As a physical being, man is under God's physical laws. As a spiritual being, man is under God's spiritual and morals laws and, therefore, upon physical death will receive God's everlasting judgment. (Genesis 1:26-28, Genesis 2:7, Psalm 42:1, Genesis 2:15-17, Psalm 8:3-6, Hebrews 4:12, I Corinthians 3:10-15, Romans 15:1-2, Joshua 24:15, Philippians 4:4-9, Proverbs 21:1, Genesis 2:18-24, Genesis 3:1-24, Romans 5:12-21, Psalm 51:5, Psalm 58:3, Ephesians 4:17-18, Romans 3:10-18, Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 7:14-24, Galatians 6:6-10, Hebrews 9:27-28)
God has acted sovereignly to remedy man's hopeless condition. Jesus Christ was sent by God to earth to redeem man from the penalty of his rebellion. Having suffered and died on the cross for sinners, Christ in His atoning death satisfies God's just wrath and brings about reconciliation and redemption for those who trust this work. Just as believers' sins are imputed to Christ, Christ's sinless life on earth is credited to all believers. Both God's love and justice are perfectly revealed in Christ's death on the cross. God's redemption of any person is totally a work of God's grace, received only through faith in Christ and not as a result of human effort, will or merit. This redemptive work has a past, present and future tense. When a person trusts in Christ's salvation, he is redeemed from God's just penalty for sin (justification). As the Christian lives his daily life he experiences God's present redemption related to power over sin's hold (sanctification). The Christian's ultimate hope lies in his final future redemption which will occur at Christ's second coming (glorification). Those who are redeemed will spend eternity with God. Those who do not trust in Christ will be in Hell, separated from God forever. History involves the outworking of God's redemptive purposes for mankind as a whole. (Romans 5:1-11, Romans 7:14-25, Ephesians 1:2-12, Ephesians 2:1-10, Philippians 2:12-15, II Thessalonians 2:13-16, Romans 8:29-30, I Corinthians 15:50-54)The universal Christian church is a spiritual body made up of all believers in Christ, regardless of denominational differences. Local congregations are physical expressions of the body of Christ. The purpose of the universal Church is to reveal Christ to a watching world in both word and deed and to proclaim God's redemption in Christ while building up believers in their faith as they expectantly await His promised return. All believers serve as ministers, who are called to proclaim the message of reconciliation and commissioned by God to go into the world with Christ's saving "good news." (Matthew 16:13-18, Ephesians 2:19-22, Ephesians 4:1-6, I Corinthians 12:12-14, Colossians 1:18, Hebrews 10:23-25, II Peter 3:10-18, II Corinthians 5:20, Romans 9:12-15, John 17:13-26)
We believe that deriving practical applications from and modeling God’s Word are essential to completing our mission.
Accordingly, we believe:
That a Christian faith-based education is essential to the achievement of our mission
That Christian schools exist to support parents and the church in fulfilling the parents’ biblical responsibility to educate children
That teaching God’s Word, and teaching how to apply God’s Word, is essential to education
All truth is God’s truth
It is important to have knowledge of and appreciation for the attributes of God
The work of the Holy Spirit is essential
Prayer is vital
Every individual is of value; all are uniquely created in the image of God.
A personal relationship with Christ is essential
That every aspect of curriculum should be integrated with God’s Word, including teaching on:
The natural world
Human history and God's activity in it
Humanity, its cultures, and how we are to live in the world
That a biblically consistent education must be modeled as well as taught. Therefore, all faculty, staff, administration, Board members and volunteers shall:
be born-again Christians who model Christ
strive for excellence
demonstrate a servant’s heart
serve in harmony
engage only in activities consistent with biblical truth