OUR BELIEFS

Elevate Hope Centennial is a part of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).

At Elevate Hope, we seek to be:

  • Biblical — We believe that God has revealed Himself in the Scriptures, which are without error and are completely trustworthy. Therefore, the Bible is our ultimate authority. It contains everything we need to know God and faithfully follow Jesus.

  • Historic — We are committed to the timeless message of the Bible, which was taught by the early church, and emphasized in the Protestant Reformation. The PCA is a confessional denomination. This means that we have a written confession of faith which we believe to be a good and accurate summary of the Bible’s teaching. Our confession consists of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms.

  • Relevant — We believe that God’s unchanging message is relevant and life-changing; it is satisfying and fulfilling; and it is living and active. That means that the historic message must be communicated to each generation in contemporary language, forms, and styles that they understand.

Summary of Our Beliefs:

For a complete statement of our beliefs, read the Westminster Confession of Faith. Below is a brief summary of our beliefs:

  • We believe that God has generally revealed His existence and power to humanity through creation (Psalm 19:1, Romans 1:19-20).

    We believe that God has also specially revealed Himself in the saving work of His Son, Jesus Christ, and the inspired words of the Bible (Matthew 11:27, John 1:14).

  • We believe the Bible is the written word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error in the original manuscripts. The Bible is authoritative in all matters of faith and practice, necessary to come to saving faith in Christ, sufficient to govern our lives, and clear in all that it intends to teach (2 Timothy 3:14-17, 2 Peter 1:19-21).

  • We believe there is one true God who is infinite, eternal, and unchanging in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth (Exodus 15:11, Exodus 34:5-7, 1 Chronicles 29:11, Job 11:7-9, Job 34:11-12, Psalm 102:26-28, Psalm 103:8-12, Psalm 136:1, Isaiah 40:28, Jeremiah 10:12-13, 1 Corinthians 1:20-25, John 14:6, 1 Timothy 6:15-16, Revelation 1:8).

  • We believe in the Holy Trinity. There is one true God, who exists eternally in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Ephesians 4:4-6).

  • We believe in God, the Father Almighty, the first person of the Trinity, who is the Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible (Genesis 1:1, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Ephesians 4:6, Colossians 1:16).

  • We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, who being born of the Virgin Mary became man. Through His perfect life, His sacrificial death and His resurrection, He atoned for the sins of all who will trust in Him alone for salvation. He is also the example of how humankind should live (Isaiah 7:14, John 3:16, 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, Titus 2:13).

  • We believe that the Holy Spirit is truly God, the third person of the Trinity, who lives within God’s people, gives them spiritual life, assures them of eternal life, and changes them more into the likeness of Jesus (John 14:16-17, Acts 1:8, Acts 2:1-4, Galatians 5:22-23).

  • We believe that God created human beings, male and female, in the image of God. As God’s image bearers, Adam and Eve were created very good, to serve as God’s representatives on earth, and to live in relationship with Him (Genesis 1:26-28).

  • We believe that Adam and Eve, by their sin, distorted God’s image, forfeited their relationship with Him, and now all of humanity is born in sin, subject to death, and under God’s wrath (Genesis 3, Psalm 14:2-3, Romans 5:12-14).

  • We believe that all humankind are sinners and totally unable to save themselves from God’s displeasure, except by His grace. Because of sin we are born spiritually dead, guilty, and enslaved to sin (Romans 3:23, Ephesians 2:1-3).

  • We believe that salvation is by God alone as He sovereignly chooses those He will save. We believe His choice is based on His grace alone, not on any human individual merit or foreseen faith. Salvation is accomplished by Jesus Christ alone and is received by faith alone (John 3:16, Acts 4:11-12, Ephesians 2:8-9).

  • We believe the Bible is one unified story structured by two covenant relationships: the covenant of works in Adam and the covenant of grace in Christ. The covenant of works was God’s arrangement with Adam and Eve before their fall into sin. The rest of the Bible is the unfolding story of God’s gracious covenant to redeem a people through faith in Jesus Christ (Genesis 2:16-17, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 9:15).

  • We believe baptism is a sign of belonging to the covenant community of faith. For adults, this means that an individual has responded to the good news of the Gospel of Jesus and wants to follow Him for the rest of his/her life. For children of Jesus’ followers, baptism signifies a beautiful sense of belonging to the church family and the nurturing hope that one day this child will also profess faith in Jesus. We perform baptism by the sprinkling and pouring of water upon the individual (Ezekiel 36:25-27, Matthew 28:19, Acts 22:16, Colossians 2:11-12, Titus 3:4-7, Hebrews 10:19-22).

  • We believe in the Lord’s Table, commonly called Communion or the Lord’s Supper, for professing believers, wherein those who partake both remember Christ’s coming in the flesh and sacrificial death (bread and wine), AND have communion with Him and the Church in a spiritual yet real way. In partaking, the individual receives and applies by faith Christ crucified, and all the benefits of His death, as a means of constant spiritual renewal (Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:14-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-29).

  • We believe that Jesus will return, bodily and visibly, to judge all humankind and to receive His people to Himself. He will restore all of creation and finally defeat sin, Satan, and death forever (1 Corinthians 15:50-56, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Revelation 1:7, Revelation 22:1-5).