Statement of Faith Aliso Creek Presbyterian Church is committed to the convictions of the Protestant Reformation as taught in the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Larger Catechism, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism. We strive to be reformed and transformed, corporately as well as individually — in doctrine, faith, and life — by the Word of God. Fundamental to our identity is our belief that the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Therefore we believe that our faith and our church must be God-centered. We are truly satisfied and edified only when God’s glory and Christ’s gospel are our focus and passion. We also believe that Christians stand in the biblical family tree of faith. Whatever our age, we all are heirs of the covenant of grace that God promised to Abraham and fulfilled in the Messiah, Jesus Christ the Son of God. As a church that stands in the Reformed tradition, we believe that truth and life, doctrine and duty, faith and practice must always remain together. Below are some key convictions that shape our beliefs and our lives. The Bible. The Bible, which is the Word of God written, is inerrant (without error) because the Holy Spirit is its author  It alone is our infallible rule for faith and practice, and the God who speaks through it must be the judge over all human opinions, including all theological formulations and church traditions.  The Bible is not a list of abstract timeless principles for well-managed living.  Rather, it is the unfolding and dynamic narrative of God’s breathtaking plan to choose, call, justify, sanctify and ultimately glorify his people in Christ. God. There is only one God who exists eternally in three persons — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. Humankind. God created our first parents, Adam and Eve, in his image. But they rebelled against God. And because Adam represented his descendants, all people sinned in Adam and fell in him. Therefore, we are corporately and individually guilty before God. Yet those who are in Christ are saved from their sins and are being renewed according to the image of God and after the person of Christ. Salvation. Scripture records the unfolding drama of God saving his people throughout time. God gave the central aspects of the Old Testament — temple, sacrifices, law — as shadows that point to the reality, Jesus Christ. Therefore, the story of redemption in the Old and New Testaments is the story of Jesus. It is our story as well. For God, in and through Christ alone and according to his good pleasure, sovereignly calls out of our fallen race those whom he will deliver from judgment, the dominion of sin, and the power of death. God includes us in his plan to reconcile all things in Christ. We believe that the entire Bible should be approached from a Christ-centered perspective. The Church. The church consists of those people whom God has called out from the world to be united to Jesus Christ. Whenever God's people gather to worship, they anticipate their eternal gathering in the heavenly Jerusalem, the city that is to come. To be a Christian is to be a part of God's universal body. Everyone who claims Christ as Savior must be joined to a local body of believers. In the church we are nourished by the means of grace and gifts that God has given to us: the Word preached and taught, baptism, the Lord's Supper, prayer, and fellowship. Statement of Faith Aliso Creek Presbyterian Church is committed to the convictions of the Protestant Reformation as taught in the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Larger Catechism, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism. We strive to be reformed and transformed, corporately as well as individually — in doctrine, faith, and life — by the Word of God. Fundamental to our identity is our belief that the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Therefore we believe that our faith and our church must be God-centered. We are truly satisfied and edified only when God’s glory and Christ’s gospel are our focus and passion. We also believe that Christians stand in the biblical family tree of faith. Whatever our age, we all are heirs of the covenant of grace that God promised to Abraham and fulfilled in the Messiah, Jesus Christ the Son of God. As a church that stands in the Reformed tradition, we believe that truth and life, doctrine and duty, faith and practice must always remain together. Below are some key convictions that shape our beliefs and our lives. The Bible. The Bible, which is the Word of God written, is inerrant (without error) because the Holy Spirit is its author  It alone is our infallible rule for faith and practice, and the God who speaks through it must be the judge over all human opinions, including all theological formulations and church traditions.  The Bible is not a list of abstract timeless principles for well-managed living.  Rather, it is the unfolding and dynamic narrative of God’s breathtaking plan to choose, call, justify, sanctify and ultimately glorify his people in Christ. God. There is only one God who exists eternally in three persons — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. Humankind. God created our first parents, Adam and Eve, in his image. But they rebelled against God. And because Adam represented his descendants, all people sinned in Adam and fell in him. Therefore, we are corporately and individually guilty before God. Yet those who are in Christ are saved from their sins and are being renewed according to the image of God and after the person of Christ. Salvation. Scripture records the unfolding drama of God saving his people throughout time. God gave the central aspects of the Old Testament — temple, sacrifices, law — as shadows that point to the reality, Jesus Christ. Therefore, the story of redemption in the Old and New Testaments is the story of Jesus. It is our story as well. For God, in and through Christ alone and according to his good pleasure, sovereignly calls out of our fallen race those whom he will deliver from judgment, the dominion of sin, and the power of death. God includes us in his plan to reconcile all things in Christ. We believe that the entire Bible should be approached from a Christ-centered perspective. The Church. The church consists of those people whom God has called out from the world to be united to Jesus Christ. Whenever God's people gather to worship, they anticipate their eternal gathering in the heavenly Jerusalem, the city that is to come. To be a Christian is to be a part of God's universal body. Everyone who claims Christ as Savior must be joined to a local body of believers. In the church we are nourished by the means of grace and gifts that God has given to us: the Word preached and taught, baptism, the Lord's Supper, prayer, and fellowship.