Friday, June 26, 2009

EFCA Statement of Faith, Point 1

This summer I am helping to teach the Welcome to the Family class during our Sunday School hour. This is a class for new members, or those who may be considering membership in our church.

This week, we begin to make our way through our Statement of Faith. I am going to post each of the ten points in a separate post, and twice within each post: 1) the bare text, and 2) the text with Scripture references. This makes it a handy way to look at these supporting verses, because this website supports links to a Bible site. Just hover over the links to see the Scripture text, or click to go there.

The Evangelical Free Church of America is an association of autonomous churches united around these theological convictions:

God
1. We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.

God
1. We believe in one God (Dt. 6:4; Mk. 12:29), Creator of all things (Gen. 1:1; Ps. 33:6; Jn. 1:3; Col. 1:15-17; Heb. 11:3), holy (Ex. 15:11; Isa. 6:3; 57:15), infinitely perfect (Dt. 32:4; Job 1:7-10; Ps. 18:30; 50:2; 90:2; 145:3; Matt. 5:48), and eternally existing (Ps. 33:11; 102:25-27; 115:3; Dan. 4:34-35; Jn. 5:26; Acts 17:24-25) in a loving unity (Jn. 3:35; 17:24; 1 Jn. 4:8,16) of three equally divine Persons (Jn. 17:11; Matt. 3:16-17; 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Pet. 1:2): the Father (Dt. 32:6; Mt. 6:6; Rom. 8:15; 1 Cor. 8:6), the Son (Matt.3:17; Jn. 1:14; 3:16; Gal. 4:4; Heb. 1:5), and the Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15; Rom. 8:9, 26; Gal. 4:6). Having limitless knowledge (Ps. 139:1-16; 147:5; Isa. 46:10; Jn. 21:17) and sovereign power (Jer. 32:17; Eph. 1:11; Rm. 8:28; 2 Cor. 6:18; Eph. 3:20; Rev. 1:8), God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself (1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:11; 3:10,11; 2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 1:2; 1 Pet. 1:20; Rev. 13:8) and to make all things new (Matt. 19:28; Acts 3:21; Rom. 8:19-21; Rev. 21,22) for His own glory (Ps. 19:1-2; Isa. 43:7; Jer. 13:11; Col. 1:15-23; Rev. 4:11; 5:9-14).

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