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We’re called Sunnyslope Christian Reformed Church, but what does that mean? SUNNYSLOPE: We are part of the local community as a service to those in need both spiritually and materially, showing God’s love and grace where we worship and live. CHRISTIAN: We belong to Christ, our only lord and savior, whose perfect life and sacrificial death earned salvation from sin for those who believe on him. We believe in a triune God and His inspired Word. REFORMED: We embrace the doctrines of grace passed down through the church and revived in the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century through such great teachers as John Calvin and Martin Luther. CHURCH: We as a group are a part of the body Jesus Christ and work on earth as a community of believers to serve the world in love, glorify God the father, and assist each other in becoming more like Christ in our lives and hearts. As a church we are part not just of the Sunnyslope CRC, but of the broader church of all believers throughout the world and through all of history, extending back to Adam. What does the Sunnyslope Christian Reformed Church teach? GOD: The Triune God consists of three distinct persons in perfect unity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is all-powerful and all-knowing, is eternal without beginning or end, and is perfectly holy. The creator of all the universe, God rules sovereignly and with perfect love, merciful, but just. MAN: Made perfect, Adam fell into sin and as he was our representative, we all are also born in sin, which taints all that we do and say; even our best efforts. Man is made in the image of God, but that image has been corrupted by sin, requiring God’s mighty hand to heal and restore. SIN: Sin is any act, thought, or word which fails to equal God’s perfect and just demands. All of us, throughout all history have sinned, and fallen short of God’s glory. Our only hope is in Jesus Christ and his saving work. JESUS CHRIST: Our savior, the son of God made incarnate when He was born of the Virgin Mary. Completely divine and at the same time completely human – save without our sin – Jesus lived the perfect life God’s just law demands and died the sacrificial death God’s justice demands for a life of sin. That perfection put to the account of those God loves and chooses saves each one of His children in an awesome act of love and grace. GRACE: Grace is a gift, freely offered, without merit or any work by the one who receives this gift. Grace is what we, as sinners, are extended when God reaches down and gives us new life through the saving work of Jesus Christ, put to our account by the Holy Spirit. FAITH: Faith is a gift of God, given to those who He chooses when they are saved. Our belief in Jesus Christ is a response, not the cause of this faith, which is given in free grace. Our faith grows and yet faces times of great trial and weakness for it is the object of our faith - the almighty triune God - which is powerful and saving, not our belief. THE BIBLE: The Bible is the true, inerrant, and inspired word of God. It is the guide to our life, and gives all each of us need to know how to live, what we must know about God, and how to understand the world around us more fully. Simple enough that any of us can read and understand what we must know, and infinitely complex enough that a life time of reading and study will only begin to plumb its depths. For more about the history and beliefs of the Christian Reformed Denomination, visit the official website of the CRC | |||||||
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