Statement of Faith

Pipe Creek Community Church is an independent fellowship of believers made up of Christians from various backgrounds and cultures. While it is reformed in theology, its members enjoy liberty in non-essential doctrine and matters of the faith, which allows for unity within its diversity. While its members love, cherish, and appreciate many aspects of historic confessions of the faith (such as the Three Forms of Unity, Abstract of Principles, London Baptist Confessions of Faith, Westminster Confessions, and New Hampshire Confession), it comes together on these ten essentials of doctrine:

On God:

1. There is one God who exists eternally in three distinct but equal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person possesses equally all the attributes of deity and the characteristics of personality. God is unchangeable in his holiness, justice, wisdom, and love. He is the almighty Creator, Savior, and Judge who sustains and governs all things according to His sovereign will for His own glory.

Key Scriptures: Deuteronomy 6:4; John 1:1-2; John 8:58; 2 Corinthians 3:17

On Jesus:

2. The Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, and lived a sinless life in obedience to the Father. He taught with authority, and all His words are true. Hence, He is perfect deity, and true humanity united in one person forever. On the cross, He died in the place of sinners, bearing God's punishment for their sins, redeeming them by His blood. He rose from the dead and, in His resurrection body ascended into heaven where He is exalted as Lord of all. He intercedes for His people in the presence of the Father.

Key Scriptures: Matthew 1:18-25; Romans 1:3-4; John 1:1-4, 14, 18 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 7:26-28; Acts 2:32; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4,12-20; John 20:24-28; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 7:23-25; Romans 8:34

On the Holy Spirit:

3. The Holy Spirit has been sent from heaven to glorify Christ and to apply His work of salvation. He convicts sinners, imparts spiritual life, and gives a true understanding of the Scriptures. He indwells all believers, sealing them until the Day of Redemption, and produces increasing likeness to Christ in them. He builds up the church and empowers its members for worship, service, and mission. His fullness, power, and control are appropriated in the believer's life by faith.

Key Scriptures: John 15:26; 2 Corinthians 3:18; John 16:7-11; Titus 3:5; Acts 2:38; Ephesians 1:13; 3:16-17

On the Scriptures:

4. God has revealed himself in the Bible, which consists of the Old and New Testaments alone. Every Word was inspired by God through human authors so that the Bible, as originally given, is in its entirety the Word of God, without error and fully reliable in fact and doctrine. The Bible alone speaks with final authority and is always sufficient for all matters of belief and practice.

Key Scriptures: Exodus 24:4; Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 17:19; Joshua 8:34; Psalms 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Isaiah 34:16; 40:8; Jeremiah 15:16; 36:1-32; Matthew 5:17-18; 22:29; Luke 21:33; 24:44-46; John 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Acts 2:16ff.; 17:11; Romans 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter1:19-21

On the Human Race:

5. Mankind was created in the image of God. Therefore, all men and women have inherent and equal dignity and worth. Their greatest purpose is to obey, worship, and love God. When Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God, they alienated themselves from their Creator. As a result of the Fall, every aspect of human nature has been corrupted, and all men and women are without spiritual life, guilty sinners, and hostile to God. Therefore, Every person is under God's just condemnation and needs to be born again, forgiven, and reconciled to God to know and please Him. At physical death, the unbeliever enters immediately into eternal conscious separation from the Lord.

Key Scriptures: Genesis 1:26-3:24; Romans 5:12,15-19; Colossians 1:21; Romans 3:23; Ephesians 2:1-3; John 3:1-8; 6:44, 65; 1 Corinthians 2:14; 12:3; Acts 16:14; Titus 3:5; Luke 16:19-31

On Salvation:

6. A person's salvation is entirely a work of God's free grace and is not the work, in whole or in part, of human works, goodness, or religious ceremony. It has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ and is offered to all. God, in His love, forgives sinners whom He calls, granting them repentance and faith. As His adopted sons and daughters, men and women are declared righteous who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation. Furthermore, it is the privilege of all who are born again by the Spirit to be assured of their salvation from the very moment they trust Christ as their Savior. This assurance is not based on any human effort but is produced by the witness of the Spirit, who confirms in the believer the testimony of God in His written Word. Every believer is, therefore, called to live so in the power of the indwelling Spirit that he will not fulfill the lust of the flesh or of the eye but will bear fruit to the glory of God. At physical death, the believer enters immediately into eternal conscious fellowship with the Lord.

Key Scriptures: Ephesians 2:4-9; Philippians 2:13; Romans 3:22; 10:3-4; 1 John 5:13; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:15-16; Galatians 5:16-24; Luke 6:43-44; 2 Corinthians 5:1-8; Luke 16:19-31

On the Church:

7. The universal church is the body of Christ, who is the head and to whom all who are saved belong. It is made visible in local churches, which are congregations of believers who are urged to gather together for the worship of God, the preaching of the Word, the administering of baptism and the Lords Supper, for pastoral care and discipline, and evangelism. The unity of the body of Christ is expressed within and between churches by mutual love, care, and encouragement. True fellowship between churches exists only where they are faithful to the gospel.

Key Scriptures: Colossians 1:18; Hebrews 10:24-25; 1 Corinthians 14:26; Psalm 22:25; 26:12; 35:18; 40:9

On Baptism and the Lord's Supper:

8. Baptism and the Lord's Supper have been given to the churches by Christ as visible signs of the gospel. Baptism symbolizes union with Christ and entry into His Church but does not impart spiritual life. The Lord's Supper commemorates Christ's sacrifice offered once for all and involves no change in the bread and wine. All its blessings are received by faith and a powerful testimony to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Key Scriptures: Matthew 3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; 14:22-26; Luke 3:21-22; 22:19-20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; 20:7; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 10:16,21; 11:23-29; Colossians 2:12

On our Adversary:

9. There exists a personal spirit of evil, Satan, our adversary, who, with great power, carries on organized opposition to the Kingdom of God and seeks the demise of man; he will suffer ultimate and total defeat at the hands of Jesus Christ.

Key Scriptures: Ephesians 6:12; Revelation 12:17; Ephesians 6:16; 1 Thessalonians 2:18; 1 Peter 5:8-9; Job 1:6-2:7; Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10

On the Future:

10. God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory; at this time, the dead will be resurrected with their bodies, the believer to eternal joy with the Lord, and the unbeliever to condemnation and endless, conscious suffering in Hell. God will make all things new and be glorified forever, but until then, the Lord Jesus commands all believers to make disciples of all nations. The fulfillment of this Great Commission requires that all selfish ambitions be subordinated to a total commitment to Him, Who loved us and gave Himself for us.

Key Scriptures: Matthew 24:30-31; 25:31-46; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:11; 1 Corinthians 15:51-54; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 1 John 3:2; Revelation 19:11-21:4; Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8