Along with the faithful churches throughout the ages, New Hope Community Church holds to the foundational beliefs of the Christian faith that are expressed in the ancient creeds, most notably in the Nicene Creed:
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
We believe these things - and orient our ministry according to them - because they communicate faithfully and clearly the core message of the Bible, which we hold to be entirely trustworthy and of supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
When it comes to secondary issues there's plenty of room for disagreement within the bounds of orthodoxy, and we try to create a climate where people with different views can engage one another with charity and respect.
And when it comes to mystery there's even more room - our statements of theology are thoroughly inadequate to describe the full glory of the Lord of the Universe. But they're what we're given, so they're what we have, and we make the best of them even as we recognize that they point to a reality far greater than they can begin to express.
