Divine Mercy: What We Believe
Doctrinal Essentials
We affirm decision making based on the Holy Scriptures, Sacred Tradition, and God's Wisdom inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Scriptures spring forth from the Living Tradition passed on by the Lord Jesus Christ to his apostles and through them to the Apostolic Church. They are the primary essentials of Truth. The Word of God provides the foundation for the following doctrines we affirm along with Apostles' and Nicene Creeds:
We believe in one God
We believe in one God, the Creator, sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To Him be all honor, glory, and worship forever!
Jesus Christ, the Messiah
Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is the Living Word become flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His birth of the Virgin Mary. He who is true God became true man. He lived a sinless life and died on a cross, a perfect sacrifice for our sins, according to the Scriptures. On the third day, He rose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where, seated at the right hand of God, He mediates as our High Priest and Head of the Church. Jesus Christ is the exclusive Messiah, the only Way to salvation, the only Truth and the only Life in whom people may put their trust and obtain eternal life.
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to the hearts of all people. Jesus baptizes His disciples in the power of the Holy Spirit and empowers them to do the supernatural work of ministry in His Name. The Holy Spirit illuminates the Holy Scriptures, instructs the hearts of believers, and guides us into all truth.
Our salvation
Our salvation is dependent upon the work of God's unmerited favor and graciousness. God imparts His righteousness to those who respond with a living faith to the saving grace offered by Christ alone. Only those who are born of the Holy Spirit and embrace Jesus Christ, in word and obedient action, as Savior and Lord, become heirs of eternal life.
The one Holy Catholic and apostolic Church
The one Holy Catholic and apostolic Church is composed of all who, through saving faith in Jesus Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, are united together in the Body of Christ. The Church finds her expression in local congregations where the Word of God is preached in its purity, the Sacraments are administered in their integrity, and loving fellowship is maintained to nurture the believers in the life of Christ.
Jesus Christ will come again
Jesus Christ will come again to the earth to judge the living and the dead, and to fulfill the eternal plan of God. We seek to faithfully serve Christ in the world as His ambassadors as we joyfully anticipate His appearing.
The Great Commandment
The Christian's mission is to follow the Jesus' first command ~ the Great Commandment: To love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. Our mission is to show that we are Christians by demonstrating God's gracious love, mercy, compassion, acceptance, and forgiveness by pursuing the best interests of our neighbors, showing the same concern we have for ourselves.
The Great Commission
As we endeavor to meet the standards of God's love, we are to fulfill the Great Commission: "Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you."
Human beings are created in His likeness
Human beings are created in His likeness and image. We were created for communion with God and one another in purity and in accordance with the Holy Scriptures. Communion with God and the believers is marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. Self-control includes fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman.
We affirm the Author of Life
We affirm the Author of Life, the stewardship of creation, through environmental preservation and the sanctity and dignity of all forms of human life, from conception to the grave. We affirm peaceful resolution and reconciliation of conflicts between all persons, groups, and nations.