The following declaration is New City Church’s Statement of Faith, which all who join as members must adhere to.
Revelation
We believe God has chosen to reveal Himself to His creation through all that He has created. Through one’s observation of all that exists, one may know God’s divine nature and power.
We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are given by divine inspiration, and are the only infallible rule of faith and practice. The Scriptures are inerrant in all they affirm or deny. The Bible is the authoritative record of the revelation of God in the face of Christ.
We believe God has revealed Himself more fully from time to time in history by exerting divine power over natural processes, sending messengers to communicate to people, giving dreams and visions, speaking directly to people, and appearing to people in a form comprehensible to them.
God
We believe God is that one being who is all sufficient in Himself, who lacks nothing and therefore needs nothing. He is the Creator of all that has been created. Because He is the source of all that exists, He is the One for whom all things exist. Nothing exists outside of His creative acts and nothing exists which does not exist for Him.
We believe God exists eternally in three Persons yet remains one Being. These three Persons are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These three are one in essence, equal in power and glory, yet distinct in personality. The Father is God but is neither the Son nor the Holy Spirit; the Son is God but is neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is God but is neither the Father nor the Son. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist in perfect community and work in eternal harmony. The distinctions in roles of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit neither diminish nor enhance Their divine nature, as each Person is completely and wholly God. These distinctions are clearly seen in creation. God the Father determined to create, God the Son performed the act of creating, and God the Holy Spirit gave life to all living things. These distinctions are also clearly seen in salvation. God the Father determined to save, God the Son performed the work of salvation, and God the Holy Spirit applies salvation.
We believe God is sovereign over all creation. God has decreed all things that come to pass yet is neither the author of sin, nor does He approve it. This decree does not violate the will of men and women.
Man & Sin
We believe God created man male and female, after His own image, with dominion over the earth. The first man desired what God had forbidden and chose to rebel against His authority. He therefore brought God’s just wrath and condemnation on all mankind. Apart from the grace of God, all mankind will continue in sin and rebellion against God. Unless God causes a person to be born again, that person can have neither the desire nor the will to love God, repent, or trust in Christ.
Jesus
We believe Jesus is God the Son, equal in power and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit. God the Son became man, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was cruelly executed on a Roman cross and shed His innocent blood for the sins of His people, was truly dead but rose again on the third day. After His resurrection He ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of His Father to rule over the Kingdom His Father has given Him.
We believe Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Therefore, all those who claim to worship the God of the Bible but do not worship Jesus are mistaken and have no unity or identity with the followers of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, equal in power and glory with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit convicts men of sin, regenerates the elect, and works to bring glory to the Father and the Son.
Salvation
We believe that before the foundation of the world, God, in Christ, according to His great and sovereign mercy chose an unknown number of men and women to receive eternal life. This election is based solely on His sovereign will and pleasure and not on any foreseen faith, decision, or merit of these people. At the right time in human history, God sent His Son to suffer the penalty for the sins of His people, to be the propitiation of God’s wrath for them, thus purchasing their salvation.
We believe that the death of Jesus warrants and demands a universal call to repentance and faith, therefore the Gospel must be preached to all people. All people everywhere have the responsibility to repent, believe, and obey the Gospel. All who will repent and believe will never be rejected by Jesus but will receive eternal life. And God, who began a good work in His people, will be faithful to complete that good work and will give to His Son all those He promised to give Him.
The Church
We believe in one holy, universal church which is the body and bride of Christ. The true church consists of all believers in heaven and on earth who have been justified by grace through faith in Christ. The universal church manifests itself in local churches who assemble in the name of the Lord. The local church gathers to worship God and experience His presence through the preaching of the Word, prayer, fellowship, the exercise of spiritual gifts, and the sacraments of believer’s baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The church disperses to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection to a sinful world. The church makes disciples who embody the kingdom values of loving neighbor, serving those in need, and caring for creation, thus anticipating the redemption of all things at Christ’s return.
We believe it is necessary for God’s people to live their lives in a way that is honoring to Him and reveals the greater joy and pleasure to be found in Him over and above all lesser things. It is essential for God’s people to live in a state of moral and ethical purity. In particular, God’s people should abstain from sexual immorality, homosexual behavior, pornography, and all other sexual practices forbidden in the Scriptures.
Spiritual Gifts
We believe that each believer receives the Holy Spirit at conversion. According to His sovereign will God bestows spiritual gifts to His people. Not all receive the same gifts nor do all receive gifts to the same degree. Therefore, no particular spiritual gift is necessary for, or evidence of, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, though use of spiritual gifts is to be regarded as evidence of regeneration.
End Times
We believe Jesus will return to the earth to consummate His Kingdom and to judge the living and the dead. Those who believe will be resurrected to everlasting life and those who do not believe will be resurrected to everlasting judgment. Jesus will create a new heavens and a new earth and all God’s people shall then dwell with Him forever in His presence.