What We Believe
The Highest Authority
We believe the Bible is the highest authority we have to govern what we do and how we live. As a church, however, we also hold to other documents crafted by Biblical scholars and pastors throughout the centuries that guide how we do life as a church. You can find those documents below.
Statement of Faith
From the time of the Apostles to today, Christians have laid out doctrine (beliefs) in brief, definitive statements.
As those who know God, we believe it necessary to set forth in a concise fashion the cornerstone truths of our church as guided by Scripture. Our Statement of Faith summarizes essential Christian beliefs, shows unity in Christ, and guards the church against error.
All who join Grace Harbor are required to affirm our Statement of Faith, the revised New Hampshire Confession of Faith from 1853. This statement registers our belief in historic Christianity, evangelical Christianity, believer’s baptism, and congregational polity. Once we as members agree to the statement, we are responsible for believing and living in accordance with it.
Church Covenant
The church covenant is equal parts promise, summary of expectations, ethical statement, and biblical standard.
We summarize how we promise to live together in the covenant. It forms the ethics, or the moral principles, of our worldview and holds out a biblical standard by which we live. Our acceptance of this multifaceted document follows the practice of believers throughout the centuries who have pledged to God and one another to live out the gospel in community.
We use our covenant in two key ways today. We require all new members to sign it before joining the church. We also reaffirm our commitment to the covenant at all members meetings and before taking communion, when we stand as a body and recommit ourselves to it. By featuring the covenant in our life together, we strive to protect ourselves from individual and corporate sin. Of equal importance, we spur one another on to live in light of a greater covenant, one initiated by love, sealed by sacrifice, and kept for eternity by our Savior, Jesus Christ.
For your reference, we have included our church covenant (signed by all our members and repeated corporately on certain occasions) as a downloadable PDF.