Statement of Faith
As adopted by the School Ministries Board of Directors, we accept and proclaim the historic truths of the Christian faith including the following:
God and the Human Race
We hold that the Lord our God is one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that He fulfills his sovereign purposes — in creation, revelation, redemption, judgment, and the coming of his kingdom — by calling out from the world a people united to Himself and to each other in love.
We acknowledge that though God wonderfully and immutably created us, male and female, in His own likeness and image, conferring on us dignity and worth and enabling us to respond to him, we are now members of a fallen race; we have sinned and come short of His glory.
We believe that the Father has shown us His holy love in giving Jesus Christ, his only Son, for us, while through our sinfulness and guilt we were subject to His wrath and condemnation; and has shown His grace by putting sinners right with Himself when they place their trust in His Son.
We confess Jesus Christ as Lord and God; as truly human, born of the Virgin Mary; as Servant, sinless, full of grace and truth; as only Mediator and Savior, dying on the cross in our place, representing us to God, redeeming us from the grip, guilt, and punishment of sin; as Victor over Satan and all his forces, rising from death with a glorious body, being taken up to be with His Father, and one day returning personally in glory and judgment to establish his kingdom.
We believe in the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness, and judgment; who makes the death of Christ effective to sinners, declaring that they must now turn to Christ in repentance, and directing their trust towards the Lord Jesus Christ, who through the new birth makes us partakers in the life of the risen Christ, illuminating their minds to grasp the truth of Scripture, producing in them his fruit, granting to them his gifts, and empowering them for service in the world.
The Scriptures
We believe that the Old and New Testament Scriptures are God-breathed, since their writers spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit; hence are fully trustworthy in all that they affirm; and are our highest authority for faith and life.
The Church and its Mission
We recognize the Church as the body of Christ held together and growing up in Him; both as a total fellowship throughout the world and as the local congregation in which believers gather.
We acknowledge the commission of Christ to proclaim the Good News to all people, making them disciples and teaching them to obey him; and we acknowledge the command of Christ to love our neighbors, resulting in service to the Church and society, in seeking reconciliation for all with God and their fellows, in proclaiming liberty from every kind of oppression; and in spreading Christ's justice in an unjust world until He comes again.
Marriage and Sexuality
We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning, and that is marriage sanctioned by God, which joins one man and one woman in a single, exclusive, covenantal union, as delineated in Scripture.
We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to only occur between a man and a woman who are married to each other. We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.
We believe that any form of sexual immorality, such as adultery, fornication, homosexual conduct, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, any use of pornography or any attempt to change one’s sex, or otherwise acting upon any disagreement with one’s biological sex, is sinful and offensive to God.
We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity. Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture nor the doctrines of the Church (Genesis 1:27-28; Genesis 2:18-25; Exodus 20:14; Matthew 19:3-12; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-20; Ephesians 5:22-33; Hebrews 13:4).
Statement of Biblical Authority
The above Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our faith. The Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, and the proper conduct of mankind, is the sole and final source of all that we believe. For purposes of doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline, our Board of Directors is the Clarendon Christian Learning Center’s final interpretive authority on the Bible’s meaning and application.