"In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty"

Much about the City of Refuge is distinctive and contemporary. Then again, many of our characteristics are quite traditional. Our core beliefs, for example.

At COR, we believe that the divinely inspiried written word of God is our ultimate authority to everything that pertains to life and godliness. We also believe in the system of doctrine taught in the Westminster Confession of Faith completed in the 1650s. Most church historians agree that the The Westminster Confession was written by the greatest collection of godly and scholarly men in its day. For more, see the Westminister Confessions of Faith.

In addition, we hold to the historical statement known as the “Essentials of Our Faith." The purpose of "Essentials of Our Faith" is to succinctly express seven core beliefs held by Christians throughout the world. The Holy Bible, Westminster Confession, and the "Essentials of Our Faith" serve important and harmonious purposes within the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

The Essentials of Our Faith

All Scripture is self-attesting and being truth, requires our unreserved submission in all areas of life. The infallible Word of God, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is a complete and unified witness to God's redemptive acts culminating in the incarnation of the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible, uniquely and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the supreme and final authority on all matters on which it speaks. On this sure foundation we affirm these additional Essentials of our faith:

  1. We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To Him be all honor, glory and praise forever!
  2. Jesus Christ, the living Word, become flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. He who is true God became true man united in one person forever. He died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins according to the scriptures. On the third day He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He now is our high priest and mediator.
  3. The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to our hearts. He convicts us of sin and draws us to the Savior. Indwelling our hearts, He gives new life to us, empowers and imparts gifts to us for service. He instructs and guides us into all truth, and seals us for the day of redemption.
  4. Being estranged from God and condemned by our sinfulness, our salvation is wholly dependent upon the work of God's free grace. God credits His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, thereby justifies them in His sight. Only such as are born of the Holy Spirit and receive Jesus Christ become children of God and heirs of eternal life.
  5. The true Church is composed of all persons 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 visible, yet imperfect, expression in local congregations where the Word of God is preached in its purity and the sacraments are administered in their integrity; where scriptural discipline is practiced, and where loving fellowship is maintained. For her perfecting, she awaits the return of her Lord.
  6. Jesus Christ will come again to the earth—personally, visibly, and bodily—to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Rev. 22:20)
  7. The Lord Jesus Christ commands all believers to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and to make disciples of all nations. Obedience to the Great Commission requires total commitment to “Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.” He calls us to a life of self-denying love and service. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10)

While the Westminster Confession and the “Essentials” are considered fundamental to us and our church body (and they are read and discuss in new-member-classes), you’ll probably never recite them in church. What you’ll find yourself speaking aloud in most Sunday worship services is scripture from the Holy Bible and the Nicene Creed, the profession of faith most widely used in Christian liturgy. It’s called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in 325 A.D. The creed was later amended by the first council of Constantinople in 381.

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God,
begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven,
and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man;
and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried;
and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord, and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father [and the Son]; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the Prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church; I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. AMEN.