Our Beliefs
In unity with the universal church, we affirm the Apostle’s Creed and the Creed of Nicaea (381). Agreement with these foundational doctrines is required for volunteering at Denia Community Church. For more information see our Foundational Doctrines.
In unity with Protestant evangelical churches, we affirm the five Solas of the Protestant Reformation:
- Scripture alone
- Christ alone
- Faith alone
- Grace alone
- Glory to God alone
Among Protestant evangelicals, we affirm biblical inerrancy, total depravity, sovereign grace, eternal security, believers’ baptism, complementarian gender roles, a cautious openness to the sign gifts, an elder-led church polity, and a premillennial eschatology. Agreement with these and other distinctive doctrines is required for holding leadership positions at DCC. For more information see our Distinctive Doctrines.
Agreement with these and other fundamental doctrines is required for membership at DCC. For more information see our Foundational Doctrines.
Foundational Doctrines
In unity with the historic, universal church we affirm the foundational doctrines confessed in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds.
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.
Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
The third day He rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen
The Nicene Creed (381)
We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made;
of the same essence as the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
He came down from heaven;
He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
and was made human.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;
He suffered and was buried.
The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again with glory
to judge the living and the dead.
His kingdom will never end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life.
He proceeds from the Father and the Son,
and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.
He spoke through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,
and to life in the world to come.
Amen
Fundamental Doctrines
In unity with Protestant, evangelical Christians we affirm the following fundamental doctrines:
- The Bible. The Bible is the inspired, infallible Word of God whose sixty-six books are the primary source and final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
- God. The one true God exists as a Trinity of three distinct persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—each of whom is fully divine, yet there is only one God. The Triune God is eternal and immutable, omnipotent and omniscient, transcendent and immanent, compassionate and gracious, holy and loving. He is the sovereign creator, the gracious redeemer, and the righteous judge. God’s natural and moral perfections as well as His creative and redemptive works make Him alone worthy of our wholehearted adoration, allegiance, and obedience.
- Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary to be fully human while remaining fully divine. He was the promised Messiah and the second Adam who lived a perfect life as humanity’s representative and died an atoning death as sinners’ substitute. He was resurrected bodily from the grave and ascended into heaven where He reigns as Lord and intercedes as high priest. When Christ returns, He will defeat God’s enemies, judge the living and the dead, hand over the kingdom to God the Father, and then dwell with the redeemed forever.
- The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity who regenerates, baptizes, seals, sanctifies, gifts, guides, illumines, empowers, comforts, helps, and produces fruit in believers. He indwells both the church as a whole and every individual believers, who are commanded to live and walk and to be led and filled by the Spirit.
- Humanity. Humans are made in God’s image and therefore possess inherent dignity and worth from conception until death. God makes humans either male or female at conception and confines sexual activity to a monogamous marriage between a man and a woman. Humanity’s purpose is to glorify God by loving Him wholeheartedly and serving Him faithfully. Adam’s disobedience resulted in humanity’s condemnation and corruption, so that every person is born spiritually dead, alienated from God, subject to sin, and unable to save themselves.
- Salvation. In love God the Father accomplished salvation through the virgin birth, representative life, substitutionary death, and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is God the Son. Salvation involves union with Christ, propitiation, justification, forgiveness, redemption, regeneration, adoption, and reconciliation. Salvation is applied by the Holy Spirit to those who repent of their sins and embrace Jesus as their Savior and Lord by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of Christ alone. Salvation is confirmed by an orthodox gospel confession, the internal witness of the Spirit, and the testimony of a transformed life evidenced by increasing holiness and love.
- Sanctification. Christians are sanctified positionally, progressively, and perfectly. Positionally, God consecrates believers by identifying them with Himself and setting them apart for Himself. In this sense, every Christian is a saint—someone set apart by God as holy to live a holy life and fulfill a holy purpose. Progressively, God calls and causes Christians to grow in holiness, conforming them to the image of Christ and producing in them the fruit of the Spirit. Ultimately, God will perfect His children in holiness and resurrect them in glorified bodies. Christians are expected to live in Christlike holiness, obedience, and love through the Holy Spirit and to confess and repent of their sins when they do not. Scripture summarizes sanctification as wholehearted love for God, Christ-like love for Christians, and selfless love for others.
- The Church. The Church is the family of God, the body of Christ, and the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is comprised of regenerate Christians, who receive spiritual gifts to edify the church in unity and love. Membership in the universal church is enjoyed and expressed through committed, active participation in a local church community. The mission of the church is to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that Christ commanded us.
- Ordinances. The New Testament establishes two ordinances for the church: the Lord’s Supper and baptism. The Lord’s Supper is to be observed regularly in remembrance of Christ’s atoning death, in celebration of His communion with His Church, and in anticipation of His return. Baptism symbolizes a convert’s repentance, salvation, consecration, and cleansing and indicates his or her identification with the death and resurrection of Jesus and his or her incorporation into the body of Christ, the church. Water baptism is obligatory but not salvific.
- Eternity. Christ is returning to judge the living and the dead and will righteously consign every soul to either eternal bliss or eternal judgment. The blessed hope of the church is to live forever on the new earth in glorified bodies in the glorious, loving presence of the Triune God.
Distinctive Doctrines
With regards to doctrines that distinguish Protestant, evangelical Christians, Denia Community Church affirms the following distinctive doctrines:
- The verbal plenary inerrancy of Scripture, which affirms that the entirety of the Bible, including every word of the autographs, is inspired by God and therefore completely accurate and without error in what it asserts as true.
- A Reformed view of the total depravity of fallen humanity, the sovereign grace of God in salvation, and the eternal security of the redeemed.
- An elder-rule church polity, which believes that the church government best fitting Scripture is for each local church to be self-governed by a plurality of biblically qualified elders.
- Believers’ baptism by immersion performed in obedience to Christ but not to effect salvation.
- A premillennial view of the end times, which distinguishes between the church and Israel and anticipates a thousand year reign of Christ on earth prior to the final judgment and eternity.
- A cautious view of the sign gifts, which does not deny the possibility that tongues, prophecies, and healings might occur but insists that they be practiced and interpreted biblically as well as be tested to see whether they are indeed from God.
- A complementarian view of gender roles, which affirms the equal value and dignity of men and women but recognizes a divinely ordained distinction in their roles in the church and family as defined by Scripture.