SCRIPTURE alone
2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Why do we believe what we believe? Because of what God reveals in his Word, the Bible. We believe the Bible is the infallible Word of God. This means it is, in the words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, "the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy [God]." It's the final authority for what we believe and how we are to live.
FAITH alone
Romans 3:28
For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
How can a sinful man be made right with a holy God? We might be tempted to think we get right with God by what we do: by being a good person, by helping others, by being honest, by going to church. But we could never make ourselves right with God this way. Our best deeds are still tainted with sin. God doesn't require any thing from us. Instead, he calls us to receive Jesus and rest on him by faith--by believing that Jesus' obedience is counted to me and that Jesus' death paid the debt for my sins.
GRACE alone
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
God’s grace is his kindness shown to those who deserve his judgment. It’s his goodness shown to those who have sinned and rebelled against him. This demerited favor of God that is the reason we are saved. It’s his grace that finds us dead in sin and makes us alive; it’s his grace the enables us to live lives that please him; it’s his grace that will finally bring us home to heaven.
CHRIST alone
1 Timothy 1:15
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
Our salvation is not because of anyone or anything else except Jesus Christ. He is the only Savior, the God-Man, the only mediator between God and man. He is our Prophet who speaks God’s word to us; he is our Priest who offers the perfect sacrifice for our sins—even himself—and who prays for us; and he is our King who conquers our hearts and defends us from all his and our enemies.
To the GLORY of GOD alone
Romans 11:36
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
The first question Westminster Shorter Catechism asks is, “What is the chief end of man?” The answer? “Man’ chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” The glory of God in everything is the starting point and the ending point in everything we believe. God’s goal in creating the universe was nothing less than his own glory. And God’s goal in saving from their sins a people for himself is, likewise, nothing less than his own glory.
The WESTMINSTER STANDARDS
For a fuller statement of what we believe as a church, see our secondary standards, the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Larger Catechism, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism