cultivating a winsome and thoughtful zeal
for the historic Christian faith
In our ministries at Valley Presbyterian Church we emphasize the great doctrines of grace by which God has historically renewed and reformed His church. Below is a summary of our convictions.
The Bible: The Old and New Testaments We believe and teach that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God written, given by inspiration of God the Holy Spirit as the only infallible and inerrant rule of faith and life.
God: The Trinity We believe and teach that the only true and living God is one God in three Persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This God sovereignly created all that is, visible and invisible, and He now providentially directs all things to the glory of His name.
Man and Sin We believe and teach that humans, male and female, are the direct creation of God. Though all people are created in God’s image, they fell into sin through the disobedience of Adam and are born sinners by nature, guilty in God’s sight, and totally unable to save themselves from God’s wrath. Only God’s free grace provides sinners the way of salvation.
Salvation is of the Lord We believe and teach that the salvation of sinners is the gracious work of God alone through faith alone in Christ alone. God’s choice to save sinners is based on His grace alone, not on any merit in those He saves, nor on any foreseen faith or good work in them. (For more on God’s plan of salvation, visit our Good News of Great Joy page.)
Jesus Christ: His Person, His Work, and His Return We believe and teach that, to accomplish the great work of salvation, God the Father sent His eternal Son, Jesus Christ, into the world. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is fully God and fully man in one person. Conceived and born of a virgin, He lived a sinless life and offered Himself as a substitute for sinners. On the third day He rose bodily from the dead. He later ascended to the right hand of God the Father, where He now intercedes for His people and from where He now reigns over all. He will return, bodily and visibly, in power and glory, to judge all mankind and to usher His people into everlasting glory.
Justification, Adoption, and Perseverance In saving sinners God credits Christ’s righteousness to them through faith alone, and He adopts them as His children and heirs with all the blessings of eternal life. Once God brings sinners to faith in Christ by His Spirit and His Word, He keeps them through faith by that same Spirit and Word, ensuring that they will continue in His grace until He brings them fully and finally to glory in the world to come.
The Church: The Spirit, the Gifts, the Means of Grace, and the Offices We believe and teach that the visible church is the covenant community of God, made up of believers and their children, called together under Christ’s lordship to live to God’s glory in word and deed. To equip her for this calling, Christ gives the church His Spirit, His gifts, and the means of growth in grace (primarily the Word, prayer, and the sacraments). To govern and teach the church, Christ gives her men to be elders; to serve the physical and spiritual needs of the church, He gives her men to be deacons. Working together in love, the church displays those marks that have defined her throughout history, namely, her ministry of the Word, her ministry of the sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper), and her ministry of discipline (through instruction and correction).
In addition to the core beliefs above, Valley Presbyterian Church adheres to the tenets of the historic Reformed faith as expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms.
We also endorse and support the ministries of The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals and The Gospel Reformation Network.
Valley Presbyterian Church is a congregation in the Chesapeake Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America denomination.
For our denomination’s Book of Church Order, click here: The PCA Book of Church Order. A good summary of what the PCA believes regarding the church can be found in the Preface to The Book of Church Order.
For our denomination’s position on a specific topic, visit the PCA Historical Center’s collection of PCA Position Papers here: PCA Position Papers.