OUR BELIEFS

STATEMENT OF FAITH

The THS Academy for Pastoral Leadership is a Christian religious organization. It affirms the historical ecumenical confessions and creeds of the Christian Church. The National Association of Evangelicals Statement of Faith summarizes our historic Christian faith, and the convictions of the THS Academy as a religious organization:


THE BIBLE

We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.

THE TRINITY

We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

JESUS CHRIST

We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory

SALVATION

We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

THE RESURRECTION

We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.

UNITY

We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

THEOLOGICAL EMPHASES

HUMANS IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

We confess that every person is separated from God by sin. The only way to cross this relational chasm is through Jesus Christ. His sacrificial death is the only basis for the forgiveness of our sins and our deliverance from the power of sin. Through trust in him, we are declared justified through the grace of God. But God’s grace may never be seen as a license for a continued lifestyle of sin. The assurance of salvation does not release humanity from obeying God’s commands.

BELIEVERS IN CULTURE AND SOCIETY

We affirm the love of God and the love of one’s neighbor are two sides of the same coin; together, they form the greatest commandment of God. We as Christians are called to serve our neighbor and our larger society. It must not be forgotten, however, that the kingdom of God is not of this world and therefore will not be realized in our world or in this time through political activity. We reject political activity when it acts as a substitute for the practices of Christian faith.

HUMANS AS SEXUAL BEINGS

We declare that humans are created by God as male and female. This duality is part of the entire created order. The attraction of the opposite sexes is also the foundation of the reproduction and growth of humanity, and every other species. We also recognize that creation in its current, fallen state shows divergence from God’s created order, regarding both sexual identity and sexual attraction. We affirm however, based on the clear witness of Scripture, that this divergence is not God’s intention for humans.


THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

We confess the work of the Holy Spirit, who is the third person of the divine Trinity. It is the Holy Spirit who builds and sustains God’s church. Without the Holy Spirit we are unable to perform any work that gives proper glory to God. We also recognize that the spirit moves as he will, which is why Christians have a diversity of experience with his working. The unity and diversity Spirit’s work among the people of God must be treated with respect as the mystery that it is. No believer could claim to have the insight to render judgment of fellow believers because of their diversity of experience of the Holy Spirit.

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

We believe that the holy Scriptures are the revelation of the triune God. The Bible is the final measuring rod for all questions of faith and practice. We confess that the Scriptures are authoritative and infallible in all that they teach.

PRACTICE OF THEOLOGY

CONFESSING

We believe that theology must spring from the revelation of God. As such, theology is the reflection upon God’s person and ways, and not a body of human thought developed autonomously from the revelation of God. Theology by its nature is never neutral, it always seeks to confess the person and the ways of the revealed God. True theology can only be pursued by Christians since they may seek the inspiration by the indwelling Holy Spirit. We regard the pursuit of theology independent of the biblical revelation be false and futile.

RELEVANT

We believe that theology should concentrate on themes that have a practical connection to the realities of human life. That does not mean that the pursuit of theology may compromise biblical revelation on the basis of human realities, but rather that the discipline should seek to address the questions and problems that people commonly have. Theology rising about questions whose answers have no influence on the life of believers makes little sense.

POSITIVE

We believe that the practice of theology should serve the growth of faith and sanctification in the life of Christian believers. Growth of theological understanding needs to contribute to the growth of maturity in the life of Christian believers. We consider a theology which causes more confusion than conviction to be dangerous.



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