THE FAITH STATEMENTS of THE WESLEYAN CHURCH
For a complete list of all supporting Scriptures, or to learn more about the specifics of
church membership at SLW, please visit our denominational website at www.wesleyan.org
or call the church office (724-376-2233) for information on the next Connection Point
opportunity, which is SLW’s membership class.
The Holy Trinity
We believe in the one living and true God, both holy and loving, eternal, unlimited in
power, wisdom and goodness, the Creator and Preserver of all things. Within this unity
there are three persons of one essential nature, power and eternity--the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit.
The Father
We believe the Father is the Source of all that exists, whether of matter or spirit. With
the Son and the Holy Spirit, He made man, male and female, in His image. By intention He
relates to people as Father, thereby forever declaring His goodwill toward them. In love,
He both seeks and receives penitent sinners.
The Son
We believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. He was conceived by the Holy
Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, truly God and truly man. He died on the cross and was
buried, to be a sacrifice both for original sin and for all human transgressions, and to
reconcile us to God. Christ rose bodily from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and
there intercedes for us at the Father's right hand until He returns to judge all humanity at
the last day.
The Holy Spirit
We believe in the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is of the
same essential nature, majesty, and glory, as the Father and the Son, truly and eternally
God. He is the Administrator of grace to all, and is particularly the effective Agent in
conviction for sin, in regeneration, in sanctification, and in glorification. He is ever
present, assuring, preserving, guiding, and enabling the believer.
The Sufficiency and Full Authority of the Holy Scriptures
We believe that the books of the Old and New Testaments constitute the Holy Scriptures.
They are the inspired and infallibly written Word of God, fully inerrant in their original
manuscripts and superior to all human authority, and have been transmitted to the
present without corruption of any essential doctrine. We believe that they contain all
things necessary to salvation; so that whatever is not read therein, nor may be proved
thereby, is not to be required of any man or woman that it should be believed as an
article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. Both in the Old and
New Testaments life is offered ultimately through Christ, who is the only Mediator
between God and humanity. The New Testament teaches Christians how to fulfill the
moral principles of the Old Testament, calling for loving obedience to God made possible
by the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit.
God’s Purpose for Humanity
We believe that the two great commandments which require us to love the Lord our God
with all the heart, and our neighbors as ourselves, summarize the divine law as it is
revealed in the Scriptures. They are the perfect measure and norm of human duty, both
for the ordering and directing of families and nations, and all other social bodies, and for
individual acts, by which we are required to acknowledge God as our only Supreme Ruler,
and all persons as created by Him, equal in all natural rights. Therefore all persons should
so order all their individual, social and political acts as to give to God entire and absolute
obedience, and to assure to all the enjoyment of every natural right, as well as to
promote the fulfillment of each in the possession and exercise of such rights.
Marriage and the Family
We believe that every person is created in the image of God, that human sexuality reflects
that image in terms of intimate love, communication, fellowship, subordination of the self
to the larger whole, and fulfillment. God's Word makes use of the marriage relationship as
the supreme metaphor for His relationship with His covenant people and for revealing the
truth that that relationship is of one God with one people. Therefore God's plan for
human sexuality is that it is to be expressed only in a monogamous lifelong relationship
between one man and one woman within the framework of marriage. This is the only
relationship which is divinely designed for the birth and rearing of children and is a
covenant union made in the sight of God, taking priority over every other human
relationship.
Personal Choice
We believe that humanity's creation in the image of God included ability to choose
between right and wrong. Thus individuals were made morally responsible for their
choices. But since the fall of Adam, people are unable in their own strength to do the
right. This is due to original sin, which is not simply the following of Adam's example, but
rather the corruption of the nature of each mortal, and is reproduced naturally in Adam's
descendants. Because of it, humans are very far gone from original righteousness, and by
nature are continually inclined to evil. They cannot of themselves even call upon God or
exercise faith for salvation. But through Jesus Christ the prevenient grace of God makes
possible what humans in self-effort cannot do. It is bestowed freely upon all, enabling all
who will to turn and be saved.
Atonement
We believe that Christ's offering of himself, once and for all, through His sufferings and
meritorious death on the cross, provides the perfect redemption and atonement for the
sins of the whole world, both original and actual. There is no other ground of salvation
from sin but that alone. This atonement is sufficient for every individual of Adam's race. It
is unconditionally effective in the salvation of those mentally incompetent from birth, of
those converted persons who have become mentally incompetent, and of children under
the age of accountability. But it is effective for the salvation of those who reach the age
of accountability only when they repent and exercise faith in Christ.
Repentance and Faith
We believe that for men and women to appropriate what God's prevenient grace has made
possible, they must voluntarily respond in repentance and faith. The ability comes from
God, but the act is the individual's.
Repentance is prompted by the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit. It involves a willful
change of mind that renounces sin and longs for righteousness, a godly sorrow for and a
confession of past sins, proper restitution for wrong doings, and a resolution to reform
the life. Repentance is the precondition for saving faith, and without it saving faith is
impossible.
Faith, in turn, is the only condition of salvation. It begins in the agreement of the mind
and the consent of the will to the truth of the gospel, but issues in a complete reliance
by the whole person in the saving ability of Jesus Christ and a complete trusting of oneself
to Him as Savior and Lord. Saving faith is expressed in a public acknowledgment of His
Lordship and an identification with His church.
Justification, Regeneration, and Adoption
We believe that when one repents of personal sin and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ,
that at the same moment that person is justified, regenerated, adopted into the family of
God, and assured of personal salvation through the witness of the Holy Spirit.
We believe that justification is the judicial act of God whereby a person is accounted
righteous, granted full pardon of all sin, delivered from guilt, completely released from the
penalty of sins committed, by the merit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by faith alone,
not on the basis of works.
We believe that regeneration, or the new birth, is that work of the Holy Spirit whereby,
when one truly repents and believes, one's moral nature is given a distinctively spiritual
life with the capacity for love and obedience. This new life is received by faith in Jesus
Christ, it enables the pardoned sinner to serve God with the will and affections of the
heart, and by it the regenerate are delivered from the power of sin which reigns over all
the unregenerate.
We believe that adoption is the act of God by which the justified and regenerated
believer becomes a partaker of all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of a child of
God.
Good Works
We believe that although good works cannot save us from our sins or from God's judgment,
they are the fruit of faith and follow after regeneration. Therefore they are pleasing and
acceptable to God in Christ, and by them a living faith may be as evidently known as a tree
is discerned by its fruit.
Sin After Regeneration
We believe that after we have experienced regeneration, it is possible to fall into sin, for
in this life there is no such height or strength of holiness from which it is impossible to
fall. But by the grace of God one who has fallen into sin may by true repentance and faith
find forgiveness and restoration.
Sanctification
We believe that sanctification is that work of the Holy Spirit by which the child of God is
separated from sin unto God and is enabled to love God with all the heart and to walk in
all His holy commandments blameless. Sanctification is initiated at the moment of
justification and regeneration. From that moment there is a gradual or progressive
sanctification as the believer walks with God and daily grows in grace and in a more
perfect obedience to God. This prepares for the crisis of entire sanctification which is
wrought instantaneously when believers present themselves as living sacrifices, holy and
acceptable to God, through faith in Jesus Christ, being effected by the baptism with the
Holy Spirit who cleanses the heart from all inbred sin. The crisis of entire sanctification
perfects the believer in love and empowers that person for effective service. It is followed
by lifelong growth in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The
life of holiness continues through faith in the sanctifying blood of Christ and evidences
itself by loving obedience to God's revealed will.
The Gifts of the Spirit
We believe that the Gift of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit himself, and that He is to be
desired more than the gifts of the Spirit which He in His wise counsel bestows upon
individual members of the Church to enable them to properly fulfill their function as
members of the body of Christ. The gifts of the Spirit, although not always identifiable
with natural abilities, function through them for the edification of the whole church.
These gifts are to be exercised in love under the administration of the Lord of the
church, not through human volition. The relative value of the gifts of the Spirit is to be
tested by their usefulness in the church and not by the ecstasy produced in the ones
receiving them.
The Church
We believe that the Christian church is the entire body of believers in Jesus Christ, who is
the founder and only Head of the church. The church includes both those believers who
have gone to be with the Lord and those who remain on the earth, having renounced the
world, the flesh and the devil, and having dedicated themselves to the work which Christ
committed unto His church until He comes. The church on earth is to preach the pure
Word of God, properly administer the sacraments according to Christ's instructions, and
live in obedience to all that Christ commands. A local church is a body of believers
formally organized on gospel principles, meeting regularly for the purposes of evangelism,
nurture, fellowship and worship. The Wesleyan Church is a denomination consisting of
those members within district conferences and local churches who, as members of the
body of Christ, hold the faith set forth in these Articles of Religion and acknowledge the
ecclesiastical authority of its governing bodies.
The Sacraments of Baptism and Communion
We believe that water baptism and the Lord's Supper are the sacraments of the church
commanded by Christ and ordained as a means of grace when received through faith.
They are tokens of our profession of Christian faith and signs of God's gracious ministry
toward us. By them, He works within us to quicken, strengthen, and confirm our faith.
Baptism: We believe that water baptism is a sacrament of the church, commanded by our
Lord and administered to believers. It is a symbol of the new covenant of grace and
signifies acceptance of the benefits of the atonement of Jesus Christ. By means of this
sacrament, believers declare their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
Communion: We believe that the Lord's Supper is a sacrament of our redemption by
Christ's death and of our hope in His victorious return, as well as a sign of the love that
Christians have for each other. To such as receive it humbly, with a proper spirit and by
faith, the Lord's Supper is made a means through which God communicates grace to the
heart.
The Second Coming of Christ
We believe that the certainty of the personal and imminent return of Christ inspires holy
living and zeal for the evangelization of the world. At His return He will fulfill all
prophecies made concerning His final and complete triumph over evil.
The Resurrection of the Dead
We believe in the bodily resurrection from the dead of all people – of the just unto the
resurrection of life, and of the unjust unto the resurrection of damnation. The
resurrection of Christ is the guarantee of the resurrection which will occur at Christ’s
Second Coming. The raised body will be a spiritual body, but the person will be whole and
identifiable.
The Judgment of All People
We believe that the Scriptures reveal God as the Judge of all and the acts of His judgment
are based on His omniscience and eternal justice. His administration of judgment will
culminate in the final meeting of all persons before His throne of great majesty and
power, where records will be examined and final rewards and punishments will be
administered.
Destiny
We believe that the Scriptures clearly teach that there is a conscious personal existence
after death. The final destiny of each person is determined by God's grace and that
person's response, evidenced inevitably by a moral character which results from that
individual's personal and volitional choices and not from any arbitrary decree of God.
Heaven with its eternal glory and the blessedness of Christ's presence is the final abode of
those who choose the salvation which God provides through Jesus Christ, but hell with its
everlasting misery and separation from God is the final abode of those who neglect this
great salvation.
Our Mission
Our Values and Practices
Our Beliefs
Our Faith Statements
Our History
For a complete list of all supporting Scriptures, or to learn more about the specifics of
church membership at SLW, please visit our denominational website at www.wesleyan.org
or call the church office (724-376-2233) for information on the next Connection Point
opportunity, which is SLW’s membership class.
The Holy Trinity
We believe in the one living and true God, both holy and loving, eternal, unlimited in
power, wisdom and goodness, the Creator and Preserver of all things. Within this unity
there are three persons of one essential nature, power and eternity--the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit.
The Father
We believe the Father is the Source of all that exists, whether of matter or spirit. With
the Son and the Holy Spirit, He made man, male and female, in His image. By intention He
relates to people as Father, thereby forever declaring His goodwill toward them. In love,
He both seeks and receives penitent sinners.
The Son
We believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. He was conceived by the Holy
Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, truly God and truly man. He died on the cross and was
buried, to be a sacrifice both for original sin and for all human transgressions, and to
reconcile us to God. Christ rose bodily from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and
there intercedes for us at the Father's right hand until He returns to judge all humanity at
the last day.
The Holy Spirit
We believe in the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is of the
same essential nature, majesty, and glory, as the Father and the Son, truly and eternally
God. He is the Administrator of grace to all, and is particularly the effective Agent in
conviction for sin, in regeneration, in sanctification, and in glorification. He is ever
present, assuring, preserving, guiding, and enabling the believer.
The Sufficiency and Full Authority of the Holy Scriptures
We believe that the books of the Old and New Testaments constitute the Holy Scriptures.
They are the inspired and infallibly written Word of God, fully inerrant in their original
manuscripts and superior to all human authority, and have been transmitted to the
present without corruption of any essential doctrine. We believe that they contain all
things necessary to salvation; so that whatever is not read therein, nor may be proved
thereby, is not to be required of any man or woman that it should be believed as an
article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. Both in the Old and
New Testaments life is offered ultimately through Christ, who is the only Mediator
between God and humanity. The New Testament teaches Christians how to fulfill the
moral principles of the Old Testament, calling for loving obedience to God made possible
by the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit.
God’s Purpose for Humanity
We believe that the two great commandments which require us to love the Lord our God
with all the heart, and our neighbors as ourselves, summarize the divine law as it is
revealed in the Scriptures. They are the perfect measure and norm of human duty, both
for the ordering and directing of families and nations, and all other social bodies, and for
individual acts, by which we are required to acknowledge God as our only Supreme Ruler,
and all persons as created by Him, equal in all natural rights. Therefore all persons should
so order all their individual, social and political acts as to give to God entire and absolute
obedience, and to assure to all the enjoyment of every natural right, as well as to
promote the fulfillment of each in the possession and exercise of such rights.
Marriage and the Family
We believe that every person is created in the image of God, that human sexuality reflects
that image in terms of intimate love, communication, fellowship, subordination of the self
to the larger whole, and fulfillment. God's Word makes use of the marriage relationship as
the supreme metaphor for His relationship with His covenant people and for revealing the
truth that that relationship is of one God with one people. Therefore God's plan for
human sexuality is that it is to be expressed only in a monogamous lifelong relationship
between one man and one woman within the framework of marriage. This is the only
relationship which is divinely designed for the birth and rearing of children and is a
covenant union made in the sight of God, taking priority over every other human
relationship.
Personal Choice
We believe that humanity's creation in the image of God included ability to choose
between right and wrong. Thus individuals were made morally responsible for their
choices. But since the fall of Adam, people are unable in their own strength to do the
right. This is due to original sin, which is not simply the following of Adam's example, but
rather the corruption of the nature of each mortal, and is reproduced naturally in Adam's
descendants. Because of it, humans are very far gone from original righteousness, and by
nature are continually inclined to evil. They cannot of themselves even call upon God or
exercise faith for salvation. But through Jesus Christ the prevenient grace of God makes
possible what humans in self-effort cannot do. It is bestowed freely upon all, enabling all
who will to turn and be saved.
Atonement
We believe that Christ's offering of himself, once and for all, through His sufferings and
meritorious death on the cross, provides the perfect redemption and atonement for the
sins of the whole world, both original and actual. There is no other ground of salvation
from sin but that alone. This atonement is sufficient for every individual of Adam's race. It
is unconditionally effective in the salvation of those mentally incompetent from birth, of
those converted persons who have become mentally incompetent, and of children under
the age of accountability. But it is effective for the salvation of those who reach the age
of accountability only when they repent and exercise faith in Christ.
Repentance and Faith
We believe that for men and women to appropriate what God's prevenient grace has made
possible, they must voluntarily respond in repentance and faith. The ability comes from
God, but the act is the individual's.
Repentance is prompted by the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit. It involves a willful
change of mind that renounces sin and longs for righteousness, a godly sorrow for and a
confession of past sins, proper restitution for wrong doings, and a resolution to reform
the life. Repentance is the precondition for saving faith, and without it saving faith is
impossible.
Faith, in turn, is the only condition of salvation. It begins in the agreement of the mind
and the consent of the will to the truth of the gospel, but issues in a complete reliance
by the whole person in the saving ability of Jesus Christ and a complete trusting of oneself
to Him as Savior and Lord. Saving faith is expressed in a public acknowledgment of His
Lordship and an identification with His church.
Justification, Regeneration, and Adoption
We believe that when one repents of personal sin and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ,
that at the same moment that person is justified, regenerated, adopted into the family of
God, and assured of personal salvation through the witness of the Holy Spirit.
We believe that justification is the judicial act of God whereby a person is accounted
righteous, granted full pardon of all sin, delivered from guilt, completely released from the
penalty of sins committed, by the merit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by faith alone,
not on the basis of works.
We believe that regeneration, or the new birth, is that work of the Holy Spirit whereby,
when one truly repents and believes, one's moral nature is given a distinctively spiritual
life with the capacity for love and obedience. This new life is received by faith in Jesus
Christ, it enables the pardoned sinner to serve God with the will and affections of the
heart, and by it the regenerate are delivered from the power of sin which reigns over all
the unregenerate.
We believe that adoption is the act of God by which the justified and regenerated
believer becomes a partaker of all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of a child of
God.
Good Works
We believe that although good works cannot save us from our sins or from God's judgment,
they are the fruit of faith and follow after regeneration. Therefore they are pleasing and
acceptable to God in Christ, and by them a living faith may be as evidently known as a tree
is discerned by its fruit.
Sin After Regeneration
We believe that after we have experienced regeneration, it is possible to fall into sin, for
in this life there is no such height or strength of holiness from which it is impossible to
fall. But by the grace of God one who has fallen into sin may by true repentance and faith
find forgiveness and restoration.
Sanctification
We believe that sanctification is that work of the Holy Spirit by which the child of God is
separated from sin unto God and is enabled to love God with all the heart and to walk in
all His holy commandments blameless. Sanctification is initiated at the moment of
justification and regeneration. From that moment there is a gradual or progressive
sanctification as the believer walks with God and daily grows in grace and in a more
perfect obedience to God. This prepares for the crisis of entire sanctification which is
wrought instantaneously when believers present themselves as living sacrifices, holy and
acceptable to God, through faith in Jesus Christ, being effected by the baptism with the
Holy Spirit who cleanses the heart from all inbred sin. The crisis of entire sanctification
perfects the believer in love and empowers that person for effective service. It is followed
by lifelong growth in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The
life of holiness continues through faith in the sanctifying blood of Christ and evidences
itself by loving obedience to God's revealed will.
The Gifts of the Spirit
We believe that the Gift of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit himself, and that He is to be
desired more than the gifts of the Spirit which He in His wise counsel bestows upon
individual members of the Church to enable them to properly fulfill their function as
members of the body of Christ. The gifts of the Spirit, although not always identifiable
with natural abilities, function through them for the edification of the whole church.
These gifts are to be exercised in love under the administration of the Lord of the
church, not through human volition. The relative value of the gifts of the Spirit is to be
tested by their usefulness in the church and not by the ecstasy produced in the ones
receiving them.
The Church
We believe that the Christian church is the entire body of believers in Jesus Christ, who is
the founder and only Head of the church. The church includes both those believers who
have gone to be with the Lord and those who remain on the earth, having renounced the
world, the flesh and the devil, and having dedicated themselves to the work which Christ
committed unto His church until He comes. The church on earth is to preach the pure
Word of God, properly administer the sacraments according to Christ's instructions, and
live in obedience to all that Christ commands. A local church is a body of believers
formally organized on gospel principles, meeting regularly for the purposes of evangelism,
nurture, fellowship and worship. The Wesleyan Church is a denomination consisting of
those members within district conferences and local churches who, as members of the
body of Christ, hold the faith set forth in these Articles of Religion and acknowledge the
ecclesiastical authority of its governing bodies.
The Sacraments of Baptism and Communion
We believe that water baptism and the Lord's Supper are the sacraments of the church
commanded by Christ and ordained as a means of grace when received through faith.
They are tokens of our profession of Christian faith and signs of God's gracious ministry
toward us. By them, He works within us to quicken, strengthen, and confirm our faith.
Baptism: We believe that water baptism is a sacrament of the church, commanded by our
Lord and administered to believers. It is a symbol of the new covenant of grace and
signifies acceptance of the benefits of the atonement of Jesus Christ. By means of this
sacrament, believers declare their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
Communion: We believe that the Lord's Supper is a sacrament of our redemption by
Christ's death and of our hope in His victorious return, as well as a sign of the love that
Christians have for each other. To such as receive it humbly, with a proper spirit and by
faith, the Lord's Supper is made a means through which God communicates grace to the
heart.
The Second Coming of Christ
We believe that the certainty of the personal and imminent return of Christ inspires holy
living and zeal for the evangelization of the world. At His return He will fulfill all
prophecies made concerning His final and complete triumph over evil.
The Resurrection of the Dead
We believe in the bodily resurrection from the dead of all people – of the just unto the
resurrection of life, and of the unjust unto the resurrection of damnation. The
resurrection of Christ is the guarantee of the resurrection which will occur at Christ’s
Second Coming. The raised body will be a spiritual body, but the person will be whole and
identifiable.
The Judgment of All People
We believe that the Scriptures reveal God as the Judge of all and the acts of His judgment
are based on His omniscience and eternal justice. His administration of judgment will
culminate in the final meeting of all persons before His throne of great majesty and
power, where records will be examined and final rewards and punishments will be
administered.
Destiny
We believe that the Scriptures clearly teach that there is a conscious personal existence
after death. The final destiny of each person is determined by God's grace and that
person's response, evidenced inevitably by a moral character which results from that
individual's personal and volitional choices and not from any arbitrary decree of God.
Heaven with its eternal glory and the blessedness of Christ's presence is the final abode of
those who choose the salvation which God provides through Jesus Christ, but hell with its
everlasting misery and separation from God is the final abode of those who neglect this
great salvation.
Our Mission
Our Values and Practices
Our Beliefs
Our Faith Statements
Our History
| (724) 376-2233 3096 Sandy Lake-Grove City Road, PO Box 275 Sandy Lake, PA 16145 |