What We Believe
Heartland Community Church is a part of the communion of churches in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). As a denomination we are faithful the Scriptures, true to the Reformed Faith, and obedient to the Great Commission.
The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America, which is subject to and subordinate to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the inerrant Word of God, consists of its doctrinal standards set forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith, together with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and the Book of Church Order.
Summary of Our Beliefs
The Bible
The Bible, which is the Word of God written, consists of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. These 66 books of Scripture are God-breathed and are the only rule of faith and life for the church.
God
There is only one, living and true God. He is the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ, the living Word and second Person of the Godhead, became man through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth, yet without sin. Jesus is true God and true man united in one Person forever. He died on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for for the sins of all who believe. On the third day He rose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of the Father. He is the only Savior, Priest, and King forever!
Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, serves to glorify Christ and to apply His saving work to our hearts. He convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment and draws us to the Savior. Indwelling our hearts, He gives new life and empowers and imparts gifts to us for service. He instructs and guides us into all truth and seals us for the day of redemption.
Mankind
God created mankind, male and female, in His own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness with dominion over His creatures and all this was very good. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, were happy in their communion and relationship with God.
Sin
Our first parents Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan and sinned against God by disobeying His command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because of their sin, their innocence and communion with God was lost, they became dead in sin, and were wholly defiled in body and soul. The guilt of their sin and the corruption of their nature has been passed to all their posterity, making all mankind guilty before God.
Salvation
Since all mankind is guilty before God and has been estranged from Him because of our sinfulness, salvation is now wholly dependent upon the work of God’s free grace. Every person who repents, believes, and puts their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, God will credit Christ’s righteousness to them, thereby justifying them in His sight. Only such as are born of the Holy Spirit and receive Jesus Christ become children of God and heirs of eternal life.
The Church
The true Church is composed of all persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit are united together in the body of Christ. The Church finds her visible, yet imperfect, expression in local congregations where the whole counsel of the Word of God is preached, the sacraments are administered in their integrity, discipline is practiced, and loving fellowship is maintained.
Christ's Return
God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ. On that day, Jesus Christ will come again to the earth-personally, visibly, and bodily-to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God.