The Bible
We believe the Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments, reveals the Word of God so far as it is necessary for our salvation. It is to be received through the Holy Spirit as the true rule and guide for faith and practice. We believe that scripture contains a wide variety of literatures including prose, poetry, records, history, and apocalyptic literature. We do not see Scripture as something to always be taken literally, but we do believe that it is to always be taken seriously.
We do not believe that the New Testament replaces the Old Testament or that one is more important than the other. All Scripture is helpful and necessary to understanding the work of God in the world. We also understand that scripture has been translated over and over again and that it is impossible to translate something without a touch of interpretation. Therefore we believe it is important to explore scripture in a way that looks at the original context of the passage and uses prayer to discern meaning.
While be believe that the Bible is the word of God, we believe that Jesus Christ is the living Word of God (John 1:1). Therefore we know that God is still at work in the world and that the work and love of God did not stop with the completion of the scriptures. Therefore we continue to use all of the resources available to us, including Scripture, Reason, Tradition, and Experience in order to discern God’s call upon our lives and community.