Statement of Basic Beliefs
Cider Mill Christian Fellowship accepts the following as a statement of basic beliefs. 
These beliefs outline the foundational principles by which the church operates. 

We believe and affirm the FIVE SOLAS of the Reformation:

  1. Sola Scriptura: Scripture Alone
  2. Sola Gratia: Grace Alone
  3. Sola Fide: Faith Alone
  4. Solus Christus: Christ Alon
  5. Soli Deo Gloria: To the Glory of God Alone

    I.  The Scriptures
    We believe in the inspiration, inerrancy, infallibility, veracity and sufficiency of the Bible and trust in it as our single source of authority for beliefs and practices

    II. God
    We believe there is but one true and living God who is infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, and love existing in three persons: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
    A.  God the Father                   
                God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream 
    of human history
              according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and  
                all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is
                fatherly in His attitude toward all men.
     B.  God the Son
               Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit
               and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself               
               human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet
               without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on
               the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a  
               glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He
               ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully
              God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man.
    C.  God the Holy Spirit
              The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures.
              Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of
               righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment of
               regeneration, He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character,
               comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church.

    III. Man
    We believe mankind was created in the image and likeness of God; as a result of Adam’s sin all men inherited a sinful nature, became alienated from God, are totally depraved, and thus are unable to remedy their lost condition apart from divine grace. Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race.

    IV.  Salvation
    We believe that those who are called by grace are justified in the sight of God on account of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is received by faith. Salvation then is by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end sustained by His power and love.

    V. The Church|
    We believe the universal church is a spiritual entity composed of all born-again persons of this age of which Christ is the head. A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is expressed through local congregations of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.

    VI. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
    We believe there are two ordinances given to the church:  Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
          *  Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is
          an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s
          death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a
          testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the
          privileges of church membership. 

         *  The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the
          bread and the cup, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

    VII. Last Things
    We believe in the return of Christ for His church and a literal future millennial kingdom. God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever with the Lord.