Our Beliefs
Valley Statement of Faith
Whether you’re visiting for the first time or ready to take the next step in discipleship, Valley offers clear pathways for every stage of your spiritual journey.
A Letter of Introduction from The Valley Table
Beloved in Christ,
When the church gathers to confess her faith, she does so as an act of worship, witness, and love. This statement represents our attempt to declare with one voice the truths that bind us together as God’s people at Valley. Like those who have gone before us, we seek to hand down the faith once delivered to the saints while speaking clearly to the generation God has entrusted to our care.
Every faithful confession addresses both the eternal truths of Scripture and the particular challenges of its time. The Apostles’ Creed emerged when the church needed to declare the basic truths of the incarnation. The Nicene fathers wrote when the deity of Christ was under assault. The Reformers confessed when the gospel of grace had been obscured.
We too must speak where our generation most needs clarity. This is why you will find careful attention given to God’s creation design for marriage, family, and the household. These are not secondary matters but foundational truths written into the very fabric of creation. When we confess that God made us male and female, that marriage is between one man and one woman, that parents bear primary responsibility for their children’s discipleship, we are not engaging in culture wars but declaring the good purposes of our Creator. These truths, which previous generations could assume, now require clear confession.
You will notice our confession follows a progressive covenantal reading of Scripture. We see the Bible not as disconnected but as one unified story of redemption, with God progressively revealing His purposes through distinct but related covenants. Each covenant builds upon what came before while advancing the story toward its culmination in Christ. This approach helps us see both the continuity of God’s people throughout history and the genuine newness of what Christ has accomplished.
This reading of Scripture shapes how we understand our place in God’s purposes. We are not waiting to escape a doomed world but living as citizens of Christ’s kingdom, which He rules even now from heaven’s throne. Our children are not outsiders to be won but covenant members to be nurtured. Our callings in the world are not distractions from spiritual things but arenas for faithful service under Christ’s lordship.
In preparing this statement, we have practiced what our fathers called “studied moderation.” We do not bind consciences where Scripture allows freedom. You will find no requirement regarding the specific length of creation days, no detailed chart of end-times events, no intricate dissection of the order of God’s decrees. Good and godly believers have disagreed on such matters for centuries, and we see no wisdom in making these tests of fellowship.
A confession should unite God’s people around essential truths while allowing room for growth in understanding. We seek to be neither minimalists who confess too little nor maximalists who burden believers with unnecessary requirements. Our goal is to establish the essential grammar of the faith, the basic truths without which Christianity ceases to be Christianity.
Throughout this statement, you will find no proof texts in the margins. This is quite intentional. We believe Scripture is not a collection of isolated verses to be deployed as evidence but a unified revelation to be read as a whole. When we speak of the Trinity, we are reading Genesis 1 together with John 1 and Matthew 28. When we confess the nature of the church, we are holding together the promises to Abraham, the prophecies of Isaiah, and the teachings of Paul.
Could we provide chapter and verse for every statement? Certainly. Any student of Scripture will recognize the biblical foundations throughout. But we want to model a way of reading the Bible that sees the forest, not just the trees. Christian doctrine emerges from meditation on the whole counsel of God, as later Scripture illumines earlier Scripture, as all Scripture finds its center in Christ.
This confession is offered to you not as the final word on all theological matters but as our best attempt to declare what we believe Scripture teaches on the central matters of our faith. We have sought to write with charity toward those who differ, with clarity where Scripture speaks plainly, and with humility about our own limitations.
We invite you to receive this statement in the spirit in which it is offered: as an aid to unity, a guide for discipleship, a standard for membership and office, and a witness to the watching world. May it help us grow together in grace and truth, may it guard us from error, and may it guide us in faithful service to our Lord.
Above all, may this confession point beyond itself to the One who is Himself the Truth, our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory in the church throughout all generations, forever and ever.
Grace and peace,
The Session of Valley In the year of our Lord 2025
THE VALLEY STATEMENT OF FAITH
Article I: The Triune God
We believe in one living and true God, eternally subsisting in three persons —Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—each possessing the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. The Father is unbegotten; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. This is no mere theological formula but the fundamental reality of existence: before creation, God existed in perfect communion, the Father loving the Son in the unity of the Spirit, a trinity of persons in an eternal dance of love and glory.
This God is utterly sovereign, working all things according to the counsel of His will, yet He governs in such a way that He establishes rather than destroys the genuine agency of His creatures. He is infinite, eternal, unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. He stands in need of no created thing, yet freely chose to create for the manifestation of His glory. In Him we live and move and have our being.
Article II: Divine Revelation and Holy Scripture
Divine Revelation
We believe God has revealed Himself through the created order, the light of conscience, His mighty acts in history, and supremely in the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.
Scripture's Nature
This revelation has been inscripturated in the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, which are the very words of God, breathed out through human authors, fully reliable in all they affirm, and the supreme authority for faith and life.
Hermeneutical Approach
Scripture presents itself not as a collection of timeless truths but as a unified narrative moving from creation to new creation through the person and work of Christ. We read Scripture according to a progressive covenantal hermeneutic recognizing that God unfolds
His one redemptive plan through a sequence of major covenants, each preparing for and pointing to its fulfillment in the New Covenant. The Bible must be read literally according to its literary forms, grammatically according to its linguistic context, and redemptive-historically according to its place in the unfolding plan of redemption.
We prioritize the Septuagint tradition in Old Testament interpretation, recognizing it as the Bible of Jesus and the apostles, while also valuing the Hebrew text where well-preserved. Scripture interprets Scripture, later revelation illumines earlier revelation, and all Scripture finds its center and fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
Article III: Creation and Providence
We believe that God, by the word of His power and for the manifestation of His glory, created all things from nothing in the space of six days. The material universe is not an illusion to escape but a theater for God’s glory, declared “very good” at creation. God upholds, directs, disposes, and governs all creatures, actions, and things by His most wise and holy providence, yet in such a manner that the liberty and contingency of second causes are established rather than destroyed.
Mankind was created as the climax of God’s creative work, uniquely bearing the divine image in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. God created humanity male and female, equal in dignity and worth as image-bearers, yet distinct in glory and calling. The man was formed first to exercise loving headship, to guard and cultivate creation, and to lead in the mission of dominion. The woman was formed from the man as a suitable helper, to exercise her own dominion mandate alongside him, imaging the glory of the church in relation to Christ.
Article IV: The Covenant of Creation and the Fall
We believe God entered into a covenant relationship with Adam as the federal head of humanity. This covenant of creation promised life upon condition of perfect obedience, with death as the penalty for disobedience. Adam stood not merely as an individual but as the representative of all humanity, commissioned to extend Eden’s borders until the whole earth became a temple of God’s presence.
Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from their original righteousness by eating the forbidden fruit. By this sin, they brought themselves and all their posterity into an estate of sin and misery. Original sin consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin imputed to all his descendants, the loss of original righteousness, and the corruption of the whole nature, commonly called total depravity. From this original corruption proceed all actual transgressions. Apart from grace, humanity is dead in sin, unable and unwilling to return to God, hostile to His law, and deserving of eternal judgment.
Article V: The Unfolding of the Covenants
Article VI: The Person and Work of Christ
We believe that the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, without ceasing to be God, became man by taking to Himself a true human nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Two distinct natures, divine and human, are inseparably united in the one person of Jesus Christ, without confusion, change, division, or separation.
As our prophet, Christ reveals God and His will for our salvation. As our priest, He offered Himself once as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, making propitiation for sin and reconciling His people to God. As our king, He rules over all creation, restrains and conquers all enemies, and governs His church by His Word and Spirit.
His obedience and satisfaction are imputed to all who trust in Him, so that they are accounted righteous not by their own works but by His merit alone.
Christ’s resurrection was not merely spiritual but bodily—the same body that died was raised transformed and glorified. He ascended bodily into heaven where He sits at the Father’s right hand, possessing all authority in heaven and on earth. His kingdom is present, not merely spiritual but comprehensive, extending to every sphere of human existence.
Article VII: The Application of Redemption
We believe that God, as the primary cause of all things, works through genuine secondary causes according to their natures. In salvation, God’s sovereign grace establishes and perfects human freedom rather than destroying it. As Aquinas taught, God moves each thing according to its mode — necessary things necessarily, contingent things contingently, and free agents freely.
Human Freedom
Every human being possesses genuine freedom of will as part of the divine image. Though fallen and wounded by sin, this freedom remains real. When the gospel is proclaimed, all who hear it face a genuine choice for which they are truly responsible. The inability of the natural man to choose God arises not from lacking free will but from the will’s bondage to sin—a bondage that grace heals rather than overrides.
Divine Election
Before the foundation of the world, God chose a people for Himself in Christ according to His eternal purpose and grace. This election works through, not around, the real contingency and freedom God built into creation. God’s sovereignty is so absolute that He can ensure His purposes while establishing, not destroying, genuine human agency and responsibility.
Effectual Calling
In the fullness of time, the Holy Spirit draws sinners through the proclamation of the gospel. This drawing enables without coercing, heals without destroying freedom, persuades without violating agency. As primary cause, God makes possible what sin made impossible—the free embrace of Christ. Yet this remains a truly free act of the human will as secondary cause. The same grace that enables also ensures, working infallibly yet not irresistibly, through rather than against human freedom.
Sovereign Relationship
Those who respond in faith God justifies, declaring them righteous solely on the basis of Christ’s righteousness imputed to them. Faith is genuinely exercised by the believer as a free act of trust and surrender. The mystery is that God’s grace makes certain what remains genuinely contingent, guarantees what remains genuinely free. We affirm both human responsibility to believe and divine sovereignty in granting faith—not as contradiction but as the deepest truth about how God relates to His free creatures.
Perseverance
All who are justified God preserves to the end, not by overwhelming their wills but by so ordering grace and providence that they freely persevere. The God powerful enough to create beings with genuine agency is powerful enough to save them without destroying that agency. From beginning to end, salvation is all of grace, yet at every point engages real human freedom.
Article VIII: The Church
We believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church, purchased by Christ’s blood, built on the foundation of apostles and prophets with Christ as the cornerstone. This universal church becomes visible in particular churches—local assemblies of baptized believers organized under qualified leadership for worship, edification, and mission.
Christ has appointed offices in His church: elders/overseers/bishops (different names for the one same office) to shepherd, teach, and govern; and deacons to serve. The pastoral office is restricted to qualified men who meet the biblical requirements, as male headship in the church reflects Christ’s headship over His bride. Women serve vitally in countless ways but are not to teach or exercise authority over men in the gathered church.
The mission of the church is comprehensive: to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all that Christ commanded. This includes not merely evangelism but the transformation of cultures, the establishment of godly households, the pursuit of justice, and the extension of Christ’s lordship to every sphere of life. The church is not called to retreat from the world but to be salt and light within it.
Article IX: The Sacraments
We believe Christ instituted two sacraments as signs and seals of covenant realities: baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Baptism
Baptism is the initiatory sign of the New Covenant, signifying union with Christ in His death and resurrection, cleansing from sin, and incorporation into the visible church. We practice believer’s baptism by immersion as the biblical pattern, yet we maintain a high view of the children of believers. Though not baptized as infants, covenant children are not ‘little pagans’ but are holy, set apart to the Lord, included in the covenant community, and nurtured in the faith from birth. They are disciples to be retained, not outsiders to be converted. Christian parents should raise their children with the expectation of faith, not the assumption of unbelief.
The Lord's Supper
The Lord’s Supper is the continuing sign of the New Covenant, wherein believers spiritually feed on Christ by faith. In this meal, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes, experience communion with the risen Christ and with one another, and anticipate the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Article X: Marriage, Family, and Household
We believe the household is the fundamental institution of human society, established at creation before either church or state. Marriage is a creation ordinance—a covenant between one man and one woman, ordered to mutual help, the procreation and nurture of children, and the restraint of sin. This structure images the relationship between Christ and His church and cannot be altered by human decree.
Husband's Role
The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is head of the church, called to sacrificial love, provision, protection, and spiritual leadership.
Wife's Role
The wife is called to submit to her husband as the church submits to Christ, serving as his helper, the glory of the home, and the nurturer of life.
Parental Responsibility
Parents bear primary responsibility for the education and discipleship of their children. The duty to raise children in the fear and admonition of the Lord cannot be delegated to church programs or state schools but remains fundamentally a parental calling.
These roles are not cultural constructs but creation patterns that reflect ultimate realities. Faithful households are the seedbed of both church and culture.
Article XI: Civil Government and Society
We believe that God has instituted civil government as His servant for the restraint of evil and the promotion of good. All legitimate authority derives from Christ, to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given. Magistrates at every level are ministers of God, accountable to Him for their stewardship of power.
Government is not religiously neutral but is obligated to govern according to God’s moral law as revealed in both nature and Scripture. While the civil magistrate does not wield the keys of the kingdom and must not compel religious belief, he is bound to rule justly according to God’s standards.
This includes protecting the innocent, punishing evildoers, upholding the family structure ordained by God, and creating conditions for human flourishing under God’s law.
Christians are called to honor and obey legitimate authority except when commanded to sin, to pray for those in authority, and to seek the welfare of the cities where God has placed them. As salt and light, believers should engage every sphere of society—business, education, arts, politics—bringing them under the lordship of Christ. The goal is not theocratic coercion but the gradual leavening of society through faithful presence, prophetic witness, and culture-making under Christ.
Article XII: The Christian Life
We believe that those united to Christ by faith are called to walk in newness of life. While justification is by faith alone, the faith that justifies is never alone but always accompanied by all other saving graces and issues in good works. Sanctification is both definitive (we are set apart as holy at conversion) and progressive (we grow in holiness throughout life).
The Christian life is marked by ongoing repentance and faith, warfare against remaining sin, the cultivation of virtue, and the pursuit of holiness in every sphere. This includes diligent participation in corporate worship, private devotion, family worship, honest labor in earthly callings, generous stewardship, and love for neighbor.
Christians live between the already and the not yet—already seated with Christ in the heavenly places, not yet fully freed from the presence of sin; already citizens of heaven, not yet removed from earthly responsibility. This tension is not cause for escapism but for hopeful engagement with the world.
Article XIII: Last Things
We believe in the personal, visible, bodily return of Jesus Christ to judge the living and the dead. We affirm that God has one people throughout history — those united to Christ by faith, whether under old covenant or new.
Doctrine Matters
At Valley, we believe that what you know about God directly shapes how you live for God. A clear understanding of truth is more than an academic exercise; it is the firm foundation upon which a life of worship is built.
“Clarity Matters because Christ Matters.”