What We Believe
“The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. ”
Pilgrim is a Trinitarian church. There are three persons in the Godhead: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory (Matthew 3:16-17 & 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Ephesians 2:18). God’s relationship with man, including God’s covenant of salvation, is rooted in his Trinitarian nature.
We believe the words and authority of Holy Scripture which depend “wholly upon God (who is truth itself)” and who is the author of Scripture. We receive God’s word because it is God’s word (2 Timothy 3:16, 1 John 5:9, 1 Thessalonians 2:13, Revelation 1:1-2). The Bible itself is the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
Pilgrim is a confessional church. The Westminster Confession of Faith and Larger and Shorter Catechisms are a summary of what the scriptures teach. They are also helpful for learning and understanding the word of God.
Pilgrim is a connectional church (Acts 15). Pilgrim Presbyterian Church is a member congregation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Presbytery of the Southeast.
Pilgrim is a mission-oriented church (Matthew 28), prayerfully supporting the proclamation of the gospel to all nations through the OPC’s work in Christian Education, Foreign Missions, and Home Missions.
The Scriptures have one central and unified message: God the Father sending his only begotten son Jesus Christ into the world to save sinners (Genesis 3:15 & 12:3, Isaiah 53:5, Psalm 16:10, John 5:39, Luke 24:27).
Jesus accomplished our salvation through his perfect life and by his death in our place (1 Corinthians 15). In God’s plan of salvation, God justifies sinners by punishing Jesus in our place, and giving us Christ’s righteousness. When we believe the good news of the gospel, we are declared righteous by God, once and for all, based on Christ’s work for us. And, because we are united to Christ, God adopts us as his sons and daughters (Galatians 4:4-5).
We cannot believe this message of salvation on our own (Matthew 16:17) because we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2). The Holy Spirit must open our hearts to believe this message of salvation (Acts 16:14). We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ’s work alone, so that God alone gets the glory!
As we believe the message of the gospel, God makes us more and more like Jesus through the power of that same gospel (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). This process is called sanctification. God’s promise of sanctification through the power of the gospel works through his word – particularly through preaching and the sacraments (John 17:17-19, 1 Corinthians 10:16, 1 Corinthians 11:25-26, Galatians 3:27).
By the power of the gospel, God builds us up in our faith (Ephesians 2:8), and we persevere as long as we live (Philippians 1:6).
In Christ, God’s people have been justified, are being sanctified, and will be glorified.
Because all these things are true, we are able to obey our Lord’s command to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves. Apart from what God has done for us in Christ, we never could, nor ever would, obey. Out of gratitude for Christ’s work for us and in us, we pursue holiness in Christ, pressing on to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14).