We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory. 

We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises. 

We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed. 

We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus—Israel's promised Messiah—was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate. 

We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation. 

We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service. 

We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer. 

We believe that God's justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed. 

We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission. 

We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen. 

Whereas, the EFCA Statement of Faith affirms that “God created Adam and Eve in His image” (Article III.3); and

Whereas, when God created Adam and Eve, He said, “‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’ . . . . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them” (Genesis 1:26-28a); and

Whereas, this means that God has created human beings uniquely as male and female as part of the divinely created order, and that this biologically sexed difference is foundational for human identity and ought to be recognized and valued; and

Whereas, Jesus refers to this difference in describing God’s design for marriage by declaring, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh” (Mark 10:6-8; cf. Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6; Ephesians 5:31); and

Whereas, God’s creation of human beings as male and female provides a biologically sexed identity grounded in God’s good design;

Now, therefore, it is hereby resolved as follows:

The Evangelical Free Church of America affirms that God created human beings uniquely in His image as male and female, and He has designed marriage to be a covenantal relationship between one man and one woman. This Resolution on Biblical Sexuality and the Covenant of Marriage is an important affirmation of the truth of the Bible, as articulated in the EFCA Statement of Faith.

We are not adherents of the secular “Social Justice” movement as held in progressive circles, but we do believe that biblical justice has social implications, particularly in protecting those who are most vulnerable and marginalized.

We are not “woke” in the sense of having embraced a progressive ideology that is grounded in critical theory rather than the Bible, but we do see the need to be awakened to the global and indeed cosmic impacts of sin, including racial injustice, and to be attuned to the biblical call for gospel-driven efforts toward reconciliation and restoration.

 We are not adherents of “Critical Race Theory” that reduces all racial inequities to a struggle between oppressor and oppressed and presents a worldview that is contrary to the Scriptures, but we do believe that the questions and challenges it raises stir us to recall critical biblical truths that we may have neglected and require our attention.

We are not “Christian Nationalists” who believe the federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation or who believe that Americans are “God’s chosen people,” but we do believe that a patriotic love of one’s nation is appropriate and that Christians should be good citizens who may freely advocate for God-honoring public policies.

We do not believe that political means can establish the kingdom of God, but we do believe that God has appointed governing authorities to do good and that, for citizens in Christ's kingdom, King Jesus’ rule and reign transcends all other citizenships and partisan ideologies and transforms how we live in the world.

We do not believe that a person’s biological sex should be separated from their self-perception as a man or a woman nor that the body should be altered when it does not conform to that self-perception, but we do believe that some people experience a distressing struggle between these two and that we must treat those who struggle in this way with love and compassion as we seek to help them, with the truth and power of the gospel, toward the wholeness of a biologically-sexed identity grounded in God’s “very good” design in creation as male and female.

We are not egalitarian in our understanding of the roles and functions of men and women in the church, but we do believe that the gifts and ministries of women are essential to the health and fruitfulness of churches and ought to be sought out and multiplied in ways that arise from and are consistent with our complementarian convictions, as reflected in our EFCA ordination policy.

We do not believe in the annihilation of those who die apart from Christ, but in their eternal conscious punishment. Among the kinds of suffering we ought to seek to alleviate, this is the most grievous, and it is our urgent duty and God-given privilege to seek to alleviate it by proclaiming the gospel and calling all people to believe the gospel by repenting and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son, our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into Hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the One Holy Universal Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. 

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible;
and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by Whom all things were made; Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from Heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into Heaven and sits on the right hand of the Father. He shall come again with glory to judge the quick and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, Who spoke by the Prophets.
I believe in One Holy Universal Christian and Apostolic Church.
I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body, of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards His Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards His manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of the virgin Mary, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only-begotten, recognized in two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and only-begotten God, the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the Prophets from earliest times spoke of Him, and as our Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught us, and as the creed of the fathers has handed down to us.

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold to the universal faith, which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. The universal faith is this: We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Essence. There is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit, but the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Holy Spirit is uncreated. The Father is unlimited, the Son is unlimited, and the Holy Spirit is unlimited. The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, and the Holy Spirit is eternal. Yet, they are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated, nor three infinites, but one uncreated and one infinite. So likewise, the Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, and the Holy Spirit is almighty. Yet, they are not three almighties, but one almighty. So, the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. Yet, they are not three Gods, but one God. So likewise, the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is Lord. Yet, they are not three Lords, but one Lord. Just as we are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be God and Lord, so are we forbidden by the universal religion to say, "There are three Gods or three Lords." The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So, there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. In this Trinity, none is before or after another. None is greater or lesser than another, but the whole three Persons are coeternal and coequal, so that in all things, as aforesaid: the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He, therefore, who will be saved, let him thus think of the Trinity.
Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe faithfully the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, for the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man; God, of the Essence of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man, of the essence of His mother, born in the world; perfect God and perfect man, of a rational soul and physical body subsisting; equal to the Father, as touching His Godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching His manhood; Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ; one, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by assumption of the manhood by God; one altogether, not by confusion of Essence, but by unity of Person. As the rational soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ, Who suffered for our salvation, descended into Hell, rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into Heaven. He sitteth on the right hand of the God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead. At Whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works, and they who have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they who have done evil into everlasting fire. This is the universal faith, which, except a man believe truly and firmly, he cannot be saved.