There is one living and true God, infinitely perfect in glory, wisdom, holiness, justice, power and love, one in His essence but eternally existing in three persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God sovereignly created the world out of nothing, so that His creation, while wholly dependent upon Him, neither comprises part of God, nor conditions His essential perfection (Genesis 1:2; Matthew 28:19,20). The books which form the canon of the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God, inerrant in the original writings, the only infallible rule of faith and practice (II Timothy 3:16). God created humankind in His own image, in a state of original righteousness, from which humankind subsequently fell by a voluntary revolt, and consequently is guilty, inherently corrupt and subject to divine wrath. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, became man without ceasing to be God uniting to His divine nature a true human nature in His incarnation, and so continues to be both God and man, in two distinct natures and one person, forever. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, exhibited His deity by manifold miracles, fulfilled the requirements of the Law by His sinless life, shed His blood as a vicarious and propitiatory atonement for humankind’s sin, was resurrected from the dead in the same body, now glorified. He ascended into heaven and now intercedes in glory for His redeemed as our greatest high priest and advocate, and as the Head of the Church and Lord of the individual believer (Matthew 1:20,21; John 1:1-14; Romans 3:21-26; 5:6-11; I Peter 3:18; I John 2:1,2; Luke 24; Acts 1:9; Hebrews 8). The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgement, through the ministry of regeneration and sanctification applies salvation and places believers into the Church, guides and comforts God’s children, indwells, directs, gifts and empowers the Church in godly living and service in order to fulfill the great commission, and seals and keeps the believer until Christ returns (John 16:1-33; I Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 1:13,14). Every person, regardless of race or rank, who receives the Lord Jesus Christ by faith is born into the family of God and receives eternal life. This occurs solely because of the grace of God and has no ground in human merit. The Holy Church is the one institution specifically ordained of God to function in the furthering of the Kingdom until Christ comes again. It consists of all those regenerated by the Spirit of God, in mystical union and communion both with Christ, the head of the Body, and with fellow-believers. Neighborhood congregations are the local manifestation of the Church universal. In obedience to the command of Christ, these congregations preach the word of God, equip God’s people for the work of ministry, and administer the Lord’s Supper and Baptism. The Lord Jesus Christ will return bodily, visibly and personally to receive His own, to conform believers to His own image and to establish His millennial kingdom. He will judge the quick and the dead and will effect a final separation of the redeemed and the lost, assigning unbelievers to eternal punishment and believers to eternal glory, enjoying conscious fellowship with Him (I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Corinthians 15:50-58; Revelation 20:4-6). Humankind’s chief end in life is to honor and glorify Almighty God. Personal salvation is a means to this end.

By the year 2025, one out of every three people on the planet will live in urban poverty. We believe that God is raising up leaders who will go to the unreached millions among the urban poor in America and around the world. More importantly, we believe that God is raising up dynamic leaders from among the urban poor who deserve access to quality theological education. This belief is not predicated simply on the urgent need, although God’s Church should certainly respond in faith to the unique challenge of a swelling urban population. Rather, we assert that God has “chosen those who are poor in the eyes of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him.” (James 2.5) Whether we are rich, poor, or somewhere in between, we believe that Jesus has given all of us as believers a theological mandate to prioritize the poor in our life and ministry. As much as Christians may wish that poverty and oppression did not exist, to avoid talking about the problem will not bring a solution. We believe that the Church is God’s agent for bringing Christ’s Kingdom which leads to freedom, wholeness, and justice. Furthermore, we believe that people from families and communities struggling with urban poverty are not to be viewed simply as objects for Christian benevolence but as a dynamic leadership pool for the future of the whole Church. We believe that all training for Christian leadership must be done in the light of Christ’s announcement that: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me; therefore, he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4.18-19) To the best of our ability, we will strive to be a Christian leadership training center which is accessible and relevant to Christian leaders, not on the basis of economics or social power, but on the basis of their calling by God to serve his Church.