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Things Change.

Weather changes. Technology changes. Styles changes. We change. Someone once said you can count on two things: death and taxes.

And God never changes. He never forgets to be reliable. His love and mercy are constant. His character durably outlasts each era of history. From creation to completion, you can count on God.

This page is dedicated to the enduring character of God and what it means to us. Anchor of Hope Church is firmly planted in the 21st-century with roots that reach far back into history. This page is about those roots.

First of all, God's character is recorded in the Bible. Since the first pages were written about 3500 years ago to the present, the Bible is the exclusive authoritative document for this congregation and for all Christian churches around the globe. This remarkable book records God's plan to rescue the people of the world from their own meanness and malice. Rather than leave us wallowing in our self-destruction, God created a plan. This plan is unchanging and we find great comfort in being part of God's Big Plan. You can count of that long-term reliability at Anchor of Hope Church. We like those deep roots.

Second, throughout history a few documents have been written which capture and summarize key ideas found in the Bible. These documents are known as creeds, or statements of belief. Creeds help you by giving thumbnail details about what the church will teach and how. The Creeds of a church are simply a shorthand tool for explaining the beliefs of a chruch.

What are our creeds? We have six creeds, each of them quite old and well-established as accurate summaries of the Bible. I hope that you take a while to read through these Creeds.

First, we have three Creeds from the earliest years of the Christian church. These three creeds are recognized by almost all Christians around the world as the core statements of beliefs and as faithful summaries of the Bible. These are sometimes called the "ecumenical creeds."

Apostles Creed
Athanasian Creed
Nicene Creed

Second, around the year 1517, an upheaval known as the "Great Reformation" occurred in the Christian Europe. Martin Luther and others broke away from the Catholic Church to create several Protestant churches. The Christian Reformed Church was born during that period of history -- and our name derives from the Great Reformation.

The Great Reformation changed European and world history in dramatic ways that continue to this day. For our purposes two items are most important: The role of the Bible and the sovereignty of God.

In the Great Reformation the Bible was reestablished as the written authority for knowledge of God. Rather than asking the Pope for his instructions, the Reformation taught all Christians to read and understand the Bible for themselves and with their friends in local churches. So the Bible was translated out of Latin and Greek and Hebrew and into the languages of each nation. People were taught to read so that they could read and understand the Bible. Thus began modern public education.

The second great focus of the Reformation was even more amazing -- it was the reaffirmation each person -- you, in this case -- can have a personal relationship with God. It came from verses like this one which is slightly paraphrased for the web page:

Ephesians 1: 4-6
For God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In his love predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us because of Christ, whom he loves.
(The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Eph 1:3-6)

Those dramatic words from the Bible shook Europe with the reminder that all of our hope and security flows directly from God who took the initiative to rescue us and pull us back to himself just as a drowning man might be pulled into a lifeboat.

These great truths were captured in three additional creeds known as:

The Heidelberg Catechism
The Belgic Confession
The Canons of Dordt

These creeds serve the purpose of steering us back to the Bible teaching. THey never replace the Bible, of course; their role is to give you the assurance that when you visit Anchor of Hope Church you will hear a message or teaching from Scripture in the tradition of the Great Reformation.