Our identity as a church is rooted in historic, biblical Christianity. We are committed to the authority of Scripture, the lordship of Jesus Christ, the power of the gospel, and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. Three words help summarize who we are and what we believe.

WE ARE COVENANT

We believe that God has always related to His people through His covenant of grace, progressively revealed throughout Scripture and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Rather than seeing the Bible as a collection of disconnected stories, we understand it as one unified story of God's redemptive plan from Genesis to Revelation.

This covenantal understanding shapes the way we read Scripture, preach the gospel, understand the church, disciple families, and live as citizens of God's Kingdom. The Old and New Testaments together reveal one unfolding plan of redemption centered on Christ, who has fulfilled every promise of God.

WE ARE CONFESSIONAL

We joyfully stand within the historic stream of orthodox Christianity. We believe that the great creeds and confessions of the Church faithfully summarize the essential teachings of Scripture and provide doctrinal stability for every generation. Our church gladly affirms:

• The Apostles' Creed
• The Nicene Creed
• The Athanasian Creed
• The Definition of Chalcedon
• Three Forms of Unity
• Westminster Confession of Faith

Our Confessional Foundation

The Gate Church of the High Desert receives the Westminster Confession of Faith as the primary theological framework for its doctrine, insofar as it faithfully summarizes the teaching of Holy Scripture. We affirm its doctrines concerning the authority of Scripture, the Triune God, creation and providence, human sin, God's sovereign grace in salvation, justification by faith, sanctification, perseverance, the Church, the ordinances, Christian ethics, and the consummation of God's purposes in Christ.

In matters concerning the sacraments/ordinances, children, and the continuing ministry of the Holy Spirit, our church expresses these convictions according to the biblical understanding articulated more fully in an article entitled, "The Holy Spirit, Children, Baptism, and the Continuation of Spiritual Gifts". 

We also affirm the historic Reformed Baptist emphasis represented in the Philadelphia Baptist Confession concerning corporate singing and the laying on of hands, while retaining our broader Westminster theological framework.

Our governing principle is therefore Scripture alone as the infallible and final authority for faith and practice. Historic confessions serve the Church as subordinate standards that summarize and guard biblical doctrine; they do not stand above the Word of God. We seek to be a church that is Reformed in theology, covenantal in biblical understanding, Christ-centered in salvation, Spirit-filled in ministry, continuationist in spiritual gifts, and biblically ordered in worship and church life.

By embracing these historic confessions, we affirm that we are not inventing a new faith but faithfully proclaiming "the faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).

WE ARE CONTINUATIONIST

We believe the Holy Spirit continues to actively empower the Church today just as He did in the New Testament. The Spirit regenerates sinners, sanctifies believers, equips disciples, and distributes spiritual gifts for the building up of Christ's body and the advancement of His Kingdom.

We believe every gift of the Spirit remains available according to God's sovereign will. These gifts are given not to exalt individuals, but to glorify Christ, strengthen the Church, and serve others in love. We desire to cultivate a church that is both deeply rooted in biblical truth and fully dependent upon the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

Because of this, we encourage every believer to earnestly seek the fullness of the Spirit and to faithfully steward whatever gifts God graciously gives for the common good.

Our Heart

These three convictions summarize our theological identity:

• Covenant in our understanding of God's redemptive purposes.
• Confessional in our commitment to historic Christian orthodoxy.
• Continuationist in our dependence upon the present ministry of the Holy Spirit.

In short, we are a church that is Reformed in doctrine, evangelical in mission, and continuationist in practice. We seek to be deeply rooted in the truth of God's Word, steadfast in the historic Christian faith, passionate about making disciples of all nations, and continually empowered by the Holy Spirit to glorify Jesus Christ.