Swedesford Road Church uses the historic creeds and confessions of the Christian Church to summarize what we believe and teach, from the earliest confession, The Apostles’ Creed. Most of the great creeds and confessions in the Protestant tradition are available in the church Bible, the “ESV with Creeds and Confessions.”

For a more complete summary of what we teach, see the Westminster Shorter Catechism and the Heidelberg Catechism.

From its founding, Swedesford Road Church was committed to the orthodox Christian faith. Like many evangelical churches, a brief statement of essential beliefs was intended to make clear the minimum points of doctrine that believers must affirm. We are still committed to those original statements, as follows:

1. We believe in the absolute authority and accuracy of the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments; its plenary verbal inspiration in the original manuscripts and its all-sufficiency as the Christian’s rule of faith and practice.  (2 Timothy 3:16,17; 2 Peter 1:19-21)
2. We believe that there is but one God, the Creator, Preserver, and Ruler of all things, who is perfect in holiness and love, infinite in wisdom and measureless in power, and Who reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  (Deuteronomy 6:4; Nehemiah 9:6; 1 Chronicles 29:11,12; Exodus 15:11; 1 John 4:8; Matthew 18:19)
3. We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal and only begotten Son of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, and that He is true God and true man and is the only mediator between God and man. (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:35; John 1:1,2,14; John 12:45; John 14:9; 1 Timothy 2:5)
4. We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, whose ministry is to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, to regenerate the unbelieving, and to seal, sanctify, teach, and comfort those who believe in Jesus Christ.  (John 16:8-11; John 3:3-7; Ephesians 1:13; John 14:26)
5. We believe that man was created in the image of God and that he sinned, thereby he incurred both physical and spiritual death; thus we believe that all men by nature and by choice are sinners, and, apart from Christ, shall forever be separated from God.  (Genesis 1:26; Genesis 2:17; Ezekiel 18:20; Romans 6:23)
6. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are justified on the merit of His shed blood. (1 Corinthians 15:3,4; Romans 3:21-26)
7. We believe that salvation is by grace through faith, not of works, and that all who receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ are born again of the Holy Spirit, thereby becoming children of God. (Ephesians 2:8,9; John 3:3-7; John 1:12, 13)
8. We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord Jesus Christ, His ascension into Heaven, and in His present ministry there for us as High Priest and Advocate.  We believe in the personal, visible, and bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ to set up His Kingdom upon the earth. (1 Corinthians 15:4; Acts 1:8-11; Hebrews 4:14-16; 1 John 2:1,2; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; Revelation 19:11-16; Revelation 20:1-15)
9. We believe in the bodily resurrection in the just and the unjust, the everlasting conscious blessedness of the saved, and the everlasting conscious punishment of the lost. (1 Corinthians 15:20-24; Revelation 20:12-15; 2 Corinthians 5:8)
10. We believe in the Church, a living, spiritual body of which Christ is the Head, and of which all regenerated people are members, and that the local visible church is a company of believers in Jesus Christ, associated together for worship, work, fellowship, discipline, and to carry the hope found in Him to a lost world. (Matthew 16:16-18; Acts 2:42-47; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31)