We believe there is one God, whose nature is love; revealed in one Lord Jesus Christ, by one Holy Spirit of grace, who will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and happiness.

We affirm the salvific presence of God in non-Christian religions while still maintaining that Christ is the definitive and authoritative revelation of God. This couples the Christian's confession of Jesus Christ with genuine openness to the truth and goodness found in other religions. God being revealed definitively in Jesus Christ does not imply that He is not working in the wider world and in other religions. This is not to be confused with "pluralism" which is the position that denies the finality of Jesus Christ and maintains that other religions are equally salvific paths to God. (See Clark Pinnock's, "A Wideness in God's Mercy," pages 83, 93.)

We believe that it is through the finality of the redemption for all humans accomplished by God through Jesus Christ that salvation is confirmed and ratified. This is the basis of the inclusive Christian Universalist Faith.

There are Five General Principles that outline the Christian Universalist Faith. In the following sections of this document, those five principles are briefly explained. Those principles are:

1. The trustworthiness of the Bible as containing a revelation from God
2. The Universal Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of all humans
3. The spiritual authority and leadership of His Son Jesus Christ
4. The certainty of just retribution for sin
5. The final harmony of all souls with God: Universal Reconciliation and Universal Salvation

1. The trustworthiness of the Bible as containing a revelation from God

   While we recognize and have a genuine openess to the truth and goodness found in other religions and their sacred writings, we believe the Bible is the supreme revelation of the character of God and the duty, interest, and final destination of all humans.

2. The Universal Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of all humans

   We believe the existence of the one living and true God, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all worlds, beings, and things. We believe that God is self-existent, independent and eternal; omniscient and omnipresent; infinite in wisdom, goodness and power; in justice, mercy and truth. With Saint Paul we say, "To us there is but one God, even the Father." We believe God to be the universal Father of mankind; the Father of Spirits, our Father in heaven, who loves the whole human family, without exception, even while they are yet sinners, who is kind to the unthankful and to the evil, and who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. In one word, we believe that God is Love.

   Therefore, we recognize and accept the oneness of all humanity as brothers and sisters created in the image of God. There is "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Eph. 4:6). It is a very significant fact, recorded in the first chapter of Genesis, that when man was brought into being, ''God created him in his own image," that is, as his child, imparted to him his own nature, as a parent does to his offspring; ; fixed that relationship in his very being at creation. Let us observe what this important truth amounts to. Every person that lives, or that ever did live, in this world, every individual whom God has created, has a father in heaven. He may be a sinner; he may be as guilty and abandoned as the prodigal in the parable; he may be alienated from his Maker, dead in trespasses and sins, but there still is this indestructible relation "of father and child" existing between him and his Creator. This is what St. Paul means. On another occasion, he told the idolatrous Athenians that they, even they, were "the offspring of God," although they were utterly estranged from him.

   As all mankind have one and the same Father in heaven, they have a common relationship with one another," as as well as with Him. They are all brethren ; they form but one family in the constitution fixed by their Creator. It is a most important truth, that all the different classes of people, from the lowest to the highest, from the best to the worst, of all nations, colors, characters, and conditions, are bound together by an eternal blood-relationship, which they cannot sever, though they may sin against it. This is the doctrine of St. Paul, when he says, "God hath made of one blood all nations of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth." Whether civilized or savage, black, or white, or red, freemen or bondmen, saints or sinners, all were created brethren, just as much as the clildren in your family were born in that affinity; and, in the sight of God and duty, they never can become other than brethren.

   We do not forget that there is one sense in which God is not the father of all. There are many who have not been spiritually born of him, or regenerated, and who are not, in this moral or religious sense, his children, that is, they do not resemble God in their character. Christ said to the Jews, for instance, ''If God were your father, ye would love me." " Ye are of your father the devil, and the works of your father ye will do." And so in several other passages of Scripture, God is spoken of as the father only of those who believe and obey. But in all these cases the meaning is too obvious to need illustration. We know they relate only to religious character, not to the persons themselves. What we wish to say is, that, underneath this moral or religious relationship of mere character, there must be a natural relationship that binds all mankind to God. If he were not really their Father, how could he require them to serve him as dear children? If they really belonged to the "adversary," it would be enough for them to obey their own father. But if God created them all in his own image, he is of course their father in the natural sense. "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."

3. The spiritual authority and leadership of His Son Jesus Christ

   We believe that to manifest his love for the human race, God sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world, to reveal more perfectly the divine character and purposes, and finally, through death and resurrection, to bring life and immortality to light. We believe that Christ is the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his person. We believe that he is appointed by the Father, heir of all things, and is Lord of all, and the he must reign, till he has subdued all things to himself, when he himself will deliver up the kingdom to the Father that God may be all in all. Thus he will save his people from their sins, and be what inspiration proclaims him to be, the Savior of the world. To this end we believe he gave himself a ransom for all, and tasted death for every man, for God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.

   While we recognize and accept the oneness of all humanity as brothers and sisters created in the image of God. We also recognize and accept the special, Spiritual, oneness as a "new creation," and as brothers and sisters "in Christ," of all who believe that:

   "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He came in the flesh, died for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures."

   We believe in the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God, the spirit of truth, the Comfortor, the guide, who convicts the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, and whose fruits in the believing soul are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

4. The certainty of just retribution for sin

   We believe that God, as the moral governor of the universe, will bestow righteous and equitable rewards and punishments upon all mankind according to their several characters or deserts; but that all punishment will be remedial, and consequently limited.

   We believe in the importance of good works, not to purchase salvation, or gain the love of God -- for salvation is of grace alone, and God loves even his enemies -- but as the natural fruits of the gospel cordially received, the evidences of indwelling grace.

   We believe, that holiness and true happiness are inseparably connected; and that believers ought to maintain order, and practice good works, for these things are good and profitable to all people.

   We believe in the importance of indespensable necessity of repentance, that is, godly sorrow for sin, and a true reformation of heart and life.

   We believe in the new birth, or a change of heart, effected in the soul by a cordial belief of the gospel truth, accompanied by the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit.

   We believe that repentance and salvation are not limited to this life. Whenever and wherever a person truly turns to God, salvation will be found. God is "the same yesterday, today, and forever," and the obedience of his children is ever welcome to him.

   To limit the saving power of Christ to this present life seems to us like limiting the Holy One of Israel; and when we consider how many millions lived and died before Christ came, and how many since, who not only never heard his name, but were ignorant of the one living God, we shudder at the though that his infinite love should have made no provision for their welfare, and left them to annihilation, or, what is worse, endless misery. And it is but little better with myriads born in Christian lands, whose opportunities have been so meager that their endless damnation would be an act of such manifest injustice as to be in the highest degree inconsistent with the benevolent character of God.

5. The final harmony of all souls with God: Universal Reconciliation and Universal Salvation

   We believe in universal salvation, universal reconciliation, or in other words, of the final holiness and happiness of all mankind, to be effected by the grace of God, through the ministry of his Son, Jesus Christ.

   We believe that, in the fulness of time, God will bring together all things in Christ, when, in the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, of things in heaven and in earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father; when, as by one man's disobedience, many are made sinners, so, by the obedience of one, shall the same many be made righteous; in one word, when Christ shall have taken away the sin of the world, accomplished the great mission on which he came, done the will of God, seen the fruits of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied, and GOD BE ALL IN ALL.

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   In Summary

   A Profession of Faith

   We believe, that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments contain a revelation of the character of God, and of the duty, interest, and final destination of mankind.

   We believe there is one God, whose nature is love; revealed in one Lord Jesus Christ, by one Holy Spirit of grace, who will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and happiness.

   We believe, that holiness and true happiness are inseparably connected; and that believers ought to maintain order, and practice good works, for these things are good and profitable unto men.

   We believe that God, as the moral governor of the universe, will bestow righteous and equitable rewards and punishments upon all mankind according to their several characters or deserts; but that all punishment will be remedial, and consequently limited.