St. Stephen’s Academy is a Protestant Christian school that adheres to the historic Christian ecumenical creeds (the Apostle’s, Nicene, and Chalcedonian) and affirms the summary of Christian doctrine expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith. The following statements represent the foundational doctrinal commitments of St. Stephen’s Academy and are reflected throughout the curriculum.
1
The Bible
We believe the Bible, in its entirety, is the only infallible, inerrant, and inspired Word of God; it is divine revelation that carries the full weight of God’s authority and to which we are required to submit.2
Trinity
We believe there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three distinct yet equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who know, love, and glorify one another. These three are one true, eternal God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.3
God
We believe God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. God is fully omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, and is absolutely sovereign in all areas of reality, including the salvation of men.4
Jesus Christ
We believe Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man, having two natures inseparably united in one divine person without confusion, mixture, separation, or division. In the incarnation, Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, lived a perfect life among us, was crucified, dead, and buried, rose on the third day, ascended to heaven, and will come again in glory and judgment. He is the only Mediator between God and man.5
Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit is of one substance with the Father and the Son. He eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son, and He dwells in the hearts of believers.6
Creation
We believe God, by the word of His power, created from nothing the universe and everything in it. He further preserves and governs all His creatures and all their actions according to His most holy, wise, and powerful providence.7
The Fall
We believe God created man, both male and female, in His own image. After Adam sinned and woefully fell in his responsibility, he and his posterity entered into a state of moral corruption and moral inability and became estranged from their Creator, thus deserving death as the punishment for sin.8
Salvation
We believe Jesus Christ made a complete atonement for His people through His substitutionary death on the cross. He imputes His righteousness to all believers, apart from their works, securing full redemption for all who repent of their sin and trust in Him alone for salvation.9
Moral Law
We believe the moral law perfectly reflects the unchangeable character of God and forever binds all people, believers as well as unbelievers.10
The Church
We believe Christ has established one universal church that finds expression in local churches, which are called to live in the power of the Holy Spirit under the authority of the Bible, preaching the gospel of Christ, administering the sacraments, and exercising discipline.11
Eternal Life
We believe there will be a bodily resurrection at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will return in glory, personally and visibly, at the end of the age. The redeemed will experience everlasting joy in God’s presence and the wicked and unbelieving will experience eternal conscious punishment.
The above statements do not exhaust the extent of our beliefs. The Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, and the proper conduct of mankind, is the sole and final source of all that we believe. For purposes of St. Stephen’s Academy’s instruction, practice, policy, and discipline, our Board of Directors is the final interpretive authority on the Bible’s application.
St. Stephen’s Academy supports churches, schools, and other educational organizations that hold a range of theological perspectives, provided they affirm the ancient Christian creeds, confess the final authority of Scripture and lordship of Jesus Christ, and that they are committed to training up disciples of Jesus by teaching them to do all that He has commanded, for the glory of God and the good of man and his environment. St. Stephen’s Academy joins with and supports those organizations that condemn the murder of defenseless human beings at any stage of life and that reject unbiblical definitions of marriage, gender, and sexuality.
