Founded in 1820, First Presbyterian Church is a founding member of the Presbyterian Church in America and is part of the Presbytery of Southeast Alabama.
We hold to Biblical, historic, and orthodox Christianity as expressed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and as summarized in the Nicene and Apostles Creeds. As a Presbyterian Church in the Reformed tradition we hold to the Westminster Confession of Faith and its Larger and Shorter Catechisms as the best summary of what Scripture teaches on key and important doctrines and topics.
We also affirm the five solas of the Reformation: Scripture alone (sola scriptura) by grace alone (sola gratia), through faith alone (sola fide), in Christ alone (solo Christo), and to God alone be the glory (soli Deo gloria).
The following is a short summary of our view of the essentials of Historic Christianity. It is by no means exhaustive of what we believe, but provides a brief picture of what we hold to be true and essential.
The Bible
The Bible is the inspired and authoritative Word of God. It is without error in its original manuscripts and contains everything we need to know about having a right relationship with God, humanity, and his creation. In short, the Bible is the only rule and measure for our worship, faith, doctrine, and practices (2 Timothy 3:16–17).
The Triune God
God is One (Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:29) yet exists in three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— who are to be equally loved, honored, and worshipped (Matthew 28:19). He is the Creator God of all there is, both things visible and invisible and he pronounced what he made as good. As the Creator God he has not left his creation alone, but is intimately involved with it, directing the course of history toward the renewal and redemption of all things through his Son Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit (cf., Revelation 21).
Humanity
Humans were created by God in his image (Genesis 1:27). Humans are the high point of God's creation, his masterpiece and of all the creatures God made, humans are most like God (thus we are aptly called Image Bearers). Because of this we treat all people with dignity, honor, and respect (James 3:9–10). However, in their quest for independence from God our first parents, Adam and Eve, rebelled against him and their actions brought all people into a state of sin, misery, and death resulting in alienation from God. All people are now in need of salvation and are without hope apart from God's loving and gracious intervention through the work of his son Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:1–10).
Jesus Christ and Salvation
Jesus Christ is the second member of the Trinity, the Son of God, and is fully God and fully human. He is the promised Messiah, the offspring promised to Eve, the great champion who was spoken of by the prophets, promised to King David as King whose rule would know no end, and was born to Mary; he lived, suffered, and died on the cross and was bodily raised from the dead three days afterwards. It is through his death and resurrection that Jesus was able to restore the broken relationship between humans and God and it is only through Jesus and his redeeming work that humanity can have salvation (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
The Hope of Restoration
The salvation of a person begins when the Holy Spirit gives a person a new heart, leading and enabling them to trust in Jesus alone for salvation (John 1:12–13). Salvation necessarily means entrance into God's people known as the Church (see below) and a citizenship in His Kingdom. Because God loves His creation, He will also restore the entire universe to a condition of beauty, rest, joy, perfection, and freedom (Romans 8:18–30). God's world, which began as a beautiful and perfect Garden (Genesis 1:27–31), will find its fulfillment in a perfected, life-giving City in which there will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain. We believe that Jesus will return again and finish the work or redemption for the entirety of his creation, making all things new (Revelation 21–22).
Discipleship and The Call to Obedience
Good works do not and cannot make a person acceptable to God (Ephesians 2:8–9), but are the natural outcome of authentic faith in Jesus (James 2:17). In other words, obedience flows out of our relationship with God, they don't save us or cause that relationship to happen. To reverse this—to make our salvation dependent on our good works—is the opposite of Christianity. As those who have been redeemed, we become more fully human—the very best version of ourselves—to the degree that we follow God’s loving commands. His commands, properly understood, are neither limiting nor oppressive. They are life-giving and submission to them is essential for human flourishing (Psalm 119).
The Church
The Church is the family of God and consists of those who place their trust (faith) in Jesus. God wants all members of His worldwide Church, together with their children, to be active in a local church which meets regularly to worship God, serve each other, and be a life-giving presence and witness in the local community and world (Acts 2:42–47; Hebrews 10:24–25).