Our Statement of Faith

Statesmen Youth is dedicated to proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ in accordance with the Great Commission.

We depend on God’s infallible word, the Christian Bible, which holds supreme authority and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. We believe it should be understood through the literal, contextual, grammatical, and historical method of interpretation, and applied under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

We look to God to help us follow Mark 12:29-31, and we rejoice in the Gospel of Christ as the victorious answer to our individual sins and our fallen world. We affirm the Apostles’ Creed (2nd century), Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381 AD), and Definition of Chalcedon (451 AD) as faithful witnesses to Scripture's fundamental teachings.

NOTE: We are not a Roman Catholic organization; these creeds arise from Scripture and the work of the Holy Spirit in the historic church and have been readily proclaimed by all Protestants throughout history.

Mark 12:29-31 (NKJV):

Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.

And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The Apostles’ Creed (2nd century):

I believe in God the Father Almighty; Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord;

who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the virgin, Mary;

suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into Hades;

the third day He rose from the dead;

He ascended into Heaven,

and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;

the holy catholic* Church,;

the communion of saints;

the forgiveness of sins;

the resurrection of the body;

and the life everlasting.

Amen.

Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381 AD):

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,

and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds,

God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made,

being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made;

who, for us men, and for our salvation, came down from Heaven,

and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the virgin, Mary, and was made man;

and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate;

He suffered and was buried;

and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures;

and ascended into Heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father;

and He shall come again, with glory,

to judge both the living and the dead;

whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord, and Giver of Life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son;

who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified;

who spoke by the Prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic* and apostolic Church;

I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;

and I look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Definition of Chalcedon (451 AD):

Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men

to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood,

truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body;

of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead,

and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood;

like us in all respects, apart from sin;

as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages,

but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation,

of Mary the virgin, the God-bearer;

one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten,

recognized in two natures,

without confusion, without change,

without division, without separation;

the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union,

but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together

to form one person and subsistence,

not as parted or separated into two persons,

but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ;

even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him,

and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us,

and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us.

*The term "catholic" with a lowercase "c" signifies universality, not the Roman Catholic Church.