We believe that God created human beings, male and female, in His own image. Men and women enjoy equal value as persons and equal access to God by faith in Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve belonged to the created order that God Himself declared to be very good, serving as God’s agents to care for, manage, and govern creation, living in holy and devoted fellowship with their Maker. Adam and Eve were made to complement each other in a one flesh union that establishes the only normative pattern of sexual relations for men and women, such that marriage ultimately serves as a type of the union between Christ and His church. In God’s wise purposes, men and women are not interchangeable, but rather complement each other in mutually enriching ways.
Our conviction is to help men and women flourish as men and women in every area of life. God ordains that men and women assume distinctive roles which reflect the loving relationship between Christ and the church; the husband exercising headship in a way that displays the caring, sacrificial love of Christ, and the wife submitting to her husband in a way that models the love of the church for her Lord. In the ministry of the church, both men and women are encouraged to serve Christ and be developed to their full potential in the manifold ministries of the people of God. The distinctive leadership role within the church given to qualified men (elders) is grounded in creation, fall, and redemption and must not be sidelined by appeals to cultural developments. Both men and women are called to move beyond passive self-indulgence to significant private and public engagement in family, church, and civic life.
(Genesis 1:26-28, Ephesians 5:22-33, Colossians 3:18-19, 1 Timothy 2:12-15)