About ECA:

Doctrinal Statement

The school subscribes to the following doctrinal statement and its entire educational program is to be in harmony with it. Each faculty member will annually sign the Statement of Faith, as set forth in the school's constitution.

Statement of Faith

A. We believe in the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures; we believe that they are inerrant in their original autographs, and that all 66 books of the Old and New Testaments are God's complete revelation to all people, the only infallible and final authority of all matters of faith and practice.

B. We believe in one triune God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the same in essence and equal in power and glory.

C. We believe in the complete humanity and deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, substitutionary and atoning death through His shed blood on the cross, bodily resurrection, ascension to the right hand of the Father as the only mediator between God and humanity. We believe in His future personal return in power and glory.

D. We believe in the personhood and deity of the Holy Spirit whose work includes: illuminating the word of God, hindering sin in the world, convicting of sin, regenerating the believer, and empowering him or her to progress in the sanctified life. The Holy Spirit assures the believer of his or her present salvation and is the seal of the promise of one’s final redemption from all sin.

E. We believe that through Adam's sin all have inherited a sinful nature and therefore all choose to sin. All are thus sinners and deserving of death.

F. We believe that lost and sinful men and women are saved only by the grace of God through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. This is accomplished through the sovereign agency and regenerating work of the Holy Spirit which involves at that initial moment of faith the immediate indwelling of the Spirit and the believer's spiritual baptism into the Body of Christ.

G. We believe that sin in the believer's life inhibits fellowship with God. Upon confession of those sins, God forgives and fellowship is restored.

H. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the judgment of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal blessedness of the saved, and the eternal conscious punishment of the lost.

I. We believe in the spiritual unity of all who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and their duty to maintain, in all their relationships, a standard of life and doctrine that is in conformity with the teachings of God's Word.

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Statement of Unity

As an interdenominational school, it is recognized that there are some doctrinal and practical matters that are not covered in the Statement of Faith that may be considered controversial. In order to promote unity and avoid misunderstanding among the constituency of the Evangelical Christian Academy, the Board of Trustees has adopted certain practical doctrinal positions, which are essential to the character and practice of ECA. (Note: By constituency we mean the Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, parents and students.)

The Evangelical Christian Academy asks that its faculty and staff:
  Be respectful of staff and students who hold differing views on controversial doctrinal issues. While the faculty and staff are free to share their personal doctrinal views when appropriate, agreement on the Statement of Faith and support of the Position Statements should guide and balance discussion of differences.
  Be respectful of the parents' responsibility to teach their own children and not attempt to convince a student to take a position different from that taught in the home provided that such a position does not contradict the statement of faith of ECA.
  Be respectful of the Statement of Faith and the Position Statements, which are to be taken into account and respected in the overall educational program of the school.

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Position Statements

We observe in scripture and the history of the church that God in His sovereignty and through the Holy Spirit periodically visits revival upon His people when they humbly seek Him through the study of His word and through sincere prayer. We further observe that such divine moments are normally characterized by confession and repentance of sin, restitution for wrongdoing, greater external evidence of the fruit of the Spirit, an increased burden for the lost, and an increased incidence of Christian vocation. While not presuming to manipulate the sovereign acts of God, we affirm our desire for God to revive His people.

We believe in the plenary inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. All guidance of the Holy Spirit is in accord with Holy Scriptures, and "inner spiritual impressions" of individuals must conform to the written revelation of the Bible. Because of the closing of the canon, we concur that the revelatory "sign" gifts mentioned in the New Testament (words of prophesy, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues) no longer have an essential function in the life of the church.

We believe that God, in His sovereignty, can and does miraculously intervene in the realm of time and space. Such interventions would include physical healing. While we as Christians have complete freedom in Christ to intercede for healing, we observe in Scripture that it may not always be His will to physically heal. Because of the closing of the canon, we also concur that the personal gifts related to miracles and healing are no longer necessary to authenticate Christian doctrine.

Therefore, for the sake of unity, we do not encourage any public expression of these spiritual phenomena and do not allow their propagation in the Evangelical Christian Academy. For this reason, the Headmaster, Director of Academics, and Principals will be selected on the basis of their personal commitment to this positional statement.

Concerning True Ecumenism

We believe in the spiritual unity of all who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and, as well, believe that the Scriptures teach that the believer should be separated from apostasy and unruly brethren.

We believe that, if we are to be obedient to the Word of God, we can have no true unity or Christian fellowship with those who deny or call into question those essential doctrines of historical Christianity as summarized in the ECA Statement of Faith.

We believe in justification by faith alone (sola fide) in Christ alone, which places us at odds with the official and historical position of the Roman Catholic Church that insists that justification requires human works of merit. The Roman Catholic Church has consistently, since the Reformation, anathematized those who teach that justification is by faith alone. Because of this key doctrine as well as the Roman Catholic doctrines of baptism as a "sacrament of regeneration," of church tradition and papal authority being of equal validity with the Bible, of the priesthood, of the saints and the Virgin Mary as mediators, we reject the plausibility of cooperation with the Roman Catholic Church on a spiritual level.

ECA, therefore, will not participate in any activity, program or organization that seeks to produce an outward yoke where there is no true spiritual unity.

Concerning Biblical Creation

We believe the Bible to be the Word of God, and because it is inspired throughout, all its assertions are historically and scientifically true. For us this means that the account of origins in Genesis is a factual presentation of simple historical truths that teach that the Triune God created the world and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in six days.

We believe the Scriptures teach that man was created directly and immediately by God in His image and likeness and not from any previously existing form of life.

We therefore reject the teaching that the universe, and especially humankind, is the product of natural evolution.

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