Shepherd’s Fellowship of Greensboro is committed to the five “solas” (Latin) that drove the Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century as reiterated by the Cambridge Declaration of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals:
SOLA SCRIPTURA (Scripture Alone)
We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written
divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone
teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the
standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured.
We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian's
conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary
to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience
can ever be a vehicle of revelation.
SOLUS CHRISTUS (Christ Alone)
We reaffirm that our salvation is accomplished by the mediatorial work
of the historical Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary
atonement alone are sufficient for our justification and reconciliation
to the Father.
We deny that the gospel is preached if Christ's substitutionary work
is not declared and faith in Christ and his work is not solicited.
SOLA GRATIA (Grace Alone)
We reaffirm that in salvation we are rescued from God's wrath by his
grace alone. It is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that brings
us to Christ by releasing us from our bondage to sin and raising us
from spiritual death to spiritual life.
We deny that salvation is in any sense a human work. Human methods,
techniques or strategies by themselves cannot accomplish this transformation.
Faith is not produced by our unregenerated human nature.
SOLA FIDE (Faith Alone)
We reaffirm that justification is by grace alone through faith alone
because of Christ alone. In justification Christ's righteousness is
imputed to us as the only possible satisfaction of God's perfect justice.
We deny that justification rests on any merit to be found in us, or
upon the grounds of an infusion of Christ's righteousness in us, or
that an institution claiming to be a church that denies or condemns
sola fide can be recognized as a legitimate church.
SOLI DEO GLORIA (God’s Glory Alone)
We reaffirm that because salvation is of God and has been accomplished
by God, it is for God's glory and that we must glorify him always. We
must live our entire lives before the face of God, under the authority
of God and for his glory alone.
We deny that we can properly glorify God if our worship is confused
with entertainment, if we neglect either Law or Gospel in our preaching,
or if self-improvement, self-esteem or self-fulfillment are allowed
to become alternatives to the gospel.