Happy are the Sad? - Olive
Feb 28.

The Poor in Spirit - Olive
Feb 21.



Stonebridge Church is committed to making known the reality of God’s Redeeming Love by:

        •    Teaching God’s Truth as revealed in the Holy Bible
        •    Exalting God in worship
        •    Growing more intimate with Jesus and with one another,
        •    Serving the church with the gifts the Holy Spirit has given us
        •    Living each day in a spirit of grace.




  • We are the only Evangelical Presbyterian Church in the Greater Toledo area. We believe that the Christian life is not about having it all together, nor is it about doing whatever we feel like doing. Titus 2:11-14 tells us, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,  waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works."
  • We affirm a Reformed perspective of the Scriptures. This means we see the Bible speaking a great deal about God's sovereignty over all things including salvation. We believe that faith in Christ alone is necessary for salvation and that God is the One who works that faith in us.
  • We affirm that God relates to His people by means of His Covenants. Our God is Covenantal. He deals with mankind by means of covenants that he has made.

 

Stonebridge Church had its beginning as a number of families in the Toledo area struggled with the direction their churches were going in terms of doctrine, worship, and basic beliefs. In the mid 1990's these families joined the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, called a pastor and began a journey of faith. 

The focus of Stonebridge has always been Christ-centered, Biblical preaching, growing in our faith, and a commitment to reaching others with the good news of Jesus.

If you would like to become involved with a group of people who love each other and who want to live their lives pleasing to God, we invite you to come visit us and see if God might want you to join our group.

About Pastor Austin Olive

A recent transplant to Ohio, Austin Olive has been the pastor of Stonebridge Presbyterian Church since June 1st of 2008. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, he was largely raised in Scottsdale, Arizona. Austin met Mary Calahan at a Campus Crusade for Christ meeting while they were students at the University of Arizona in Tucson. They married in December of 1997 and are the parents of one son, Benjamin. After Austin received a B.A. in History & Political Science from the University of Arizona, the Olives moved to Jackson, MS, where he attended Reformed Theological Seminary, receiving the Master of Divinity in 2001.

Prior to coming to Stonebridge, Austin was briefly an associate pastor at a church in northern Colorado before serving for several years as the Senior Pastor of a church in metropolitan New Orleans. While living in Louisiana, the Olives had the blessing to live through the incredible opportunity for the Gospel that was Hurricane Katrina & its aftermath.

All Scripture is self-attesting and being Truth, requires our unreserved submission in all areas of life. The infallible Word of God, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is a complete and unified witness to God's redemptive acts culminating in the incarnation of the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible, uniquely and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the supreme and final authority on all matters on which it speaks. On this sure foundation we affirm these additional Essentials of our faith:

1. We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To Him be all honor, glory and praise forever!

2. Jesus Christ, the living Word, become flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. He who is true God became true man united in one Person forever. He died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. On the third day He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He now is our High Priest and Mediator.

3. The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to our hearts. He convicts us of sin and draws us to the Savior. Indwelling our hearts, He gives new life to us, empowers and imparts gifts to us for service. He instructs and guides us into all truth, and seals us for the day of redemption.

4. Being estranged from God and condemned by our sinfulness, our salvation is wholly dependent upon the work of God's free grace. God credits His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, thereby justifies them in His sight. Only such as are born of the Holy Spirit and receive Jesus Christ become children of God and heirs of eternal life.

5. The true Church is composed of all persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit are united together in the body of Christ. The Church finds her visible, yet imperfect, expression in local congregations where the Word of God is preached in its purity and the sacraments are administered in their integrity; where scriptural discipline is practiced, and where loving fellowship is maintained. For her perfecting, she awaits the return of her Lord.

6. Jesus Christ will come again to the earth—personally, visibly, and bodily—to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Rev. 22:20)

7. The Lord Jesus Christ commands all believers to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and to make disciples of all nations. Obedience to the Great Commission requires total commitment to “Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.” He calls us to a life of self-denying love and service. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10)
These Essentials are set forth in greater detail in the Westminster Confession of Faith.

 
The Westminster Confession of Faith and the “Essentials of Our Faith” Statement
The Westminster Confession of Faith is a confessional statement of orthodox Presbyterianism. The Westminster Confession of Faith is our standard of doctrine as found in Scripture. It is a positive statement of the Reformed Faith. The Westminster Confession of Faith constitutes a system of biblical truth that an officer of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church is required to believe, acknowledging that each individual court has the freedom to allow exceptions which do not infringe upon the system of doctrine in the Westminster Confession of Faith.

“Essentials of Our Faith” is an irenic statement of historic evangelicalism. The purpose of “Essentials of Our Faith” is to define core beliefs of the Christian Faith. It expresses historic Christian beliefs common to all true believers and churches throughout the world. “Essentials of Our Faith” is not intended to be the exclusive test of orthodoxy, but as a statement of those beliefs which bind together "one Holy Catholic church throught time and space.

Both the Westminster Confession of Faith and “Essentials of Our Faith” are important documents in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The Westminster Confession of Faith and “Essentials of Our Faith” are not alternative statements of truth, nor are they competitive statements of truth. They each serve important and harmonious purposes within the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The Westminster Confession of Faith preserves our commitment to the historic orthodoxy of the Reformed Faith. “Essentials of Our Faith” preserves our commitment to historic evangelicalism.