STATEMENT OF FAITH
THE BIBLE
We believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God and is inerrant, infallible, and authoritative. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. (II Timothy 3:15-17; II Peter 1:9-21)
THE TRINITY
We believe there is one, true God and He exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are one in essence but distinct in person and function.
God is the Father of all who believe in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. God, by His spoken word and for His glory, created the world. God is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, and all-wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
God became flesh, in the form of Jesus Christ, who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. He is fully God and fully man and lived a sinless, perfect life. He died and shed His blood, as the perfect sacrifice for all the sins of mankind. We believe He was resurrected and now sits at the right hand of God as our Advocate, Intercessor, and High Priest. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He convicts mankind of sin, of righteousness and judgment. He calls individuals to the Savior and affects their birth into the body of Christ. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that the believer will be with God in heaven forever. (Matthew 28:19-20; John 14:6-17; II Corinthians 13:14; Colossians 1:13-19; Hebrews 1:1-3)
THE CHURCH
The Church is the Body of Christ, which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, tongue, people and nation, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. The church functions through the ministry of gifts given by the Holy Spirit, to each believer. (Romans 12:4-19; I Corinthians 12:1-27; Ephesians 4:1-16)
Christian baptism is by immersion in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior; the believer’s death to sin; the burial of the old life; and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. (Matthew 3:13-16; Ephesians 4:4-5; Romans 6:3-5)
The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming. (Matthews 26:17-30; Luke 22:7-23)
CREATION
All things were created by God. Angels were created as ministering agents, though some, under the leadership of Satan, fell from their sinless state to become agents of evil. The universe was created in six historical days and is continuously sustained by God; thus it both reflects His glory and reveals His truth. Human beings were directly created, not evolved, in the very image of God. As reasoning moral agents, they are responsible under God for understanding and governing themselves and the world. (Genesis 1:26-28; Psalms 8; Romans 1:18 and 3:23; Ephesians 2:1-3)
We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female, as their gender is determined at birth. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God. We believe that the term “marriage” has only one legitimate meaning, and that is marriage sanctioned by God, established as a covenantal union that joins one man and one woman in a single marriage, as delineated by Scripture. (Genesis 2:24; Ephesians 5:22-23; Mark 10:6-9; I Corinthians 7:1-9.)
Since every person is uniquely created in the image of God and formed by God, we hold to the sanctity of all human life. Since the Bible reflects that life begins at conception and lasts beyond death into eternity, God calls everyone to value, respect, defend, and protect all human life regardless of age or condition.
SPIRITUAL LOSTNESS OF THE HUMAN RACE; SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT & BODILY RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
Adam, the first man, willfully disobeyed God, bringing sin and death into the world. As a result, all persons are sinners from conception, which is evidenced in their willful acts of sin; and they are therefore subject to eternal punishment, under the just condemnation of a holy God. Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice by the appointment of the Father. He fulfilled the demands of God by His obedient life, died on the cross in full substitution and payment for the sins of all, was buried, and on the third day He arose physically and bodily from the dead. He ascended into heaven, where He now intercedes for all believers. (Romans 5:6-21; Colossians 1:12,14, 20-22; I Peter 1:18-23)
SALVATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH ALONE, IN CHRIST ALONE
We believe that salvation is by grace through faith, through belief in Jesus Christ as the one, true Son of God. Each person can be saved only through the work of Jesus Christ, through repentance of sin and by faith alone in Him as Savior. The believer is declared righteous, born again by the Holy Spirit, turned from sin, and assured of heaven. All who believe in Jesus Christ and accept Him as their personal Savior receive the Holy Spirit and are born again into the family of God. There is no other way or other name by which man can be saved. All who are born again by the Spirit may be assured of their salvation and that this assurance is based upon the testimony of God in His written Word, which induces within us love and obedience. (Romans 8:15-17, 31-39; I John 3:7-14; 5:1-13)
The Holy Spirit indwells all who are born again, conforming them to the likeness of Jesus Christ. This is a process completed only in Heaven. Every believer is responsible for living in obedience to the Word of God in separation from sin. (John 3:1-18; Romans 5:1-5: Ephesians 2:4-10; Titus 3:4-7)
LAST THINGS
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord. (I Corinthians 15:19-58; Philippians 1:20-23; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 20:11-15; I Timothy 3:1-5; Isaiah 11:1-9; Revelation 20-22)
EVANGELISM & MISSION
It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. The new birth of man’s spirit by God’s Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. Missionary effort on the part of all is a spiritual necessity of the reborn life and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness, exemplified by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ. (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Mark 16:15)