What We Believe
GOD
There is one and only one true and living God who is the eternal God of creation and the ruler of the universe. He is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each with distinct personal attributes, but without division of essence.
JESUS CHRIST
Jesus always existed as the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation (being made flesh) He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, His sinless life, His teachings and His miracles. We believe in His substitutionary death on the cross to pay for the sins of all people. We believe in His bodily resurrection from the dead, His ascension back to heaven, and His eventual return to the earth as KING of Kings to rule and reign, and to judge the world.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
As the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is fully divine. We believe in His interaction with man to exalt Christ, to convict of sin, and lead to Christ. We believe that upon salvation the Holy Spirit comes to live in each Christian to enable him or her to live a holy life. At the moment of salvation He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church.
MAN
Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free will man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Man fell from his original innocence whereby he inherits a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Only by the grace of God can fallen man be brought back into a right relationship with God.
SALVATION
We believe that everyone is born with a sinful nature and that the work of the Cross was to redeem us from the penalty and power of sin. We believe that salvation is based on the finished work of Christ on the cross in which He bore our sins and died as our substitute.
We believe that salvation is available by grace to all who repent of sin and by faith receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that all believers are safe and secure in Christ forever. It is their privilege to know the assurance of their salvation.
THE BIBLE
We believe that the Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God and that it is the complete revelation of God’s will for mankind. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all scripture is totally true and trust worthy. We believe in the absolute authority of the scripture to govern the affairs of men.
BAPTISM
We believe in the ordinance of water baptism by immersion as an act of obedience in publicly declaring one’s faith in Christ and symbolizing one’s new life in Christ.
THE LORD’S SUPPER
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 Christ and anticipate His second coming.
THE CHURCH
We believe in the church as the eternal and universal Body of Christ on earth and consisting of all those who have accepted His salvation. We believe a New Testament church is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers bound together for the purpose of worship, spiritual growth, evangelism and mission actions. We believe that every saved and baptized believer should be a faithful and active member of a local church.
STEWARDSHIP
God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. Therefore, we are under obligation to serve Him with our time, talents, and material possessions. We believe that every person is the steward of his or her life and resources which ultimately belong to God. We believe that tithing through the local church is a measure of obedience to the scriptural principles of stewardship.
THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE BELIEVER
We believe that every believer has a unique relationship with the Lord, and as His children, every Christian has immediate access to the Throne of Grace and the ability to manifest the power of the Lord Jesus Christ in ministry.
THE FAMILY
God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to each other by marriage, blood, or adoption. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. Marriage provides the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.
GOVERNMENT
We believe in separation of church and state, but not in separation of church and government. Christians need to be model citizens and take an active part in establishing good government. Christians are salt and light in society.
EVANGELISM and MISSIONS
This is the heart beat and life blood of the church. The Lord Jesus Christ has commended 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 undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods of ministry and finances that are in harmony with the gospel of Christ.
THE LORD’S DAY
Sunday, the first day of the week, is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord’s Day should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
THE LAST THINGS (RETURN OF CHRIST)
We believe in the imminent, personal, pre-tribulation return of Christ for his church. We believe in the pre-millennial and personal return of Christ to the earth in glory and power to establish His millennial reign. We believe that God in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end.
THE HEREAFTER
We believe in the resurrection of believers and unbelievers alike. Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous (those who reject Christ) will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous (those who received Christ) in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.4