I. The Holy Bible
The sole basis of our belief is the Holy Bible, composed of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament. We believe that the Bible in its entirety originated with God, and that it was given through the writings of chosen men. The Bible thus at one and the same time, speaks with the authority of God and reflects the backgrounds, styles, and vocabularies of the human authors. We hold that the Bible is infallible and free from error in the original manuscripts. They do not merely contain and convey the Word of God, but they are the Word of God. They are the unique, full and final authority on all matters of faith and practice, and there are no other writings similarly inspired by God.
Psalm 119:160; Proverbs 30:5-6; Matthew 5:18; John 17:17; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:23-25; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Revelation 22:18-19
II. God
We believe that there is only one true, Holy God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – each possessing equally all the attributes of deity and the characteristics of personality. In the beginning God created the world and all the things therein out of nothing, thus displaying the glory of His power, wisdom, and goodness. By His sovereign power He continues to sustain His creation. By his providence He has operated to fulfill His redemptive purposes throughout all time.
Genesis 1:1-2; Exodus 15:11; Deuteronomy 7:9; Joshua 22:5; Psalm 19:1; Psalm 66:7; Psalm 77:13-14; Psalm 83:18; Psalm 147:5; Psalm 90:2; Isaiah 40:26; Jeremiah 10:10; Matthew 28:19; Mark 12:29; John 1:1; John 1:18; John 4:24; John 14:9; John 15:26; Acts 4:24; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 1:3-4; Ephesians 4:4-5; 1 Timothy 1:17; Revelation 4:11
III. Salvation
The central purpose of God’s revelation through the Bible and creation is to call all people into fellowship with Him. Originally created to have fellowship with God, man defied God, choosing to go his independent way, was separated from God, thereby suffering the corruption of His nature, making Him unable to please God. This fall from perfect harmony with God took place at the beginning of human history, and all individuals since have suffered these consequences. Not only has everyone inherited this sinful nature, but chose to rebel against God and are in need of His saving grace. The salvation of mankind is completely a work of God’s free grace, not the result, in whole or in part of human works or goodness, and must be personally appropriated by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. When God has begun a saving work in the heart of any persons, He gives assurance in His Word that He will continue performing it until the day of its full completion.
Genesis 3:1-10; Romans 1:18-20; Romans 1:32; Romans 3:22; Romans 5:1-19; Romans 6:23; Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:4-5; Ephesians 2:8-9; Philippians 1:6
IV. Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the eternal second person of the Trinity who was united forever with a true human nature by a miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and virgin birth. He lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father and voluntarily made payment for the sins of all by dying on the cross as their substitute, thus satisfying divine justice and accomplishing salvation for all who trust in Him alone. He arose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He lived and died. He ascended into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of the Father, where He, the only mediator between God and man, continually makes intercession for His own. He shall come again to earth, personally and visibly, to finish the eternal plan of God.
Isaiah 53:12; Matthew 1:18-25; Matthew 17:5; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2; John 1:32-34; John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Galatians 4:4; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 9:12-15; 1 John 2:1-2; 1 John 5:5; 1 John 5:20
V. The Holy Spirit
The necessary enhancement of a genuine saving relationship with Jesus Christ is a life of holiness and obedience, attained by believers as they submit to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Having been active in creation, He was sent into the world by the Father and the Son to apply to mankind the saving work of Christ. He enlightens the minds of sinners, awakens in them recognition of their need of the Savior. At the point of salvation He permanently and fully indwells every believer to become the source of assurance, strength and wisdom, and uniquely endows each believer with gifts for the building up of the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit guides believers in understanding and applying the Bible. As a believer allows the indwelling Holy Spirit to control his or her life, he will live a life that will continually give evidence of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) and will glorify God.
Matthew 3:11; Luke 24:49; John 1:32-34; Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 1:13-14, 17
VI. Human Destiny
Death seals the eternal destiny of each person. For all mankind, there will be a resurrection of the body into the spiritual world, and a judgment that will determine the fate of each individual. Those who have not accepted God’s gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ will be separated from God into condemnation in hell. God’s righteous character requires such eternal punishment for those who reject salvation. Believers in Jesus Christ will be received into eternal communion with God and will be rewarded for works done in this life.
Psalm 116:15; Isaiah 25:8; John 5:28-29; John 14:1-3; Romans 6:23; Hebrews 9:27-28; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21-22
VII. The Church
The result of union with Jesus Christ is that all believers become members of His body, the church. There is one true church universal, comprised of all those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The Bible commands believers to gather together to devote themselves to worship, praise, prayer, teaching of the Word, and fellowship. In obedience to Christ’s command, believers in Christ will submit to water baptism and participate in commemorating the Lord’s Supper. Also, they are to devote themselves to service of the body through the development and use of talents and gifts, and outreach to the world.
Wherever God’s people meet regularly in obedience to his command, there is the local expression of the church. Under the care of pastors and other supportive leadership, its members are to work together in love and unity to glorify Christ.
Matthew 16:18; 1 Corinthians 12:12-28; Ephesians 5:23-33
VIII. Creation
We believe that God created the universe “ex nihilo”, including all matter and forms of life. Mankind was likewise created on the sixth day, not by an extended process of evolution, but uniquely made in the image and likeness of God. Our purpose is to have fellowship with the Lord and to be steward over His creation. As a result, each person is unique, possesses dignity, and is worthy of respect.
Genesis 1-2, Psalm 8, Colossians 1:15-17 Hebrews 11:3
IX. Marriage
We believe that marriage was established by God to be a lifelong union between one man and one woman in covenant commitment. In light of changing cultural definitions of “man” and “woman”, we hold to a traditonal view of men as those born with the XY chromosomal makeup and unaltered or unassumed male charactistics; while women are those born with the XX chromosomal makeup and unaltered or unassumed female characteristics. Such a man and woman union is fully capable of producing a natural biological offspring as the result of marriage intimacy. The marriage relationship between a man and a woman is a reflection of the relationship between Christ and His bride the church.
Genesis 1:26-28, Genesis 2:15-25, Ephesians 5:22-33
X. Civil Government
We teach that civil governments are of divine appointment for the interest of good order of human society. That Christians should pray for civil leaders and obey and support government in matters not contrary to the Bible.
Daniel 3:17-18; Acts 4:19-20; Acts 5:29; Romans 13:1-5; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 1:13-14, 17
XI. The Lord’s Return
We teach the bodily, personal, imminent, pre-millennial return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The dead will be raised and all believers who are alive when He returns will be caught up to meet Him in the air. Every genuine believer will stand before their Lord at the judgement seat of Christ, where use of their time and talents in life will be assessed and rewarded. Christ will also judge those who have not accepted God’s gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Unbelievers who rejected Jesus as Savior will be cast into eternal punishment prepared for the devil and his angels.
John 14:1-4; 1 Corinthians 15:12-28; II Corinthians 5:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11; Revelation 20:11-15
XII. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
The ordinances of the church are baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Baptism – We teach that immersion is the New Testament form of baptism to be administered to the Christian upon their personal faith and public confession of Christ as Savior and Lord. Christian baptism by immersion is a biblical illustration of a believer’s faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior. Jesus Christ established and commanded the ordinance to depict the believer’s death to the old life of sin and his spiritual resurrection to the new life in Christ.
Lord’s Supper – The Lord’s Supper (Communion) is the regular partaking of the bread and of the cup by believers together as a continuing memorial of the broken body and shed blood of Christ. The elements (bread and cup) of the Lord’s Supper are only representative and symbolic of the flesh and blood of Christ and do not literally become His flesh and blood. To avoid the Lord’s discipline for unconfessed sin, participation in communion should always be preceded by solemn self-examination by the believer.
Matthew 26:26-29; Acts 2:41-42; Acts 8:12; Acts 9:18; Acts 10:47-48; Romans 6:3-6; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32
XIII. Faith and Practice
The Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice. This church recognizes that it cannot bind or compel individual members in areas where the Bible is silent. Rather each believer is to be prayerfully led in those areas by the Lord, to whom he or she alone is ultimately responsible.
Romans 14:17-19; 1 Corinthians 10:23-24; 2 Timothy 3:16-17