I. The Holy Scriptures
We believe the Bible is God’s written revelation to man, and thus the 66 books of the Bible given to us by the Holy Spirit constitute the plenary (inspired equally in all parts) Word of God (1 Cor 2:7-14; 2 Pet 1:20-21).
We believe the Word of God is an objective, propositional revelation (1 Thess 2:13; 1 Cor 2:13), verbally inspired in every word (2 Tim 3:16), absolutely inerrant in the original documents, infallible, and God-breathed.
We believe the Bible constitutes the only infallible rule of faith and practice (Matt 5:18; 24:35; John 10:35; 16:12-13; 17:17; 1 Cor 2:13; 2 Tim 3:15-17; Heb 4:12; 2 Pet 1:20-21). We believe God spoke in His written Word by a process of dual authorship. The Holy Spirit so superintended the human authors that, through their individual personalities and different styles of writing, they composed and recorded God’s Word to man (2 Pet 1:20-21) without error in the whole or in the part (Matt 5:18; 2 Tim 3:16).
II. God
The Trinity
We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – coeternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections (Deut 6:4; 2 Cor 13:14).
God the Father
We believe God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity, orders and disposes all things according to His own purpose and grace (Ps 145:8-9; 1 Cor 8:6).
We believe He is the Creator of all things (Gen 1:1-31; Eph 3:9). As the only absolute and omnipotent Ruler in the universe, He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption (Ps 103:19; Rom 11:36).
We believe His fatherhood involves both His designation within the Trinity and His relationship with mankind. As Creator He is Father to all men (Eph 4:6), but He is spiritual Father only to believers (Rom 8:14; 2 Cor 6:18).
We believe He has decreed for His own glory all things that come to pass (Eph 1:11). In His sovereignty He is neither the author nor approver of sin (Hab 1:13; John 8:38–47), nor does He abridge the accountability of moral, intelligent creatures (1 Pet 1:17). He has graciously chosen from eternity past those whom He would have as His own (Eph 1:4-6).
God the Son
We believe Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, possesses all the divine excellencies, and in these He is coequal, consubstantial, and coeternal with the Father (John 10:30; 14:9).
We believe God the Father created according to His own will, through His Son, Jesus Christ, by whom all things continue in existence and in operation (John 1:3; Col 1:15-17; Heb 1:2).
We believe the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men (John 1:1,2,14; Luke 1:35).
We believe the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for all mankind as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice, and that the sufficiency of this atoning sacrifice to accomplish the redemption and justification of all who trust in Him is assured by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Rom 3:24,25; 4:25; Eph 1:7; 1 Tim 4:10; Heb 2:9; 1 Pet 1:3-5; 2:24; and 2 Pet 2:1).
We believe the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate (Acts 1:9,10; Heb 9:24; 7:25; Rom 8:34; 1 John 2:1,2).
God the Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and, that He is the supernatural agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption (John 16:8-11; 2 Cor 3:6; 1 Cor 12:12-14; Rom 8:9; Eph 1:13,14).
We believe He is the divine teacher who guides believers into all truth; and, that it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit (John 16:13; 1 John 2:20,27; Eph 5:18).
III. Redemption
The Sinfulness of Humanity
We believe man was created by God in His own image (Gen 1:26; 5:2); that he sinned and thereby incurred physical, spiritual and eternal death, which is separation from God (Gen 3; Gen 2:17; 3:19; Eccles 2:11; 2 Thess 1:9; Rev 19:3,20; 20:10,14,15); that as a consequence, all human beings are born with a sinful nature and are sinners by choice and therefore under condemnation (Jer 17:9; James 1:14; Rom 3:19; 5:19).
Salvation
We believe salvation is the gift of God’s grace (Eph 2:8–10) brought to a person by the work of the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-7; Titus 3:5) so that they respond with personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whose precious blood was shed on the cross for their salvation (John 1:12; 3:16; Eph 1:7; 1 Pet 1:18,19).
True faith is always accompanied by repentance from sin. Repentance is agreeing with God that you are sinful, confessing your sins to Him, and making a conscious choice to turn from sin (Luke 13:3,5; 1 Thess 1:9) and pursuing Christ (Matt 11:28–30; John 17:3) in obedience to Him (1 John 2:3). It isn’t enough to believe certain facts about Christ. Even Satan and his demons believe in the true God (James 2:19), but they don’t love and obey Him. True saving faith always responds in obedience (Eph 2:10).
Christian Conduct
We believe a Christian should live for the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31; Rom 12:1-3; Heb 12:1-2) and the well-being of his fellow men (Rom 12:8-10; 1 John 3:7-8,20) that his conduct should be blameless before the world (Phil 2:15; Matt 5:16); that he should be a faithful steward of his possessions (2 Cor 9:6-9; 1 Cor 4:2); and that he should seek to realize for himself and others the full stature of maturity in Christ (Rom 8:29; Eph 4:13; Col 1:9-10,28).
We believe sexual intimacy is a wonderful gift of God that is only to be expressed between one man and one woman (as genetically defined), within the love and bonds of marriage (Gen 2:24-25; Matt 19:4-6; 1 Cor 7:3-5; Heb 13:4). Therefore, we believe any other form of sexual intimacy is both immoral and a perversion of God’s gift (Lev 18:1-30; Prov 6:32; 1 Cor 6:18; Rom 1:26-27; 1 Thess 4:3-8).
The Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers
We believe all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Rom 8:1,38,39; 1 Cor 1:4-8; 1 Pet 1:5).
We believe it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word, which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh (Rom 13:13,14; Gal 5:13; Titus 2:11–15, 1 John 3:9,10).
Last Things
We believe in the personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of His kingdom.
We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, the eternal felicity of the righteous and the endless suffering of the wicked (Matt 16:27; Mark 14:62; John 5:28,29; 11:25,26; 14:3; Acts 1:11; Phil 3:20; 1 Thess 4:15; 2 Tim 4:1; Titus 2:13; 1 Cor 4:5; 1 Cor 15; 2 Thess 1:7-10; Rev 20:4-6,11-15).
We believe the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord (Luke 23:43; Rev 20:4-6; 2 Cor 5:8; Phil 1:23; 3:21; 1 Thess 4:16,17).
We believe the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment (Luke 16:19-26; Matt 25:41-46; 2 Thess 1:7-9; Jude vv. 6,7; Mark 9:43-48; Rev 20:11-15).
We believe the saved will enter the eternal state of glory with God, after which the elements of this earth are to be dissolved (2 Pet 3:10) and replaced with a new earth, wherein only righteousness dwells (Eph 5:5; Rev 20:15; 21:1-27; 22:1-21). Following this, the heavenly city will come down out of heaven (Rev 21:2) and will be the dwelling place of the saints, where they will enjoy forever fellowship with God and one another (John 17:3; Rev 21-22). Our Lord Jesus Christ, having fulfilled His redemptive mission, will then deliver up the kingdom to God the Father (1 Cor 15:24-28), that in all spheres the triune God may reign forever and ever (1 Cor 15:28).
IV. The Church
We believe the Church, which is the body of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons (Eph 1:22,23; 5:25-27; 1 Cor 12:12-14; 2 Cor 11:2).
We believe the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures and consists of a company of believers in Jesus Christ, baptized on a credible profession of faith, and associated for worship, work, and fellowship (Acts 14:27; 20:17, 28-32; 1 Tim 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11).
We believe the one supreme authority for the church is Christ (1 Cor 11:3; Eph 1:22; Col 1:18) and that church leadership, gifts, order, discipline, and worship are all appointed through His sovereignty as found in the Scriptures. The biblically designated officers serving under Christ and over the assembly are elders (also called bishops, pastors, and pastor-teachers; Acts 20:28; Eph 4:11) and deacons, both of whom must meet biblical qualifications (1 Tim 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Pet 5:1-5).
We believe these leaders lead or rule as servants of Christ (1 Tim 5:17-22) and have His authority in directing the church. The congregation is to submit to their leadership (Heb 13:7,17).
We believe in the ordinances of believer’s water baptism and the Lord’s supper as scriptural means of testimony for the church age (Matt 28:19,20; Acts 2:41,42; 18:8; 1 Cor 11:23-26).
We believe God distributes Spirit-empowered gifts to the church for the purpose of building the church up.
We believe these gifts are diverse, distributed according to God’s own will and wisdom, given to all believers in some measure, and are for the purpose of edifying the universal and local church. Some of these gifts are miraculous in nature for divine revelation and healing. The primary purpose of the miraculous gifts were to validate the apostolic witness and authority as the new covenant revelation was being given. Scripture does not restrict the presence of these gifts in the present age. However, in the case of legitimate manifestations of miraculous gifts, any and all Scriptural guidelines pertinent to their use are to be strictly observed (Rom 12:4-8; 1 Cor 7:7-9; 12:1-31; 13:8-10; 14:1-40; 2 Cor 12:12; Eph 4:7-13; Heb 2:1-4; 1 Pet 4:10,11).
We believe in the importance of discipleship (Matt 28:19-20; 2 Tim 2:2), mutual accountability of all believers to each other (Matt 18:5-14), as well as the need for discipline of sinning members of the congregation in accord with the standards of Scripture (Matt 18:15-22; Acts 5:1-11; 1 Cor 5:1-13; 2 Thess 3:6-15; 1 Tim 1:19-20; Titus 1:10-16).
We believe the purpose of the church is to glorify God (Eph 3:21) by building itself up in the faith (Eph 4:13-16), by instruction of the Word (2 Tim 2:2,15; 3:16-17), by fellowship (Acts 2:47; 1 John 1:3), by keeping the ordinances (Luke 22:19; Acts 2:38-42) and by advancing and communicating the gospel to the entire world (Matt 28:19; Acts 1:8; 2:42).
We believe it is the obligation of the saved to witness by life and by word to the truths of Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all mankind (Matt 28:16-20; Acts 1:8, 2 Cor 5:19,20).