The Bible
We believe the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, to be the verbally inspired Word of God. “Verbal inspiration” means that inspiration extends to the words as well as to the thought. Scripture evidence for verbal inspiration may be briefly tabulated below. Men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit to record precisely the words that God intended. It is without error in the original writings. The Bible is God’s complete written revelation of Himself and His will for the salvation of mankind and is the final authority for Christian faith and life.
(Exodus 3:4, 5:1; Jeremiah 1:9; Ezekiel 3:4, 10-11; Psalm 19:7-9; Matthew 5:18; John 17:17; II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:21)
God
We believe in one living and true God, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three equal persons – God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These three are identical in essence while distinct in office and activity. God is a personal, spiritual, and intelligent Being, the Creator, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe.
(Genesis 1:26; Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19; I Corinthians 8:6; II Corinthians 13:14; I Peter 1:2; I John 5:7)
The Person and Work of the Father
We believe God the Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of human history according to His purpose and grace. In His nature He is completely holy, all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent, eternal, transcendent, immutable, self-sufficient, self-existent, wrathful, just, gracious, good, merciful, and loving. He is the sender of His only Son, Jesus Christ. As the Father of the elect, He is their provider, disciplinarian, and restorer.
(Psalm 139:1-18, 145:8-9; Isaiah 40:18-31; Jeremiah 32:17; Matthew 3:17, 6:30-32; John 3:16; Acts 17:29; Romans 1:18, 3:26, 11:33-36; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 1:3-6; Hebrews 12:5-13; I John 1:5)
The Person and Work of Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, who became a man without ceasing to be God. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a perfect life and died on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. Our salvation is guaranteed by His literal, bodily resurrection from the dead. He is now exalted in heaven at the right hand of God the Father, where He ministers as High Priest for His people. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission.
(Matthew 1:18-25; John 1:1-14, 10:23, 10:30, 11:35; Romans 4:25; I Corinthians 15:3-4; Colossians 2:9; Acts 9:1-11; Hebrews 1:3, 3:1, 4:14-15, 7:25; I John 2:1-2)
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
We believe that the ministry of God the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts people of sin and gives life to the spiritually dead who receive Jesus Christ as Savior, baptizing them at the moment of faith into the Church. He permanently indwells believers and bestows on them spiritual gifts. He leads, instructs, and empowers them for godly living and service. As they learn more about Him and His work through the Scriptures, pray and yield to Him (allow Him to direct and control their thoughts, words, and actions), He beautifies their character with the fruit of the Spirit and transforms them to be like Christ.
(John 3:8, 7:37-39, 14:12, 16-17, 26, 16:7-11; Romans 8:1-13, 26-27; I Corinthians 12:4-13; Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 1:13-14, 5:18)
Man's Creation and Fall
We believe that all things in heaven and on earth were created by God and exist by His power and for His glory, rejecting any and all views of macro evolution. We believe that man was created innocent and in the image of God, but that he sinned, bringing both spiritual and physical death to himself and his posterity. While still made in God’s image, humankind has inherited a sinful nature and is incapable of redeeming himself. All human life is sacred in that God created man in his own image and that Christ died for man; therefore, every human being, born and unborn, young and old, possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
(Genesis 1:26-27, 2:17, 3:1-24; Psalm 139:13-16; John 3:16-18; Romans 3:10-12, 5:12-19)
Salvation
We believe that every person is lost in sin apart from Christ and in need of a Savior. Jesus Christ died as a full and sufficient payment for the sins of the entire world, and His blood is the only provision by which an individual may be delivered from the wrath of God. We believe that salvation is a gift of God and is received by man only through faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that man is justified by grace through faith alone, apart from human merit or works. We believe that all true believers, once saved, are kept secure in Christ forever.
(John 1:12, 3:36, 5:24, 6:37, 10:27-30; Acts 4:12, 13:38-39; Romans 3:23-24, 6:23, 8:1, 29-30, 38-39; Ephesians 1:7, 2:8-10; Philippians 1:6; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 9:22; I John 5:13)
The Ordinances
We believe that Christ instituted the ordinances of water baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which are to be observed by believers until He returns.
(Matthew 28:19-20; I Corinthians 11:23-26)
We believe that water baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience publicly announcing and 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.
(Acts 8:36-38; Romans 6:3-5)
We believe that the Lord’s Supper is a memorial of Christ’s death by which He established the New Covenant, the elements being symbols of His body and blood. Every Christian has a right and an obligation to partake of the elements of the Lord’s Supper, but participation should be preceded by solemn self-examination.
(I Corinthians 11:20-34; Matthew 26:26-29)
The Church
We believe that the true, universal church is made up of all who have saving faith in Jesus Christ. The believer is placed into the church by the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit, and is thus a part of the Body of Christ of which Jesus is the Head. We believe that the church, as defined by the New Testament, is distinct from Israel.
(Acts 2:1-4, 11:16-17; Romans 11:1-24; I Corinthians 10:32, 12:12-14; II Corinthians 5:18-19; Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:25-27)
We believe that the true, universal church is comprised of local, visible assemblies of professing believers in Jesus Christ, who are voluntarily joined together in one locality for the purposes of worship of God, prayer, the exposition of Scripture, the discipling and equipping of the saved, evangelism of the lost, fellowship, and the carrying out of that congregation’s ministries of such other purposes as are specified in the Scriptures for a New Testament Church. We believe that every local church by the leadership of the elders has the right under Christ to decide and govern its own affairs.
(Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:42-47; I Corinthians 5:1-5; Ephesians 4:11-16; 5:23; Colossians 1:18; 1 Peter 2:5, 9)
Events of the End Times
We believe in the personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of His kingdom. We believe that every person will be raised from the dead. Believers will be raised to stand for evaluation at the judgment seat of Christ to determine rewards based on their faithfulness and obedience to God. Believers will then live with Him in everlasting blessedness and joy in glory. We believe that every unbeliever will be punished with everlasting, conscious torment away from the presence of the Lord.
(Matthew 10:28, 13:48-50, 25:46; Luke 16:19-26, 23:42-43; I Corinthians 3:10-15; II Corinthians 5:8-10; Philippians 1:23; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Hebrews 9:27)