Statement of Faith

God

We believe in one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

[Genesis 1:1; Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:18-20]

 

The Bible

We believe the Scripture, both Old and New Testament, is verbally inspired of God and is inerrant in the original writings and is the Christian’s final authority in faith and conduct.

[2 Peter 1:16-21; 2 Timothy 3:16-17]

The Person & Work of Christ

We believe that, by the miracle of the Virgin Birth, the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, in order to reveal God and to redeem man; that He died for our sins (the sins of all men) as a substitutionary sacrifice and arose bodily from the dead for our justification; and that He is now exalted at the right hand of God, Head of the Church and Lord of the individual believer, fulfilling His ministry as our Great High Priest and Advocate.

[John 1:1-3, 14, 18; Hebrews 1:1-3; Colossians 1:13-20]

The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells, guides, instructs, and empowers the believer for godly living and service, and that He seals and keeps him/her until Jesus returns. We believe that He bestows spiritual gifts upon each person and fills those who are yielded to Him. 
 
We believe that each believer has received one or more spiritual gifts so that he/she might exercise them for the strengthening and outreach of the Body of Christ. We believe that some of the gifts mentioned in Scripture were primarily for the founding of the church and, therefore, were temporary in nature. We do recognize, however, that God may choose to give any gift to the church at any time in order to serve and accomplish His purposes so that He might be glorified.
 
[Acts 5:3-4; John 15:26-27; 16:14; 1 Corinthians 12:7-13; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30] 

Salvation

We believe that salvation is the free gift of God (neither merited or secured, in part or in whole, by any virtue or work of man) to be received only by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom all true believers have, as a present possession, the gift of eternal life, a perfect righteousness, sonship in the family of God, deliverance and security from all condemnation, every spiritual resource needed for life and godliness, and the divine guarantee that they shall never perish. 

[Ephesians 2:8-9; Jude 24-25]

Man

We believe that mankind was created in the image of God, but that our sin, incurs not only physical death, but also spiritual death, which is a separation from God and which is inherited by every member of Adam’s race. We believe that mankind is subject to the power of the devil and has within himself/herself no possible means of recovery or salvation. 

[Romans 1:18-32; Ephesians 2:1-2]

The Church

We believe that the true Church is composed of all who, through saving faith in Jesus Christ, have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit; that those who are thus members of the true Church will be eligible for membership in the local church; and that baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper are to be observed by the church during the present age. The decision to participate in baptism and the Lord’s Supper will be on an individual basis, but this participation is not to be regarded, in any sense, as a means of salvation.

[1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 27; Matthew 28:18-20]

The Blessed Hope

We believe in the personal, imminent and premillenial coming of our Lord, first to receive His own to Himself and, later, to set up His earthly kingdom and to reign over the redeemed of Israel and all the nations of the world. We believe that this blessed hope has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer. 

[Titus 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58]

The Christian Walk

We believe that we are called with a holy calling to walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit, and so to live in the power of the indwelling Spirit of God that we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. We believe that the flesh, with its fallen, adamic nature, which in this life is never eradicated, must be kept by the Spirit (through our walk of faith) constantly in subjection to Christ, or it will surely manifest its presence in our lives, to the dishonor of our Lord.

[Colossians 1:28; 1 Peter 1:14-16]

The Eternal State of Man

We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do, at death, immediately pass into His presence and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming for the Church, when soul and body, reunited, will be associated with Him forever in glory. We believe that unbelievers will be punished with everlasting separation from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power. 

[Revelation 20-22; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10]