SCRIPTURE
We believe the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments - 66 books, to be God's written revelation to man, inspired in every word, and without error in the original writings(3). We further believe that the Bible constitutes the only infallible rule of faith and practice, the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of man, and the divine and final authority for all Christian faith and life(4).
(3) II Peter 1:20-21; II Timothy 3:16,17
(4) Matthew 5:18; 24:35; John 17:17; I Corinthians 2:13; II Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12; II Peter 1:20-21
GODHEAD
We believe that there is but one living and true God(5). He is an infinite and all-knowing Spirit(6). He is perfect in all His attributes, one in essence, and externally existing in three persons - God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior), and God the Holy Spirit (7) with each Person deserving equal worship and obedience (8).​
(5) ​Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:5-7; I Corinthians 8:4
(6) John 4:24
(7) Matthew 28:19; II Corinthians 13:14
(8) I John 5:7; Matthew 3:16-17
GOD THE FATHER
We believe that God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity,orders and disposes all things according to his own purpose and grace (9). He is the creator of all things (10). As the only absolute and omnipotent ruler in the universe, He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption (11). His Fatherhood involves both His designation within the Trinity and his relationship with mankind. As Creator, He is Father of all men (12), but He is Spiritual Father only to believers (13). He has decreed for His own glory all things that come to pass (14). He continually upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and events (15). In his sovereignty, He is neither author nor approver of sin (16), nor does He abridge the accountability of moral, intelligent creatures (17). He saves from sin all those who come to him; He becomes, upon adoption, Father to His own (18).
(9) Psalms 145:8-9; I Corinthians 8:6
(10) Genesis 1:1-31; Ephesians 3:9
(11) Psalms 103:19; Romans 11:36
(12) Ephesians 4:6
(13) Romans 8:14; II Corinthians 6:18
(14) Ephesians 1:11
(15) I Chronicles 29:11​
(16) Habakkuk 1:13
(17) I Peter 1:17
(18) John 1:12; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5; Hebrews 12:5-9
GOD THE SON
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ (the second Person of the Trinity), the Savior of Men, is both fully God and fully man, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary (19). He died on the cross as the sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the world according to the Scriptures (20). Further, He was raised bodily from the dead on the third day and appeared personally to His disciples and witnesses (21). He ascended into heaven (22), where at the right hand of the Majesty on High (23), He now is our High Priest (24) and Advocate (25). We believe that Jesus will return to gather His Church (26). We believe that the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only ground for justification and salvation for all who believe, and only such as receive Jesus Christ are born of the Holy Spirit, and thus become children of God (27).
(19) Matthew 1:18-23; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:14-18; John 10:30; Romans 5:15; Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6
(20) I John 2:2; John 3:16
(21) I Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 4:23-25
(22) Acts 1:9-11
(23) Acts 7:55
(24) Hebrews 4:14-15
(25) I John 2:1
(26) John 14:2-3; I Thessalonians 4:13-18
(27) I Peter 1:18-19; John 1:1
GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, a divine Person, possessing all the attributes of personality and deity including intellect (28), emotions (29), will (30), eternality (lives forever) (31), omnipotence (all powerful) (32), and truthfulness (33). In all the divine attributes, He is co-equal and inseparable with the Father and the Son (34).
We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit, in this age, is to be the supernatural and sovereign agent in regeneration and baptizing all believers into the body of Christ (35). The Holy Spirit also indwells, sanctifies, instructs, empowers believers for service, and seals them for the day of redemption (36).
(29) Ephesians 4:30
(30) I Corinthians 12:11
(31) Hebrews 9:11
(32) Romans 15:13
(33) John 16:13
(34) Matthew 28:19; Acts 5:3-4; Acts 28:25-26; I Corinthians 12:4-6; II Corinthians 13:14
​(35) I Corinthians 12:13
(36) Romans 8:9-11; II Corinthians 3:6; Ephesians 1:13; John 16:8-15
MAN
We believe that man was created in the image of God but fell into sin and is, therefore, spiritually dead, and that only through regeneration, by believing on the Son of God (The Lord Jesus Christ), can salvation and spiritual life be obtained (37). We believe that God's intention in the creation of man was that man should glorify God, enjoy God's fellowship, live his life in the will of God and, by this, accomplish God's purpose for man in the world (38).
(37) Genesis 1:27; Ephesians 2:1-6
(38) Isaiah 43:7; Colossians 1:16; Revelation 4:11
CHURCH
We believe that in this age God has chosen to work through the medium of the "local church" to achieve His purposes on the earth (39). We believe that only those who are members of God's true Church (the Body of Christ) are eligible for membership in the local church (40). The "local church" is to be organized in accordance with the Scriptural mandates illustrated in I Timothy, II Timothy, and Titus. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Head of the Church and that every local Church has the right, under Christ, to decide and govern its own affairs (41).
We believe that two ordinances have been committed to the local church: baptism and the Lord's Supper (42).
Christian baptism by immersion (43) is the solemn and beautiful testimony of a believer showing forth his faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, and his union with Him in death to sin and resurrection to a new life (44). It is also a sign of fellowship and identification with the visible body of Christ (45).
We believe that the Lord's Supper is the commemoration and proclamation of His death until He comes, and should be always preceded by solemn self-examination (46). We also believe that whereas the elements of communion are only representative of the flesh and blood of Christ, the Lord's Supper is nevertheless an actual Communion with the risen Christ who is present in a unique way, fellowshipping with His people (47).
(39) Hebrews 10:2
(40) Acts 2:47b
(41) Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18
(42) Acts 2:38-42
(43) Acts 8:36-39
(44) Romans 6:1-11
(45) Acts 2:41-42
(47) I Corinthians 10:16
(48) Exodus 15:2; Revelation 7:9-10; Acts 15:11; Romans 3:21-36; Romans 5:20-21; Ephesians 2:1-10; I Corinthians 1:30
SALVATION
We believe that salvation is a gift of God by grace through faith on the basis of the redemption of Jesus Christ, the merit of His shed blood, and not on the basis of human merit or work (48).
(48) Exodus 15:2; Revelation 7:9-10; Acts 15:11; Romans 3:21-36; Romans 5:20-21; Ephesians 2:1-10; I Corinthians 1:30
JUSTIFICATION
We believe that justification is an act of God by which He declares righteous those who, through faith in Christ, repent of their sins and confess him as sovereign Lord. This righteousness is apart from any virtue or work of man and involves Jesus Christ taking upon Himself our sins, although Jesus was sinless, and imputing His righteousness to us (49).
(49) Romans 3:23-25; Romans 4:13, 22-25; Romans 10:8-10; Luke 13:3; Acts 3:18-19; Ephesians 2:8-10; Philippians 3:8-9
SANCTIFICATION
We believe that every believer is sanctified (set apart) to God by justification and is, therefore, declared to be holy and is, therefore, identified as a saint. This sanctification is positional and instantaneous and should not be confused with progressive sanctification. This sanctification has to do with the believer's standing, not his present walk or condition (50).
We believe that there is also, by the work of the Holy Spirit, a progressive sanctification by which the state of the believer is brought closer to the likeness of Christ through obedience to the Word of God and the empowering of the Holy Spirit. The believer is able to live a life of increasing holiness in conformity to the will of God, becoming more and more like our Lord Jesus Christ (51).
We believe that every saved person is involved in a daily conflict - the new creation in Christ doing battle against the flesh - but adequate provision is made for victory through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The struggle, nevertheless, stays with the believer all through this earthly life and is never completely ended (52).
(50) Acts 20:32; I Corinthians 1:2-3 and 6:9-11; Ephesians 5:25-27; II Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 2:11 and 13:12; I Peter 1:15-16
(51) Romans 6:22-23; II Corinthians 3:17-18; I Thessalonians 4:3-4 and 5:23; I Peter 1:15-16; I Thessalonians 5:23-24
(52) Romans 6:19-22; Romans 7:7-25; I Thessalonians 4:1-8
GLORIFICATION
We believe that the body will perish, but that it will be raised in glory. It is born at birth a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body (53). We believe that all God has justified, He also glorifies (54). We believe all the saved who have been raised with Christ will - when Christ appears - appear with Him in glory (55).
(53) I Corinthians 15:42-44
(54) Romans 8:30
(55) Colossians 3:4
SECOND COMING
We believe in the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (56).
BODILY RESURRECTION
We believe in the resurrection of the dead at the second coming of Christ (57).
