Scripture
We believe the Bible is God’s Holy Word, composed of 66 books, making up the Old and New Testaments. It is the supreme, God-given authority for all our beliefs, attitudes and actions. Scripture alone, by the Spirit of God, is the capable and sufficient means for informing us of, and bringing to us, complete salvation in Jesus Christ. It is only because of the grace of God, by the work of the Spirit of God, through the Word of God that He reveals Himself to us savingly. The Bible is the only true, authoritative, infallible, trustworthy, necessary, powerful, perfect, unchangeable, and sufficient Word of God.
Psalm 19:7-11; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:16-21
God
We believe that there is only one true and living God, who alone is the Eternal Spirit, personal Creator, sovereign King, and all-knowing Judge. He is infinite, holy, gracious, unchangeable, and perfect in every way. He is the Creator of all things. He sustains and works in and through all of His creation to bring about His eternal purposes. God is self-sufficient, necessary, and supreme over all. He alone is worthy of all praise, worship, trust, and obedience. He is one God who exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three distinct persons are co-eternal, the same in essence, and equal in power and glory.
Genesis 1:1; Exodus 34:5-8; Psalm 145:3; Isaiah 40:12-31; Matthew 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:2
Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus the Christ is the only eternally existent Son of God, the second Person in the Trinity, Who was sent to Earth to be conceived supernaturally, born sinless, to live a perfectly law-fulfilling and sinless life, to die on a cross as a sacrificial substitute in the place of all those who trust in Him, and to bodily rise from the dead on the third day after His death. Having finished His work on the cross and having been raised from the dead, He ascended back into Heaven where He is and will be with His Father until the Day when He will come back to gather His followers and to judge the rest of the world. Jesus is truly man and truly God; existing as one person with two distinct and united natures: divine and human.
Isaiah 7:14, 9:6-7; Matthew 1:18-25; John 1:1-18, 8:48-59, 10:3-38; Colossians 1:15-20, 2:9; Hebrews 1:1-4; 1 Corinthians 8:6, 15:3-5
Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the Person of God who supernaturally worked through men to write the Bible. He alone gives true understanding of the Bible, changes and softens hearts, awakens people to their sin and their need for cleansing and salvation, and gives faith and repentance to treasure, turn to, and trust in Christ. He lives in and empowers every true Believer in Jesus. He is to be completely relied upon for everything we attempt to do. The express focus of His ministry is to testify about and glorify Jesus.
Ezekiel 36:26-31; Mark 13:11; John 3:5-8, 34, 15:26, 16:7-15; Acts 4:8; Romans 8:5-17, 26-27; 1 Corinthians 2:4, 9-16, 3:16, 6:18-20; Galatians 5:16-25; Ephesians 2:8-10; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John 3:23-24, 5:7-8, 18-20
Man
We believe that God created mankind in His own image with knowledge, righteousness, and holiness for the express purpose of glorifying and enjoying God forever. However, by the sin of Adam, all mankind fell from intimacy with God, since Adam and Eve were the representatives and root of all mankind. Due to the effects of the Fall on the human mind, will and emotions, the human spiritual condition by nature is such that everyone is born spiritually dead in sin, enslaved to sin, wholly incapable and unwilling to come to God, and under the holy and just wrath of God. Man does not possess the inclination, desire, or spiritual ability to turn himself to God since by his very nature man loves and prefers darkness. It is only by God’s grace through the power of the Holy Spirit that man can be saved. We believe that all human beings are totally dependent upon God for everything, and even though as a result of the Fall we are born with sinful hearts in need of regeneration, forgiveness, and salvation, it is still our only purpose to glorify and enjoy God forever.
Genesis 1:1, 26-31; 1 Corinthians 2:14: Psalm 51:4; Romans 3:9-23, 5:12, 8:7; John 3:19; Ephesians 2:1-3; Titus 3:3; 2 Timothy 2:26
Salvation
We believe that all people need to be saved by God, for all are sinners. The triune God, being rich in mercy and abundant in grace, has eternally purposed to save a people for Himself from every tribe, tongue, and people group of the world. The three different persons of the Godhead act together for the salvation of those whom He has chosen from eternity-past: the Father elects the elect, the Son redeems the elect, and the Holy Spirit calls the elect. We believe that there is salvation only in the person and work of Jesus Christ. God accepts only the perfectly sinless and law-fulfilling life of Jesus as a righteous substitute and requirement for anyone who trusts in Christ alone. Only the sacrificial, substitutionary, and wrath-bearing death of Jesus is what God accepts as full payment for sin for those who trust Him to take their just punishment in their place. Salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone. Mankind cannot do anything to save itself, or earn salvation, or be deserving of it, and therefore cannot receive any glory for it. All people are commanded to repent and believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness and salvation from sin. Salvation comes only as the Spirit of God enables us to recognize our sin and need to be cleansed and saved, leading to repentance, and belief in Jesus Christ as our only Lord and Savior.
John 6:44-45, 14:6; Acts 2:36-41, 4:12, 10:34-43; Romans 3:9-30, 5:1-11; 1 Corinthians 15:3-5; Ephesians 2:8-10
Sanctification, Perseverance, Glorification
Sanctification – We believe that all people who are truly saved grow everyday in knowing and trusting God, becoming more holy like Jesus. The gracious and powerful conviction of the Holy Spirit, confession to God, and continued faith in Christ result in an ever-changing lifestyle of repentance from sin and the pursuit of holiness unto love and obedience.
John 17:17; Acts 2:36-47; Ephesians 5:26; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15 Perseverance – We believe that all true Christians will persevere in their growing and becoming more like Jesus until they die or are taken into Heaven at the Second Coming. This perseverance is empowered and motivated by the supernatural, immutable, and unstoppable preservation of God. There is nothing that can stop us from becoming more Christlike or separate us from God’s love if we have truly been called and converted to Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:14-24; Hebrews 12:1-3; Romans 8:28-39; John 6:39-40, 10:28-30 Glorification – We believe that all true Christians will one day, at the Second Coming of Christ, be transformed in an instant to be like Christ by His grace and for His glory. In fact, God is working everything together for the end of our complete salvation: sanctification, perseverance, and glorification. Romans 8:28-30; 1 John 2:28-3:3
Fellowship with God
We believe that fellowship with God is only attainable through faith in Jesus Christ, by God’s grace, enabled by the Spirit of God, and on His terms. Fellowship with God is not only possible, but is required for all true Believers. Life is more than living by a moral code, but is about living only for God, glorifying and enjoying Him forever. To live life without Him is completely empty. Fellowship with God can be attained by reading His Word, the Bible, humbly going to Him in prayer, actively connecting with His Church, and gladly submitting to Him with faith in all areas of life. God is always present with us. We can and should live life constantly acknowledging Him in all things we think, say, and do.
John 15:1-14, 17:3; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Philippians 3:7-14; Colossians 3:16-17; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; 1 John 1:3
Family
We believe that God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the Church, and a wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband, even as the Church willingly submits itself to the headship of Christ. Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage, and to teach them spiritual and moral values. Parents are to lead with consistent lifestyle examples, loving discipline, faithful instruction from the Word of God, trust in Christ, make wise choices based on biblical Truth, and love their neighbor as themselves.
Genesis 1:26-31, 2:18-25; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Joshua 24:15; Psalm 78:1-8, 127; Matthew 19:1-9; 1 Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-6:4; 1 Peter 3:1-7
The Church
We believe that the Church is the body and bride of Jesus Christ. Every true follower of Christ who has ever lived makes up this bride of Christ. All people in the Church given spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit, to grow, encourage, build up, and preserve the Church. Being a part of this Church means regular participation in corporate worship, personal evangelism, Christian fellowship, purposeful discipleship, and loving ministry within the local church. A local church is a living and loving body of Believers who are openly covenanted to Christ, His Body, and each other, willingly committing to both the general and specific vision, mission, beliefs, and values of that particular church. All Believers ought to be a part of a local church, under the authority and care of a plurality of equal and qualified elders, in order to best use their spiritual gifts for the good of the whole Church and spread the Gospel of Christ for the glory of God.
Acts 2:38-47: Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12; Philippians 2:1-4; Colossians 3:12-15; Hebrews 10:19-25; 1 John 1:1-4
Baptism
We believe that baptism is one of two ordinances that Jesus has given to His Church, and thus would be sinful for us to reject, ignore, diminish, or change the meaning, importance, or obedience to in any way. All true Believers in Christ ought to be baptized, though it is not necessary for salvation. It is composed of submersion into water, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is a symbolic representation of Christ’s life, death, burial, and resurrection as what cleanses sinners from the impurity, guilt, and consequences of sin. It is an open confession of personal faith in and identification with Christ as the only Savior and Lord. It is a real means of grace through which God works to impart His sanctifying, strengthening, confirming, and preserving graces as it visibly and tangibly preaches the Gospel to all those who partake in it by faith in what it signifies. Baptism is the initiatory ordinance of the Church and communion is the continuation ordinance. Because of this, we believe that baptism should be partaken of before communion.
Matthew 28:16-20; Luke 3:21-22; Acts 2:38-41, 8:35-38; Romans 6:1-11; 1 Corinthians 1:17
Communion
We believe that Jesus Christ instituted and has commanded His Church to continue receiving the Lord’s Supper as the second of two Christian ordinances. Receiving communion in a worthy manner, humble and repentant of sin, is a way for us to remember what Christ has done for us in His death and a way for us to proclaim the Gospel until He comes back again. Furthermore, because eating and drinking the elements of the Lord’s Supper is to be an outward and active expression of faith in what they represent – namely the broken body and shed blood of Jesus for the complete forgiveness of sins – we also believe that by receiving the Lord’s Supper, God actually imparts sanctifying, strengthening, confirming, and preserving graces as spiritual benefits and nourishment of Christ’s person and work to all who receive it by faith. Receiving the Lord’s Supper frequently is both a blessing to us and others, as well as a means of worshiping our Savior.
Matthew 26:26-30; John 6; 1 Corinthians 11:23-34
The Lord’s Day
We believe that ever since Creation, God has set apart one day each week to be holy and separate unto the Lord, having modeled this for us Himself by resting on the seventh day of the Creation week. While this day was historically Saturday in the Old Testament, after the resurrection of Jesus on a Sunday, the Church began to gather for worship on this day instead, through which Sunday became known as the Lord’s Day. While we are not bound to this day, by giving us the principle of observing the Lord’s Day, we believe God has given us a gracious gift and a special opportunity to delight in Him by worshiping Him, serving others, and resting in the finished work of Christ on the cross. For our church, our observance of the Lord’s Day simply means that we shall exalt Christ differently than the other busy days of the week: resting from our ordinary work and routine. Namely, this will happen through our gathering together for corporate worship and participation in the ordinances, enjoying meals with believers and nonbelievers in our homes, dwelling on God’s glory in Christ’s accomplishments for us, and resting with sure hope in His promise that one day we will enter into eternal rest with Him. Celebration of the Lord’s Day at our church will be a joy and delight as we remember God as Creator and man as the created.
Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:8-11; John 20:1; Luke 24:1; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2; Hebrews 4:1-16; Revelation 1:10
Heaven and Hell
We believe that everyone has an eternal destiny that they will face after death. Death comes, and then comes Judgment. There are no ‘second chances’ after death. Those who trust fully in Jesus Christ as their only Lord and Savior will spend eternity with God in the New Heaven and New Earth. Those who do not put their trust in Him alone will spend all eternity suffering just punishment in Hell, without fellowship with friends, family, or God. God is loving, desires that no one should perish and for everyone to come to repentance, but is also holy and just. Heaven and Hell are literal places, where people will literally continue to exist forever.
Matthew 25:29-35, 41-46; Hebrews 9:28; 2 Peter 3:9; Revelation 20:11-15, 21:5-8
Christ’s Return
We believe that God promises us in His Word that Jesus Christ will return one day to gather together His own and to judge those who do not trust in Him. No human knows the day or the hour of His return, but all should be prepared and ready for it. His return is sure!
Matthew 24:27-31, 25:31-46; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:9-11; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10