What We Believe

Our Statement of Faith

The Bible We believe the Scriptures, 66 Books of the Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men and the Divine and final authority for Christian faith and life. 2 Tim 3:16, 2 Peter 1:20-21

God We believe that there is one true God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – each of whom possesses equally all the attributes of Deity and the characteristics of personality. We believe that God, by His Sovereign choice and out of love for man, sent Christ into the world to save sinners. 1 John 5:7, John 3:16, I Timothy 1:15

God the Son We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth as God in the flesh, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, where He is the only mediator between God and man, and in His personal return in power and glory. John 10:30, Matthew 1:23, 1 Peter 2:21-22, Romans 3:24-25, I Cor. 15:3-5, John 3:13, Acts 1:11, I Timothy 2:5

God the Holy Spirit We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reveal and glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to men. He convicts and draws sinners to Christ, imparts new life to them, continually indwells them from the moment of spiritual birth and seals them until the day of redemption. His fullness, power, and control are appropriated in the believer’s life by faith, so that the believer will not fulfill the lust of the flesh but will bear fruit to the glory of God. John 14:26, Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 4:30, John 16:7-16, Romans 8:8, I Peter 1:8-9, Galatians 5:16

Satan We believe in the active, present reality and existence of Satan, “That serpent of old, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” I Peter 5:8, Revelation 12:9, Job 1:7

Man We believe in the literal six-day creation account in Genesis, and that man was created in the image of God, after His likeness, as stated in the Word of God, but the whole human race fell in the fall of 3 Adam. Thus, all human beings are born with a sinful nature, and are totally depraved and need a Savior from sin. Gen. 1, Exodus 31:17, Rom. 5:12, Rom. 6:23

Salvation We believe that all true believers, once saved, are kept secure in Christ forever. The salvation of man is instantaneous and accomplished solely by the power of the Holy Spirit through the instrumentality of the Word of God when the repentant sinner—enabled by the Holy Spirit—responds in faith. This salvation is wholly of God by grace on the basis of the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, the merit of His shed blood, and not on the basis of human merit or works. Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:89, Acts 4:12, Titus 3:4-7

The Church We believe that all who put their faith in Jesus Christ are immediately placed by the Holy Spirit into one united spiritual body, the Church, with Christ as the head. The purpose of the church is to glorify God by building up its members in the faith, by instruction in the Word, by fellowship, by keeping the ordinances, and by advancing and communicating the gospel to the entire world. Acts 2:41-47

We believe that believer’s baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the ordinances to be observed by the Church in the present age. They are not, however, to be regarded as means of salvation. Matthew 28:19, I Cor. 11:23-29

We believe that the establishment and continuance of the local church is clearly taught in the New Testament Scripture. We believe that the local church is autonomous and free of any external authority or control. Acts14:27, Acts 20:17 & 20-32, I Timothy 3:1-13, Titus 1:5-11, Acts 13:1-4, Romans 16:1 & 4, I Corinthians 3:9 & 16, I Corinthians 5:4-7 & 13

The Second Coming We believe in the personal, imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead, of the believer to everlasting glory with God in heaven and the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment in hell. I Thessalonians 4:13-18, I Corinthians 15:51-52, Titus 2:11-13, John 14:1-6, Matthew 25:46, Revelation 20:11-15, 2 Peter 3:10