Doctrinal Statement
We believe in the Holy Scriptures, accepting fully the writing of the Old and New Testaments as the very Word of God, verbally inspired in all parts, our infallible and authoritative rule of faith and practice. (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21)
We believe there is one God eternally existent in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Deut. 6:4-5; Matt. 3:16-17; 28:19; John 14:8-11)
We believe in the Deity of Christ (John 10:29; Col. 1:15-19), His virgin birth (Matt. 1:18, 23; Isa. 7:14), His shed blood for atonement (Heb. 9:11-15; Rev. 1:5), His bodily resurrection (Matt. 28; Acts 1:3), His ascension into Heaven there to be our Intercessor (Acts 1:9-11; Heb. 1:1-3).
We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts of sin (John 16:1-11), makes believers children of God through the new birth (Rom. 8:14-15), assuring them of Heaven (Rom. 8:16-17), and by His indwelling enables Christians to live a godly life (Eph. 5:18-21; Gal. 5:16, 22-24)
We believe that all men are by nature and choice sinful and lost; and have within themselves no possible means of salvation (Rom. 3:10, 23, 5:12).
We believe in salvation by grace through faith; that salvation is the free gift of God, not by any virtue or works of man, but received only by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8-9; Gal. 2:16); that all true believers possess the gift of eternal life, a perfect righteousness, sonship in the family of God, and the divine guarantee that they shall never perish (John 10:27-29, Phil. 1:6).
We believe in the existence of Satan, the deceiver and god of this present world (2 Cor. 4:3-4, 1 Peter 5:8); the he was defeated and judged at the cross; and therefore his final doom is certain (Rev. 20:10)
We believe in the return of Christ; the time being unrevealed but always imminent (1 John 3:2-3; Titus 2:13; Phil. 3:20); that when He comes He will first by resurrection of the dead and the translation of the living remove from the earth His waiting Church (1 Thess. 4:16-18; Phil. 3:21); Then pour out the righteous judgements of God upon the unbelieving world (Rev. 6-18); afterwards descend with his Church and establish His glorious and literal kingdom over all the nations for a thousand years (Rev. 19:11-16, 20:3-4).
We believe that the spirits of the saved, at death, go immediately to be with Christ in Heaven (Phil. 1:21-23; 2 Cor. 5:1-8; Luke 23:42-43); that at His second coming their works will be judged and rewards determined (1 Cor. 3:9-15; Rev. 22:12); that the spirits of the unsaved at death descend immediately into Hades until the final day of judgement (Luke 16:22-23), at which time their bodies shall be raised from the grave, judged, and cast into the lake of fire, the place of final and everlasting punishment (Rev. 20:11-15).
We believe in the priesthood of all believers (1 Pet. 2:9; Heb. 4:16), that Christ is our Great High Priest and through Him every born again person has direct access into God’s presence without the need of a human priest (Heb. 3:1; 1 Tim. 2:5); that the believer has the right and responsibility to personally study and interpret the Scriptures guided by the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:27; 2 Tim. 3:15-17).
We believe that the New Testament Church is an organized body of born again believers practicing the Scriptural ordinances and actively engaged in fulfilling the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42).
We believe the two scriptural ordinances given to the local church are baptism of believers only (Acts 8:26-39, 16:30-33), and the Lord’s supper to be partaken of by obedient Christians (1 Cor. 11:23-34).
We believe that humanity is created ontologically as being biologically male or biologically female (Gen. 1:27; Matt. 19:4). And that the Bible defines marriage as between a male and a female (Gen. 2:24; Matt 19:4-6). In this way it is a type and reference to a believer’s relationship with the Triune God (Eph. 5:22-33). Therefore the biblical end of sexual and romantic desires is appropriately located solely in marriage (1 Cor. 6:15-20).