What We Believe

1. The Scriptures

We teach that the Word of God is the Bible, that is to say, the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament. It was written by men who were divinely inspired and under the direct supervision of the Holy Spirit. God is its author and it was given to us in order to reveal Himself to mankind. It has salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter. The Scriptures are the authoritative and normative rule and guide of all Christian life, practice, and doctrine.

2. God

We teach that there is only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in His perfections. He is all powerful and all knowing. In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who are co-existent, co-equal, and co-eternal. The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit, yet each is truly Deity. Each Person of the Trinity possesses distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

God the Father

We teach that God the Father reigns sovereignly with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and human history, directing each according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. We teach that God the Father is the Creator of heaven and earth. By His word and for His glory, He freely and supernaturally created the world out of nothing. Through the same Word He daily sustains all His creatures.

God the Son

We teach that Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He perfectly obeyed the demands of the divine law and died a substitutionary death on the cross. In so doing, He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission.

God the Holy Spirit

We teach that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He now enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ.

3. Man

We teach that God made man male and female in His own image so that man might have fellowship with Him and live for His glory. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. When tempted by Satan, man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherits a nature that is corrupted by sin.

4. Sin

We teach that sin is a failure to uphold the law of God. While this may take many forms, essentially every sin is a breach of the first and greatest commandment—namely to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Instead of assigning the proper worth to God, we have instead directed the glory, honor, and praise due to His name towards other persons or objects. We teach that we sin because we are sinners. Every person is born with a nature that has been thoroughly corrupted by sin. Furthermore, every person outside of Christ is completely enslaved to sin in mind and will. The consequence of our sin is that we now stand under the judgment of God.

5. Salvation

We teach that salvation is from the impending wrath of God, who will one day judge and punish every sinner for rebellion against His holy throne. The only way to be saved from this coming judgment is to repent of our sin and trust in redemptive work of Christ. There is no other way to be saved. We teach that salvation is offered to all by the gospel; that it is the duty of all to accept the gospel by penitent and obedient faith; and that nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner on earth, but his own inherent depravity and voluntary rejection of the gospel.

6. Sanctification

We teach that sanctification is the process that begins in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart from sin to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person’s life. While the believer is in this life, he will struggle with indwelling sin; however, it is his duty to daily destroy sin while he remains in this earthly body by the guidance and empowering of the Holy Spirit.

7. Perseverance

We teach that all true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

8. The Church

We teach that a visible church of Christ is a congregation of baptized believers, observing the two ordinances of Christ—baptism and the Lord’s Supper; ministering the Word of God to one another and the world; engaging in corporate worship; and exercising the gifts given to them by the Spirit of God.

9. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

We teach that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience that pictures the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in Christ. The Lord’s Supper is a sacred meal in which the church partakes of bread and the fruit of the vine in order to remember the death of our Redeemer, proclaim the gospel, and anticipate His second coming. These two sacraments are reserved for those who have put their trust in Jesus Christ.

10. Last Things

We teach that God has appointed a time when He will sovereignly bring this world to an end and make all things new. Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge every person. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, a real place of everlasting punishment. The righteous, in their resurrected and glorified bodies, will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.

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