STATEMENT OF FAITH
GOD
We believe there is one and 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 Holy. God is all-powerful and all knowing, and His ever present knowledge extends to all things. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
GOD THE FATHER
God as Father reigns with providential care over all creation. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God Through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all mankind.ii
GOD THE SON
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived ofthe 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 honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of mankind. 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 through whom there is reconciliation between God and mankind. He will return in power and glory to judge the world. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.iii
GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables believers to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts all people of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls all people to the Savior, and 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. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.iv
THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MANKIND
We believe that mankind was created in the image and likeness of God, however, in Adam’s sin the human race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became separated from God. We believe mankind is totally depraved, and of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition.v
SALVATION
We believe salvation is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.vi
THE CHURCH
We believe the Church is made up of born again believers, with Christ as its head represented locally and worldwide. We recognize water baptism and the Lord’s Supper as scriptural ordinances of obedience for the church. The Church should fulfill Christ’s calling to spread the gospel, disciple one another and develop ministries for the purpose of helping people.vii
BAPTISM AND THE LORD’S SUPPER
We believe in the baptism of believers by immersion as a testimony of faith, symbolic of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. We also believe and partake of the bread and the fruit of the vine in remembrance of the death of Christ and look forward to the day of His return.viii
JUDGMENT
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all people, the saved to eternal life in heaven and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment in hell.ix
STEWARDSHIP
We believe that everything belongs to God, the earth and all its fullness, and as stewards of the portion that each believer has been entrusted, should cheerfully give of their time, talents, and treasures as an act of service to God.x
THE FAMILY
We believe that God established the family as the foundation of human society. We believe that the only marriage acceptable to God is the marriage between a man and a woman. The husband and wife union is the only means through which sexual relations are acceptable to God. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values through the Word, and a Godly lifestyle. Children in turn are to honor and obey their parents.xi
SIN
We believe sin is breaking God’s law whether by rebellion or omission. Disobedience of God’s righteous standard ultimately leads to death, which is eternal separation from God.xii
PRAYER
We believe prayer, commanded by God, is the method Christians use to communicate with God.xiii
ETERNAL SECURITY OF THE SAINTS
We believe that all believers in Jesus Christ are sealed for the day of redemption and are eternally kept by God’s power.xiv
i Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 17: 19; Joshua 8:34; Psalms 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Jeremiah 15:16; Matthew 5:17-18; Luke 21:33; 24:44-46; John 5:39; 17:17; Romans 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:19-21
ii Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Exodus 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11; Deuteronomy 6:4; Psalms 19:13; Matthew 6:9; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mark 1:9-11; John 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 5:7
iii Genesis 1:26; Psalms 2:7; 110:1; Isaiah 7:14; 53; Matthew 1:18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 14:33; 16:16,27; 28:1-6,19; Luke 1:35; 22:70; John 1:1-18,29; 10:30,38; 11:25-27; 17:1-5,21-22; Acts 1:9; 2:22-24; 7:55-56; 9:4-5,20; Romans 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6-21; 8:1-3,34; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 8:6; 15:1-8; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; 8:9; Galatians 4:4-5; 4:7-10; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:15-22; 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 1:1-3; 4:14-15; 7:14-28; 9:12-15,24-28; 13:8; 1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 John 1:7-9; 3:2; 2 John 7-9; Revelation 1:13-16; 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16
iv Genesis 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26:13; Psalms 51:11; 139:7 Isaiah 61:1-3; Joel 2:28,32 Matthew 1:18; 3:16; 12:28-32; Luke 4:18-19; 11:13; 12:12; 24:49; John 4:24; 14:16-17,26; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:1-7,38; 4:31; 5:3; 6:3; 8:17,39; 10:44; 13:2; 15:28; 19:1-6; Romans 8:9- 11,12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 2:10-14; 3:16; 12:3-11,13; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 1 Timothy 3:16; 4:1; 2 Timothy 1:14; 3:16; Hebrews 2:4; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John 4:13; 5:6-7; Revelation 22:17
v Genesis 1:26-27; Psalm 51:5; Romans 3-22-23; 5:12; 6:23; Ephesians 2:1-3; 4:17- 19
vi Genesis 3:21; Exodus 3:17; 6:6-8; Isaiah 59:16 Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:68-69; John 5:24; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 15:11; 16:30-31; Romans 1:16; 5:8-10; 10:9-10; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Ephesians 2:8-9; Colossians 1:13-14; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 5:8-9; 1 Peter 1:3-5; Revelation 3:20; 21:3-8
vii Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:11-22 Matthew 28:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Romans 3:24-25; 1 Corinthians 12:14-27; Acts 2:42; 1 Timothy 3:15; Matthew 18:15-18; Hebrews 10:24-25
viii Matthew 3:13-17; 26:26-30; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29; Matthew 28:19; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Peter 3:21
ix Matthew 25:46; John 5:28-29; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 20:5-6,12-15
x Psalms 24:1; Proverbs 3:9-10; Acts 4:34-37; 2 Corinthians 9:6-8; 1 John 3:17; Ephesians 4:28; Romans 12:1
xi Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 1 Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians 5:21-23; 6:14; Deuteronomy 6:4- 9
xii 1 John 3:4; 5:17; Romans 5:12-14; 6:23; 14:23; Revelation 20:15
xiii Genesis 18:16-33; 32:24-30; Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 22:42; Philippians 4:6-7; 2 Thessalonians 3: 16
xiv John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:38-39; 1 Corinthians 1:4-8; 2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30