What We Believe
Statement of Faith
1. The Holy Scriptures.
We believe the Old and New Testament Scriptures are the verbally and plenarily inspired word of God. The scriptures are inerrant, infallible and God-breathed and are, therefore, the final authority for faith and life. The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the complete and divine revelation of God to man. The scriptures shall be interpreted according to their normal grammmatical-historical meaning. The King James Bible shall be the official and only translation used by the church. (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21)
2. The Godhead.
We believe in one triune God, eternally existing in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Ghost - each co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28: 19; John 14:10, 26; 2 Corinthians 13:14)
3. The Person and Work of Christ.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of Mary (a virgin), in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men. (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2, 14:2; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; Galatians 4:4-5; 1 Peter 1:3-5)
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice, and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead. (Acts 2:18-36; Romans 3:24-25; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 1:3-5)
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate. (Acts 1:9-10; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 9:24; 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2)
4. The Person and Work of the Holy Ghost.
We believe that the Holy Ghost is a person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and, that He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption. (John 16:8-11; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Ephesians 1:13-14)
We believe that the Holy Ghost is the divine Teacher who assists believers to understand and appropriate the scriptures and that it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 1:17-18; 5:18; 1 John 2:20, 27)
We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of spiritual gifts to every believer. God uniquely uses evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip believers in the church to do the work of the ministry. (Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 28; Ephesians 4:7-12)
We believe that the sign gifts of the Holy Ghost, such as speaking in tongues and the gift of healing through human instruments, were temporary. Speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism or filling of the Holy Ghost. Ultimate deliverance of the sickness or death awaits the consummation of our salvation in the resurrection;however, God frequently chooses to answer the prayers of believers for physical healing. (1 Corinthians 1:22; 13:8; 14:21-22)
5. The Total Depravity of Man.
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God; but that in Adam's sin the human race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God. Man is totally depraved and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:22-23; 5:12; 6:23; Ephesians 2:1-3; 4:17-19)
6. Salvation.
We believe that salvation is the GIFT of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. We believe that all sins are forgivable. (Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-10; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 John 1:9)
7. The Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers.
We believe that once a person is saved, he is kept by God's power and remains secure in Christ forever. (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38-39; 1 Corinthians 1:4-8; 1 Peter 1:4-5)
We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's word. However the Bible clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh. (Romans 13:13-14; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:11-15)
8. The Church.
We believe that the local church, which is to consist of only born-again believers. (1 Corinthians 12:12-14; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:25-27)
We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament. (Acts 14:27; 20:17; 28-32; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11)
We recognize water baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper as the scriptural ordinances of obedience for the church in this age. (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; 8:36-38; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
9. Separation.
We believe that believers should maintain a godly testimony and live in such a way that their lives do not bring reproach upon their Saviour or His church. God commands His people to separate from all religious apostasy. We stand against any and all worldly philosophies that seek to destroy or undermine the truth of biblical Christianity. (Romans 12:1-2; 14:13; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6:14, 7:1; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; 1 John 2:15-17; 2 John 9-11)
10. The Second Coming of Christ.
We believe in that blessed hope, the personal, imminent return of Christ, Who will rapture His church prior to the 7-year period known as Daniel's Seventieth Week. At the end of that 7-year period, Christ will personally and visibly return to earth with His saints, to establish his earthly Messianic Kingdom which was promised to the nation of Israel. (Psalm 89:3-4; Daniel 2:31-45; Zechariah 14:4-11; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 4:13-18; Titus 2:13; Revelation 3:10; 19:11-16; 20:1-6)
11. The Eternal State.
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. (Matthew 25:46; John 5:28-29; 11:25-26; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-13)
We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord. (Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 3;21; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 20:4-6)
We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious punishment and torment. (Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-26; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Revelation 20:11-15)
12. The Personality of Satan.
We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin and the cause of the Fall of Man; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man; and that he shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire. (Job 1:6-7; Isaiah 14:12-17; Matthew 4:2-11; 25:41; Revelation 20:10)
13. Creation.
We believe that the Genesis account of creation is neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of God's creation of the earth in six literal, 24-hour periods. We reject evolution, the Day-Age Theory, and the Theistic Evolution as unscriptural theories of origin. (Genesis 1-2; Exodus 20:11)
