What We Believe

God
We believe there is one God, our Creator, Sustainer, Provider, and Savior. He is the Ruler of all things and worthy of all praise and worship. God is revealed to us as Father, Son, and Holy  Spirit, each with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being. Jesus, as the Son, became flesh, was  born of a virgin, died on a cross, and resurrected from the dead in three days, to sit at the right hand of God.

Gen 1:1,26-27; 3:22; Ps90:2; Matt 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Cor 13:14

Bible

We believe the Bible is the written word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, recorded by human hand,  and without error in the original manuscripts. The Bible is the revelation of God’s truth and is infallible and authoritative in all matters of faith and practice. We believe that God is faithful to preserve His Word.

1 Tim 2:16-17; 2 Pet 1:20-21; Mat 24:35;1 Pet 1:24-25; Psm 119:89

Man

We believe God originally created man in His own image, and free from sin; but, through the temptation of Satan, man & woman transgressed resulting in the fall of all humankind.

Gen 1:27; Rom 5:19; Rom 7:18-20; Ps 8:3-6; Isa 53:6a; Rom 3:23; Isa 59:1-2

Salvation

We believe man must be born again through God’s sovereign regenerative grace. Regeneration is a change of heart wherein God makes man a new creation in Christ; it is a work of God’s unmerited favor, not a work of man. We believe saving faith comes with accepting and resting upon Christ alone for justification and eternal life, which leads to a life of holiness.

Ezk 36:25-27; John 3:5-8; Rom 6:23; Eph 2:8-9; John 1:12; Tit 3:5-6; Gal 2:20, 3:26; Rom 5:8; Rom 6:6; Rom 9:15-16, John 3:16-21; John 14:6; Phil 3:4-11; Rom 10:4-13; Gal 5:6

Roles

We believe men and women were created equal with complementarian roles; some functions of Biblical headship are specific to men.

Eph 5:22-33, 1 Tim 3:1-13; Tit 1:5-6

Teachers

We believe that teachers of God’s Word are to protect the Gospel Message of Christ without  compromise, holding to the exclusivity of Christ as the only way to eternal life.

Matt 7:15; Matt 24:11; Rom 16:17-18; Acts 20:28-30; Gal 1:6-8; 2 Tim 4:3-4; 2 Pet 2:1-3; 1; John 4-1

Life

We believe from the moment of fertilization until natural death, every human life is sacred because every human life has been created by God, in His image and likeness. Therefore, we believe every human life must be recognized, respected, and protected as having the rights of a person, including the inviolable right to life.

Gen 1:26-27; Exd 20:13; Ps 22:9-10; Psm 139:13-16; Isa 44:1-2; Jer 1:4-5

Marriage

We believe Christian marriage is the God-ordained joining of one man to one woman in a single, exclusive union in which the two become one flesh. Though God has allowed divorce in certain cases, this marriage union is meant to be permanent, only to be separated by death. God intends for sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are so married to one another.

Gen 1:26-27; Gal 3:28; 1 Pet 3:7; Gen 2:24; Mark 10:6-9; Mat 19:9; 1 Cor 7:10-13; Rom 7:2- 3; Eph 5:31-33; 1 Cor 7:2-4; Heb 13:4; Pro 5:15-21; Exd 20:14; Lev 18:20-23; Rom 1:26-27; 1 Cor 6:9-10; 1 Cor 7:7-11

Baptism

We believe Christian Baptism is the one-timeimmersion into water of a believing disciple of Jesus Christ, done in the name of God theFather, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The term Baptism means “Immersion”and immersion is the only fitting way to symbolically represent our spiritualdeath, burial and resurrection. Baptism is clearly commanded by the Lord forHis followers as an important act of obedience that flows from repentancetoward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But this ordinance does not ofitself confer any saving merit to the sinner. We are cleansed from our sins bythe washing of Christ’s blood, not by the washing of water in baptism. And we aremade alive in Christ, not by the washing of water in baptism, but by thewashing of regeneration.^[1]

Mark 1:9-10; Acts 2:38-41; Acts 8:12; Mat 28:19; Rom 6:3-4; Col 2:12; Mat 28:19; 1 John 1:7, Titus 3:4-5

Lord’s Supper

We believe the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Him, to be observed by His Church, until His return,  as an ongoing remembrance and proclamation of His death. The concept of eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus Christ is done figuratively, by believers, in remembrance of His sacrifice for us. Partaking of the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner is strongly warned against.

1 Cor 11:20-34; John 6:35; Matt 26:26-29

Jesus

We believe Jesus promised His disciples that He would one day come again in order to gather His elect to Himself. Jesus will return to this earth in the same manner and with the same resurrected human nature with which He departed from this earth. And Scripture emphasizes that Jesus’ return will not be secret or unknown…but that every eye will see Him and every ear will hear. When our Lord returns on that great “Day of the Lord”, this age will come to an end, the heavens and earth that are now present shall be destroyed, and the eternal kingdom consisting of a new heaven and a new earth shall be ushered in. Jesus is coming soon! Revelation 22:20 says, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

John 14:3; 2 Thes 2:1-2; Acts 1:11; Mat 24:27-31; Rev 1:7; 1 Thes 4:16; 2 Pet 3:4-13; Mat 16:27; 2 Thes 1:7-10; Mat 25:1-12; Mat 25:31-33

Hell

We believe that Hell is real, and is a place of eternal punishment and separation from God, for those  who reject the Gospel message.

Luke 16:26; Rev 20:10-15

Witness

We believe that without question, all believers are to be witnesses for God, ready always to give an answer to every man that asks, the reason for their hope. Believers may be called to serve the Kingdom through a variety of ministries & missions, either locally, or around the world.

1 Peter 3:15; Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 1:8

Footnotes

[1] refer to Statement (4)