What We Believe
We believe in the historic Christian faith revealed in the Scriptures (Rom. 16:25-27) and affirmed by the church throughout the centuries since the days of the Apostles. We believe that there is a spiritual unity, which binds all true Christians together (Eph. 4:4-6). Nevertheless, because of the theological drift of our age, we would especially desire to confess the following beliefs:
God
We believe that there is one God who exists eternally in three persons: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, and that this only true God is infinite, eternal, immutable, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and sovereign over all, great in love, grace, goodness, and mercy, a God of holiness and righteousness who is worthy of our highest praise and our deepest devotion.
The Lord Jesus Christ
We believe in the full deity and full humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, who was born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life of obedience to the Father’s will, died a substitutionary atoning death on the Cross, rose powerfully and bodily from the dead, ascended gloriously into heaven, reigns now at the Father’s right hand as King, and will return at the last day to judge the living and the dead at his appearing and kingdom.
The Scriptures
We believe in the complete trustworthiness of the books of the Old and New Testament as the Word of God. We believe the Bible is without error in all that it affirms, is the sole authority for the Christian’s life and practice, contains all things necessary for us to believe as God’s people, and is the means used by the Holy Spirit to bring continuous renewal and reform in the life of the church.
Saving Faith
We believe true Biblical faith involves repentance from one’s sins and a firm personal reliance upon Jesus Christ as both Lord of one’s life and Savior of one’s soul. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God and acting upon it as God works by grace in the heart. It is more than a decision or emotional reaction. It is wholehearted commitment to Jesus Christ.
Justification and Sanctification
We believe justification is God’s gracious act of declaring the repentant and believing sinner righteous on the grounds of the redemptive and reconciling death of Jesus Christ and that sanctification is the gracious continuing activity of the Holy Spirit in the justified believer, perfecting his repentance, nurturing the new life within him, transforming him into Christ’s image, enabling him to do good works in the world. We believe that the justification by faith will be followed by sanctification of life when true conversion has occurred.
The Church
We believe the church is the Body of Christ, whose members belong to the new Creation and are called to live in the world in the power of the Holy Spirit, worshiping God, confessing his truth, proclaiming Christ, supporting one another in love, and giving themselves in sacrificial service to those in need. We believe the local church is Christ’s worshiping and witnessing community in a world of darkness and desperate need.
The Doctrines of Grace
We believe in the teachings of grace which magnify and glorify God and humble the pride of sinful and fallen man; that man is by nature and practice totally depraved and unable to effect his own salvation, that God has a people for His praise whom he chose before the ages of time, that Christ had a definite atonement in view when he died on the cross to redeem his people, that the Holy Sprit powerfully calls these same to faith in Christ enabling them to embrace Him in saving faith, and that true believers in Christ will press on through all the trials of life and grow in holiness to the very end.
The Ordinances
We believe that there are two ordinances which Christ gave to His Church: Baptism by immersion for believers as a witness to their identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and The Lord’s Supper which is a remembrance of Christ’s death by believers until He comes again.
Heaven and Hell
We believe that all believers at death are made perfect in holiness, immediately depart to be with Christ and await for the day of resurrection when their souls will be reunited with their glorified bodies and live forever in the New Heavens and the New Earth. We believe that unbelievers at death pass immediately into the torments of hell yet await the final sentence of Judgment which will be passed upon them when their bodies are raised again to be cast into the lake of fire for the suffering of eternal punishment.
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