Beliefs
God
We believe in one true God, who is the maker and sustainer of all things seen and unseen in heaven and on earth, who exists eternally as one essence in three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit— infinite in mercy, grace, patience, love and forgiveness but who will not, by virtue of his holiness, clear the guilty.
(Heb. 11:3, Acts 17:25, Ps. 103:17, Duet. 6:4, Gen. 1:26, Mk. 1:9-11, Matt. 28:19, Jn 14:7; 10:30-31; 14:26 Gen. 1:2, Ex. 34:6.)
God the Father
We believe that God the Father, the first person of the Trinity, is himself a personal spirit who is mercifully and sovereignly involved in the affairs of his creation. Having planned the end from the beginning, he now acts in accordance with his perfect nature to accomplish all that he proposed to do from before the foundation of the world–through the sanctification of his Spirit for obedience to his Son and the sprinkling of his blood.
(Jn. 4:24, Gen. 3:8, Ex. 34:6, Dan. 2:21-22, Ps. 147:9, Acts 17:26-27, Rev. 22:13, Is. 46:10, Num. 23:19, Tit. 1:2, Eph. 1:4-6, 1 Pet. 1:2, Rev. 11:15)
God the Son
We believe that God the Son has eternally existed with God, as God, all things being made through him and for him. Having in himself the fullness of God, it was added unto him human nature at the time of his incarnation. Being born in human flesh, he submitted himself to the Father in perfect and humble obedience unto death and was therefore given the name above all other names and exalted to the right hand of the father where he lives forever to make intercession for those who would draw near to God through him.
(Matt. 3:17, Jn. 1:1-3, Col. 1:15; 2:9, Phil. 2:6-7, 9-11, Matt. 1:20, Heb. 2:17, Jn. 5:19, 2 Cor. 5:21, 1 Pet. 1:19, Rev. 5:12, Heb. 7:25, Rom. 8:34)
God the Holy Spirit
We believe that God the Holy Spirit, being fully God, has eternally proceeded from the Father and the Son and was given to believers in order that they might be regenerated, indwelled, sanctified, and sealed for the day of salvation. He convicts us of sin, glorifies the Son, imparts spiritual gifts to his church, empowers us for ministry, teaches us all things, and brings to remembrance all that Jesus has said.
(Gen. 1:2, Acts 5:3-4, Lk. 3:21-22, 1 Cor. 2:10; 5:5; 12:7, Matt. 12:31, Jn. 14:16; 3:8, 1 Pet. 1:2; Eph. 1:13; 5:18, 2 Tim. 3:16, Jn. 16:7-15, Jl. 2:28)
Man
We believe that God created mankind in his own image as two distinct genders, male and female, in holiness to obediently rule over God’s creation in happy communion with him but through voluntary transgression have fallen from this state and are, by nature, under God’s just condemnation for sin and in need of forgiveness and reconciliation.
(Gen. 1:27; Ecc. 7:29; Gen. 2:16; Gen. 1:26; Jn 17:3; Rom. 5:12; Eph. 2:3, Ps. 51:5; Is. 53:6)
The Bible
We believe that the Bible is the written word of God produced by human authors as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit so that what was written in the Old and New Testaments combined is without error, entirely trustworthy and of supreme authority for all matters of faith and practice.
(2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20; Matt. 5:18, 2 Pet. 3:16; Heb. 6:18, Tit. 1:2; Jas. 1:17, 1 Cor. 2:10; Jn. 16:13-14; Mk. 7:8)
Salvation
We believe that salvation belongs to God and is secured by his grace through a cooperative work of the three persons of the Trinity. The Father sent the Son into the world; the Son lived an obedient life, died an atoning death, and was resurrected in victory to be received by sinners through faith in order that they may be regenerated and indwelled by the Holy Spirit, fully forgiven and reconciled to God.
(Rev. 7:10; Eph. 2:8; 1 Pet. 1:2; Jn. 3:16; Rom. 8:32; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 10:14; 1 Cor. 15:56-57; Rom. 4:25; Tit. 3:5; 2 Cor. 5:18)
Justification
We believe that justification is an act of love on behalf of God in which the sinless Son willingly offers himself as the all sufficient sacrifice for sin, bearing in himself the sins of the world so that the Father might justly punish sin in him making right those that have faith in his Son by freely granting to them the righteousness of Christ.
(Jn. 3:16, 36, Acts 10:43 2 Cor. 5:21, Rom. 3:24-26; 4:5; 5:1-21, Eph. 2:8-9, Phil. 3:7-9, Tit. 3:5-6, 1 Pet. 3:18, 1 Jn. 2:2, 12)
The Gospel
We believe that the gospel is the good news that God, in a divine act of mercy, has made a way for sinful humanity to be made right with himself through the gift of his Son, who has come to rule as the rightful king over his creation. By his substitutionary death and subsequent resurrection he conquered sin, death and Satan, thereby removing any and every hindrance that would keep his people from worshiping him in spirit and in truth. This message is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe.
(Matt. 3:2; 4:17, Mk. 1:15, Gal. 1:8, 1 Tim. 1:15-17, Rom. 1:15-17, 1 Cor. 15:3-5, 55-58, Col. 2:13-15, 2 Tim. 1:14, Rom. 6:9)
Faith & Repentance
We believe that faith is a belief, on God’s authority, in whatever is revealed in God’s word concerning Christ, and a receiving and resting on him alone for justification and eternal life. We believe that true and saving faith is always accompanied by repentance–a spirit-empowered volitional act of both mind and will, in response to God’s gracious work of calling and conviction–by which a person turns from the pursuit of sin to the pursuit of God, leading to joyful obedience to his word and a life of holiness.
(Prov. 28:13, Matt. 3:8, Mk. 1:15, Jn. 3:16, 36, 5:24, 6:40, 44, 65, Acts 2:37-38, 11:18, 13:38-39 Rom. 2:4-5, 3:21-28, 10:3-4, Phil. 3:9, Heb. 11:6, Jas. 2:14-26)
Regeneration
We believe that all those who are saved by God are necessarily regenerated by him–born again, through the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit–at which time they are given a new understanding, new power and new desires to live in obedience to the gospel and begin to produce evidence of their salvation through repentance, faith, and newness of life.
(Ez. 36:25-26, Jn. 1:13, 2 Cor. 5:17, Tit. 3:5-6, Rom. 12:2, Gal. 2:20, 1 Jn. 5:1)
The Church
We believe that the universal Church consists of all members of Christ across time and space purchased by his blood and created anew by him to glorify God and proclaim his manifold wisdom to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
We believe that a local church is a visible expression of the universal church in time and space as a covenanted community of believers called by God, with Christ as their head, united by his Spirit, identified through baptism and sustained by the Lord’s supper. The church gathers regularly for worship and fellowship and moves outwardly in evangelism and service and has for her offices Elders (or Pastors) and Deacons.
(Lk. 22:20, Matt. 28:19-20, Acts 2:42-47, 1 Cor. 12:12-27, Rom. 12:4-5, 10, Eph. 4:4-6, Heb. 12:22-24, 1 Cor. 10:16-17; 11:18-25; 12:12-13, Gal. 3:27-28, Col. 1:18; 3:16 1 Tim. 3:1-12)
Baptism & The Lord’s Supper
We believe that baptism is the immersion of a believer in water, into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to identify oneself as having died with Christ and having been raised with him to walk in newness of life. We believe that baptism serves as the primary step of obedience to Christ and ordinarily precedes the privilege of membership in the church and participation in the Lord’s Supper.
We believe that the Lord’s Supper was ordained by Christ himself as the ongoing meal of bread and wine and shared by all who are part of God’s Church to commemorate his sacrificial death on our behalf and anticipate his return and the consummation of all things.
(Matt. 26:26-29; 28:18-20, Acts 2:38. Rom. 6:4-6, Eph. 4:5, 1 Cor. 10:16-17; 11:18-25; 12:12-13, Gal. 3:27-28)
Last Things
We believe in the personal and visible return of Jesus Christ to earth to consummate his kingdom and judge the world in perfect righteousness. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust– the unjust to eternal conscious punishment and the just to eternal blessedness in the presence of Jesus to rule and reign with him forever in the new heavens and new earth.
(Matt. 16:27; 25:31-46, Mk. 14:62; Jn. 5:28-29; 14:3, Acts 1:11, Rom. 2:6-11, 1 Cor 4:5; 15:12-28; 2 Cor. 5:1-10, Phil. 3:20, 1 Thess. 4:15, 2 Thess. 1:7-10; Tit. 2:13, Rev. 20:4-6; 11-15)