Statement of Faith

1.1 We believe that the Bible is the Word of God. Every word in the sixty-six books that comprise both the Old and New Testaments were directed, overseen and inspired by God in the original manuscripts and are without error or contradiction.

(2 Peter 1:19-21; Mark 13:31; 1 Corinthians 2:13; John 16:13-14; Acts 20:32)

1.2 We believe that the Bible has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. As it is the Word of God, we confess that it is divine in communication and complete in design. The Bible is not an alphabetical manual yet in matters that are not addressed in the Bible, what is true and right are determined by principles that are aligned with the teachings found within it.

(Matthew 28:18; 2 Timothy 3:16)

1.3 We believe that the Bible was written by God through men for mankind. God partnered with dozens of men over the course of fifteen hundred years to communicate what He wanted said. Something that He wants known and is demonstrated by the design of the Bible is God’s desire for a relationship with mankind. The very book that details and explains this amazing revelation was written and compiled through the partnership of God with mankind. Both working together in a functional relationship, but led by the direction of God.

(2 Peter 1:19-21; John 11:51; James 4:8; 2 Peter 3:9)

1.4 We believe that the meaning of the Biblical texts is rooted in the historical moment that they were written in and through the originally purposed intentions of its divine and human authors. While the meaning does not change, application of that meaning may change in situational moments. It must be stated that adding to or inferring personal objectives into the meaning of a biblical text is wrong and such practice must be corrected.

(1 Corinthians 2:12-16; 2 Peter 3:15-16; Matthew 4:6-7)

1.5 In continuation, the process of uncovering the biblical meaning and intention of the ultimate Author is a humble and careful effort to find what the human authors intended to communicate. This effort can be hindered by personal sin, traditional predispositions, cultural assumptions or by limited abilities. With this in mind, it is paramount that for right understanding of the Bible, it is necessary to pray for the assistance of the Holy Spirit to work in our minds and lead us to understand and apply God’s Word.

(John 20:30-31; Isaiah 11:2)

2.1 We believe that God has used the Bible to glorify Himself and to continually instruct the generations of His children. Something that He has revealed about Himself through the Bible and by submissive exegesis is that He is one living, eternal, omniscient, immutable, omnipotent, holy, omnipresent, and all-glorious God, existing self-sufficiently in three sovereign and equal Persons.

(Romans 1:19-20)

2.2 We believe the Trinity is God the Father, the mighty director of the universe; God the Son, who is eternally begotten without beginning and is one essence with the Father; and the Holy Spirit, coming forth from the divine essence as a Person, eternally from the Father and the Son. Each Person in the Godhead is completely and fully God who execute distinct but congruent offices in the work of creation, redemption and holy passion.

(Genesis 1:1-2,26; John 1:1-3; Galatians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Deuteronomy 6:4)

2.3 We believe that God is perfect in nature and delighted within the fellowship of the Trinity, each Person existing and expressing complete joy in the perfection of the triune God.

(John 17:25-26)

3.1 We believe that God the Father is the just and righteous Creator of the universe who rules with all wisdom and power. God the Father is an infinite, personal spirit, who is active and involved with the matters of the world. He is faithful, gracious, merciful, loving, good, and just.

(Ephesians 4:5-6; John 4:24; Daniel 4:17; Isaiah 46:9-10; Psalm 86:15)

3.2 We believe that God the Father is mercifully concerned with the affairs of mankind and with His complete foreknowledge has perfectly planned the redemption of mankind through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son.

(John 3:16-17; Galatians 4:4-5; Hebrews 1:5-6)

3.3 We believe that God the Father hears and answers prayer, and that He forgives and saves all who come to Him through the way, the truth and the life; Jesus Christ.

(1 John 5:13-15; Psalm 86:5; 1 John 1:9)

4.1 We believe in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who while remaining fully God, became fully man through the conception of the Holy Spirit and through the birth of a virgin named Mary. We believe in His sinless life, His miracles, and His teachings.

(John 1:18; Colossians 2:9; Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:35; John 10:30; 1 Peter 2:22)

4.2 We believe that Jesus Christ fulfilled Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah, thus proving Him to be the promised Messiah, and that He was rejected, falsely condemned, executed through the ancient practice of crucifixion, buried in a borrowed tomb, and resurrected from the dead on the third day. He ascended into Heaven in a glorified body and sits at the Father’s right hand.

(John 5:18; Matthew 1:1; Matthew 5:17-18; Philippians 2:5-8; Mark 16:6; Acts 1:10-11; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 1:3)

4.3 We believe in Jesus Christ’s sacrificial and substitutionary atoning death, His bodily resurrection, and His ascension into Heaven where He is continually interceding as a High Priest for His people. We believe in His personal visible return to earth.

(Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 4:14-16; Hebrews 9:28; Revelation 19:11-16)

5.1 We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person who is co-equal with and came forth from the Father and the Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Through Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is given as a seal to those who believe in Christ. The Holy Spirit indwells, regenerates, sanctifies, empowers and gifts all who believe in Jesus Christ.

(Acts 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 2:10-11; John 16:8-11; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11)

5.2 We believe that the Holy Spirit is an abiding helper, teacher and guide for all who are sealed with Him.

(John 15:26; John 14:26; John 16:13-14; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 12:11; Ephesians 4:30)

6.1 We believe that mankind was created in God’s own image. Mankind was created with the ability and for the purpose of fellowship with God. We believe that God created Adam directly out of the dust of the earth and Eve from his side. Adam and Eve were created male and female, equally in the image of God. From Adam and Eve came the entire human race, thus all mankind are image-bearers of the Creator. Adam and Eve were made without sin and appointed differing and complementary roles in marriage as a type of Christ and the Church.

(Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 2:7; Genesis 2:21-22; Ephesians 5:22-33)

6.2 We believe that God created mankind morally upright and with free agency, yet Adam and Eve were led astray from God’s Word by Satan’s deceit and chose to sin against their Creator. Because of this sin, mankind suffered separation from God and experienced physical, spiritual and eternal death. Because of this sin, mankind marred their reflection of God’s image and underwent change in their essential nature. All human beings are born with a sinful nature and are sinners by choice. Mankind became hostile to God and are under condemnation.

(Ecclesiastes 7:29; Genesis 3:1; Genesis 3:13; 2 Corinthians 11:3; Romans 5:12; Romans 8:7-8)

6.3 We believe that mankind is unable to achieve or earn God’s favor through personal effort and therefore need a spiritual regeneration in order to become what God created them to be. All of mankind is corrupt by nature, enslaved to sin and morally unable to overcome their own desire of self-rule.

(Romans 3:22-24; Romans 7:17-18; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:16-19)

7.1 We believe that it is only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ that one can receive forgiveness of sins. Jesus, who lived a sinless life, fulfilled God’s law and entered as a substitute into God’s righteous wrath. Thus, it is only through the blood of sinless Jesus that mankind is able to enter into fellowship with God.

(Ephesians 2:4-8; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Matthew 5:17-18; Mark 10:45; Galatians 2:20; 1 Peter 3:18)

7.2 We believe that those who repent and turn to Jesus Christ as Savior receive forgiveness of sins because of the propitiation of Jesus as a sacrificial appeasement and believers receive the indwelling Holy Spirit as a seal and down payment of a heavenly inheritance.

(Acts 3:19; 1 John 2:1-2; John 14:16-17; Ephesians 1:13-14)

7.3 We believe that those who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and become new creatures, delivered from condemnation and receive eternal life.

(Titus 2:11-14; 2 Corinthians 5:17-19; John 3:16)

8.1 We believe in the universal church. The church consists of regenerated men and women who are united together by the Holy Spirit. We believe that the universal church should find expression in local churches, consisting of a body of believers who celebrate the glory of God in corporate worship, who observe the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, who build each other up in their faith, who hold each other accountable to the obedience of faith through Biblical discipline, and who engage in local and world evangelization.

(Hebrews 10:23-25; Ephesians 4:2-3; Ephesians 1:22; Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 5:23; 1 Corinthians 16:19; Ephesians 5:18-21; Colossians 3:15-17; Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; 1 Corinthians 12:4-7; 1 Corinthians 14:26; Romans 12:6-8; Galatians 6:1; 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15; Matthew 28:18-20; 3 John 7-8)

8.2 We believe that baptism is an ordinance of the Lord by which those who have repented and come to trust in Christ Jesus express their confession of faith through immersion in water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The water baptism represents the union of the believer with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection thus declaring a death to the old life of unbelief and new life in the resurrection of the Lord.

(Colossians 2:12; Matthew 3:6; 1 Peter 3:21; Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:38; Galatians 3:25-27; Hebrews 10:22)

8.3 We believe that the Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the Lord by which a body of believers eat bread, signifying Christ’s body given for His people, and drink the cup of the Lord thus signifying the New Covenant in Christ’s blood. This practice is one of remembrance, remembering the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

(1 Corinthians 11:23-26; 1 Corinthians 11:17-22; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; John 6:53-57)

8.4 We believe that the church is to be a light on a hill. It is a center of worship. It is the pillar and barricade of truth in a truth-denying world. We affirm that the Great Commission given by Jesus Christ to make disciples of all nations is binding to the church, as it is the church’s role in this age to bear witness to the Gospel. When Jesus comes to take His bride (the church) home, innumerable numbers of redeemed worshipers will fall on their faces before the throne of God and missions will cease. We must gather as many worshippers as possible through preaching the Gospel locally and globally.

(Matthew 5:14-16; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Timothy 3:14-15; 2 Corinthians 5:20-21; John 4:23; Philippians 2:9-11; Romans 15:8-11)

9.1 We believe that Jesus will return to the earth suddenly, physically and visibly with incredible majesty and awe to fully establish His kingdom, to bring judgement to the nations and to take His church as His bride.

(Matthew 24:30; Matthew 25:31-46; 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3; Acts 1:9-11; Luke 21:27; 1 Corinthians 15:22-24)

9.2 We believe that the dead will be raised and participate with the living in either eternal life prepared for those who have been redeemed or participate in eternal punishment for those who rejected and suppressed the truth.

(1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:23; Romans 1:18; 2 Thessalonians 1:9)

9.3 We believe that Jesus’ future work will include the judgment of all evil and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. We believe that accomplishment of Jesus’ work during this age will result in a new beginning of a never-ending, worship filled future for all of God’s people. To God be the glory!

(1 Corinthians 15:22-24; Revelation 21:1-5; Ephesians 2:6-7; Revelation 19:6-7; Philippians 4:20)