Statement of Faith

We believe that the Holy Bible as originally written was verbally and plenarily inspired and therefore is truth without any admixture of error for its matter. We believe the Bible to be the center of true Christian unity and the supreme authoritative standard by which all human conduct, creeds and opinions shall be tried and is sufficient for the salvation of sinners, the instruction of the believers and the direction of the local church. (II Timothy 3:16, 17; II Peter 1:19-21)

We believe that the Scriptures interpreted in their natural, literal sense reveal divinely determined dispensations or rules of life which define man’s responsibilities in successive ages.  These dispensations are not ways of salvation, but rather are divinely ordered stewardships by which God directs man according to His purpose.  Three of these dispensations—the law, the church, and the kingdom—are the subjects of detailed revelation in Scripture. (Gen. 1:28; 1Cor. 9:17; 2Cor. 3:9-18; Gal. 3:13-25; Eph. 1:10; Eph. 3:2-10; Col. 1:24-25, 27; Rev. 20:2-6)

We believe there is one, and only one living and true God. He is an infinite, sovereign Spirit, the Maker and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth; inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible honor, confidence and love. In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, equal in every divine perfection, and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption. (Ex. 20:2, 3; I Cor. 8:6; Rev. 4:1)

We believe that Jesus was begotten of the Holy Ghost in a miraculous manner, born of Mary, a virgin, as no other man was ever born or can ever be born of woman and that He is both the Son of God and God the Son.

We believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, in His ascension into Heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of the Father as our High Priest. (Matt. 28:6, 7; Luke 24:39; John 20:27; I Cor. 15:4; Mark 16:6; Luke 25:2-6, 51; Acts 1:9-11; Rev. 3:21; Heb. 8:6; 12:2; Heb. 7:25; I Tim. 2:5; I John 2:1; Heb. 2:17; 5:9, 10, Gen. 3:15; Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:35; John 1:14; Heb. 1:8)

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature; that He was active in the creation. In His relation to the unbelieving world He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled; He convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony. In His relation to the Christian He is the agent in the new birth and He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies and helps the believer. The gifts of tongues and healing were sign-gifts until the Scriptures were completed. These sign-gifts ceased with respect to the completion of the New Testament. (John 14:16, 17; Matt. 28:19; Heb. 9:14; John 14:26; Luke 1:35; Gen. 1:1-3; John 16:8-11; Acts 5:30-32; John 3:5, 6; Eph. 1:13, 14; Mark 1:8; John 1:33; Acts 11:16; Luke 24:49, Rom. 8:14, 16, 26, 27; Rom. 15:19; Heb. 2:4; 1Cor. 13:8)

We believe in the personality of Satan; that he is the unholy god of this age, the ruler of all the powers of darkness, and is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire. (Matt. 4:1-11; 2Cor. 4:4; Rev. 20:10)

We believe the Genesis account as being neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of the direct, immediate creative acts of God without any evolutionary process. That man – spirit, soul, and body, was created by a direct work of God and not from previously existing forms of life; and that all men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve, first parents of the entire human race. (Gen. 1-2; Col. 1:16-17; John 1:3)

We believe that God created the universe in six literal, 24-hour periods.  We reject Evolution, the Gap Theory, the Day-Age Theory, and Theistic Evolution as theories of unscriptural origin. (Gen. 1-2; Ex. 20:11) 

We believe that man was created in innocence under the law of his Maker. But by voluntary transgression Adam fell from his sinless and happy state, and all men sinned in him, in consequence of which all men are totally depraved; are partakers of Adam’s fallen nature, and are sinners by nature and by conduct; and therefore, are under just condemnation without defense or excuse. (Gen. 3:1-6; Rom. 3:10-19; 5:12, 19; Rom. 1:18, 32) 

We believe that the salvation of sinners is divinely initiated and wholly of grace through the mediation of the Son of God who by the appointment of the Father fully took upon Him our nature, yet without sin, honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and by His death made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins. His atonement consisted not in setting us an example by His death as a martyr, but was a voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner’s place, the Just dying for the unjust. Christ, the Lord, “bore our sin in His own body on the tree.” (Jonah 2:9; Eph. 2:8; Acts. 15:11; Rom. 3:24, 25; John 3:16; Matt. 18:11; Phil. 2:7, 8; Heb. 2:14; Isa. 53:4-7; I John 4:10; I Cor. 15:3; II Cor. 5:21)

We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again; that the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus, that it is instantaneous and not a process; that in the new birth the one dead in trespasses and in sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God; that the new creation is brought about by our sovereign God in a manner above our comprehension solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the gospel; that its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance, faith, and newness of life. (John 3:3; II Cor. 5:17; I John 5:1; John 3:6, 7; Acts 16:30, 33; II Peter 1:4; Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:1, 5; II Cor. 5:19; Col. 2:13; John 3:8)
 

We believe that election is an eternal act of God. By this act of His sovereign pleasure, he chose the believer in Christ before the foundation of the world to be conformed to the image of his Son, to be holy and without blame before Him.  He has chosen these certain ones to be the recipients of His special grace, making them voluntary partakers of Christ’s salvation.  (Rom. 8:27-30; Eph. 1:4, 5; John 6:37, 65; 10:26)

We believe that justification is the judicial act of God whereby He declares us to be righteous through faith in Christ Jesus. Justification includes the pardon of sin and imputation of God’s righteousness; that it is bestowed, not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done but solely through faith in the Redeemer’s blood. (Acts 13:39; Isa. 53:11; Zech. 13:1; II Cor. 5:18-21; Rom. 5:1, 9; Rom 8:1)

We believe that repentance is a change of mind and purpose toward God prompted by the Holy Spirit; that it is characterized by godly sorrow for sin as offensive to God and ruinous to the soul; and that true repentance is inseparably related to true faith. (Luke 13:1-3; 15:7; Acts 8:22; Rom. 2:4; II Cor. 7:10; Acts 20:21)

We believe that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition of salvation. (Acts 16:31)
 

We believe that sanctification is the divine setting apart of the believer unto God accomplished in a threefold manner. First, it is an eternal act of God, based upon redemption in Christ establishing the believer in a position of holiness at the moment that person trusts the Savior. Second, it is a continuing process in the saint as the Holy Spirit applies the Word of God to the life. Third, the final accomplishment of this process occurs at the Lord’s return. (Heb. 10:10-14; 3:1; John 17:17; II Cor. 3:18; I Cor. 1:30; Eph. 5:25, 26; I Thess. 4:3, 4; 5:23, 24; Eph. 5:27; I John 3:2; Jude 24, 25; Rev. 22:11)

We believe that adoption is the gracious act whereby the Father, for the sake of Christ, places new believers into the honored position of mature sons, in contrast with regeneration whereby the believer receives the nature of God and becomes a child of God. The full benefit of the position accorded by adoption as the sons of God awaits the glorification of the believer at the coming of the Lord. (Eph. 1:5 ASV; Gal. 4:17; Eph. 1:13,14; I John 3:1, 2)
  

We believe that those, whom God has accepted in His beloved, effectively called and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally, nor finally, fall away from the state of grace. They shall certainly persevere to the end and be eternally saved. (Phil. 1:6; II Peter 1:10; John 10:28,29; I John 3 :9; I Peter 1:5, 9)

We believe in the unity of all true believers in the church, which is the body of Christ, which was established on the day of Pentecost. We believe that this Church is manifested through local churches which, organized according to the mind of Christ, are congregations of immersed believers, associated by covenant of faith and fellowship of the Gospel. They observe the ordinances of Christ; are governed by His laws; and exercise the gifts, rights and privileges invested in them by His Word. Their only scriptural officers are pastors and deacons, whose qualifications, claims and duties are clearly defined in the Scripture, We believe the chief business of the church is to glorify God and to be obedient to the commands of Scripture given to them, We hold that the local church has the absolute right of self-government free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations. It is scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the Gospel. Each local church is the sole judge of the measure and method of its cooperation and that the one and only sovereign Head of the church is Christ through the Holy Spirit, On all matters of membership, of polity, of government, of discipline, of benevolence, the will of the local church is final as found in accord with Scripture.  (Eph. 3:21; II Tim. 3:16, 17; Eph. 3:1-6; I Cor. 12:12,13; Acts 2:41, 42; I Cor. 11:2; Eph. 1:22, 23; Eph 4:11; Acts:17-28; I Tim. 3:1-7; Col 1:18; Eph. 5:23, 24; Acts 15:13-18)

We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water, under the authority of the local church. Its purpose is to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified, buried and risen Savior, through whom we died to sin and rose to a new life. Baptism is a prerequisite to the privileges of church member¬ship. We believe that the Lord’s Supper is the commemoration of His death until He comes, and should be preceded always by solemn self-examination. We believe that the preferable order of the ordinances is baptism and then the Lord’s Supper and that participants in the Lord’s Supper should be immersed believers. (Acts 8:36, 38, 39; John:23; Rom. 6:3-5; Matt. 3:16; Col. 2:12; I Cor. 11:23-28; Matt. 28:19, 20; Acts 2:41, 42)
 
We believe in obedience to the Biblical commands to separate entirely from worldliness and ecclesiastical apostasy unto God, (II Cor. 6:14, 7:1; I Thess. 1:9, 10; I.-5; Rom. 16:17; II John 9:11)

We believe while sovereignty belongs to God, civil magistrates are the ministers of God to men for good. Being ordained of God in subjection to civil authority is natural and necessary. Since no one form of government is prescribed, God holds each government accountable to acknowledge God’s authority according to His Word, and to conduct its affairs so as to conserve human rights. As long as such subjection can be in accord with the law of God it should be conscientiously rendered. (Rom. 13:2; Ex. 18:21, 22; I.:1, 2; Titus 3:1; Prov. 3:6; I Peter 2:17; John 14:31; John 12:49, 50; Psa. 2:6; Matt. 28:18; I Chron. 18:79;  Psa. 18:12; Rom. 13:4, 5; Acts 4:19, 29; Psa. 1:16-18; Psa.9:7, 8)

We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.  We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex.  We believe that God disapproves of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender by surgery or appearance. (Gen. 2:24; Gen. 19:5, 13; Gen. 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom. 1:26-29; 1Cor. 5:1; 6:9; 1Thes. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4)

We believe that the only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man and one woman. (Gen. 2:24; Rom. 7:2; 1Cor. 7:10; Eph. 5:22-23)

We believe that men and women are spiritually equal in position before God but that God has ordained distinct and separate spiritual functions for men and women in the home and the church.  The husband is to be the leader of the home and men are to be the leaders (pastors and deacons) of the church.  Accordingly, only men are eligible for licensure and ordination by the church. (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:18; 1Tim. 2:8-15; 3:4-5, 12)

We believe that God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society.  The husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church.  The wife is to submit herself to the Scriptural leadership of her husband as the church submits to the headship of Christ.  Children are an heritage from the Lord.  Parents are responsible for teaching their children spiritual and moral values and leading them through consistent lifestyle example and appropriate discipline, including Scriptural corporal correction. (Gen. 1:26-28; Ex. 20:12; Deut. 6:4-9; Ps. 127:3-5; Prov. 19:18; 22:15; 23:13-14; Mk. 10:6-12; 1Cor. 7:1-16; Eph. 5:21-33; 6:1-4; Col. 3:18-21; Heb. 13:4; 1Pet. 3:1-7)

We believe in the sovereign selection of Israel as God’s eternal covenant people, that she is now dispersed because of her disobedience and rejection of Christ, and that she will be re-gathered in the Holy Land and after the completion of the church, will be saved as a nation at the second advent of Christ. (Gen. 13:14-17; Rom. 11:1-32; Ezek. 37)
  

We believe in the imminent, pre-millennial return of Christ for His church.  At that moment the dead in Christ shall be raised in glorified bodies and the living in Christ shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air before the 70th week of Daniel. (1Thes. 4:13-18; 1Cor. 15:42-44; 51-54; Phil. 3:20- 21; Rev. 3:10)

We believe that the Great Tribulation, which follows the rapture of the church, will be culminated by the revelation of Christ in power and great glory to sit upon the throne of David and to establish the millennial reign. (Daniel 9:25-27; Matt. 24:29-31; Luke 1:30-33; Isa. 9:6, 7; 11:1-9; Acts 2:29-30; Rev. 20:1-4, 6)

We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked. Only those who are justified by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and sanctified by the Spirit of our God are truly righteous in His esteem; while all such as continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked and under the curse. This distinction holds both in and after death in the everlasting happiness of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost in the lake of fire. (Mal. 3:18; Gen. 18:23; Rom. 6:17-18; 1John 5:19; Rom. 7:7; 6:23; Prov. 14:32; Luke 16:25; Matt. 25:34-41; John 8, 21; Rev. 20:14-15)

We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being.  Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life.  Abortion is murder.  We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, or the physical or mental well being of the mother are acceptable.  (Job 3:16; Ps. 51-5; 139:14-16; Isa. 44:24; 49:1,5; Jer. 1:5; 20:15-18; Luke 1:44)

We believe that we should demonstrate love for others, not only toward fellow believers, but also toward both those who are not and those who oppose us.  We are to deal with those who oppose us graciously, gently, patiently, and humbly.  God forbids the stirring up of strife, the taking of revenge, or the threat or the use of violence as a means of resolving personal conflict or obtaining personal justice.  Although God commands us to abhor sinful actions, we are to love and pray for any person who engages in such sinful actions.  (Lev. 19:18; Matt. 5:44-48; Luke 6:31; John 13:34-35; Rom. 12:9-10; 17-21; 13:8-10; Phil. 2:2-4; 2Tim. 2:24-26; Titus 3:2; 1John 3:17-18)

We believe that Christians are prohibited from bringing civil lawsuits against other Christians or the church to resolve personal disputes.  We believe the church possesses all the resources necessary to resolve personal disputes between members.  We do believe, however, that a Christian may seek compensation for injuries from another Christian’s insurance company as long as the claim is pursued without malice or slander. (1Cor. 6:1-8; Eph. 4:31-32)

We believe that God has given the church a great commission to proclaim the Gospel to all nations so that there might be a great multitude from every nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language group who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  As ambassadors of Christ, we must use all available means to go to the foreign nations and not wait for them to come to us.  (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; 2Cor. 5:20)

We believe that every Christian, as steward of that portion of God’s wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to support his local church financially.  We believe that God has established the tithe as a basis for giving, but that every Christian should also give other offerings sacrificially and cheerfully to the support of the church, the relief of those in need, and the spread of the Gospel.  We believe that a Christian relinquishes all rights to direct the use of the tithe or offering once the gift has been made. (Gen. 14:20; Prov. 3:9-10; Acts 4:34-37; 1Cor. 16:2; 2Cor. 9:6-7; Gal. 6:6; Eph. 4:28; 1Tim. 5:17-18; 1John3:17)