We Believe…
We believe the entire Bible, both the Old and the New Testaments, to be verbally inspired of God, without error in the original writings, and that they are our supreme and final authority in faith and life (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:21)
We believe there is but one true and living God (I John 5:20). He is eternal, of infinite power, wisdom and goodness, the Creator of all things, visible and invisible (Genesis 1:1). In the unity of the God head there are three Persons—the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit (I John 5:7).
We believe Jesus Christ to be the eternal Son of God (Hebrews 1:1-3), who became flesh (John 1:14; Colossians 2:9), who was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and is true God and true man (Luke 1:35; Hebrews 4:14-16); that He died for our sins upon the Cross (I Peter 2:24) according to the Scriptures as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice ((II Corinthians 5:21); and that all who believe in Him are justified on the grounds of His shed blood, not of their own works (Colossians 1:14; Ephesians 2:8-9).
We believe the Holy Spirit to be co-equal with the Father and the Son (I John 5:7); He is a Person; He is come as the fulfilment of Christ’s promise (John 16:7). He regenerates (John 3:3-5), indwells (I Corinthians 6:19), seals (Ephesians 1:13-14), infills (Ephesians 5:18), empowers (Romans 8:2), and guides the believer (Galatians 5:16, 25).
We believe that man was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27), that he sinned (Romans 3:23; 5:12), and thereby incurred, not only physical death (I Corinthians 15:21-22), but also spiritual death which is not annihilation (Luke 16:23; Revelation 21:8), but eternal separation from God (Revelation 20:11-15). We believe that all men are born with a sinful nature, totally depraved, and that all who reach moral responsibility and are not born again are eternally lost (Romans 6:23; John 3:18).
We believe that we are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8), through faith and faith alone in the shed blood of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross (Ephesians 1:7); and that all who exercise saving faith in Christ are born again by the Holy Spirit and thereby become the children of God (John 1:12; 3:5-6), possess eternal life and are eternally secure (John 5:24; 10:28-29).
We believe that every true believer should apply his life in service for Jesus Christ. Salvation is by grace through faith alone plus nothing; works have no part or lot with being saved (Romans 3:20-21). We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1); works are the outgrowth of our salvation (Ephesians 2:10). While we are saved apart from works, this does not give license to sin. Grace teaches good works (Titus 2:11-12), and over and above the gift of salvation, believers will receive rewards for all work that shall abide (I Corinthians 3:12-15).
We believe that those born again possess two natures and that they may be victorious over the old through the power of the new, but that the eradication of the old nature is unscriptural (Romans 7:15; 8:17).
We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord (I Corinthians 15:3-20), in His ascension into Heaven (Acts 1:9), and in His present life there for us as High Priest and Advocate (I John 2:1-2).
We believe in the “blessed hope,” the personal (Acts 1:11), premillennial (II Thessalonians 2:1-4), and imminent (Matthew 24:26) return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for His saints (I Thessalonians 4:14-18). We believe in the personal, visible and glorious return of Christ to the earth with His saints. We believe that between these events shall occur the seven years of Daniel’s seventieth week (Daniel 9:27), the last three and one-half years of which mark “The Great Tribulation,” culminating in the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 7:14; 19:11-16).
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust (Acts 24:15); in heaven as the eternal home of the redeemed, where we shall dwell in conscious everlasting blessedness (John 14:1-3; Revelation 21:1-5), and in hell as the place where the unsaved shall dwell in everlasting conscious torment (Revelation 21:8)
We believe that Satan, a fallen angel, is the god of this world (John 14:30), the adversary of Christ and His Church (I Peter 5:8), and that his destiny is eternal punishment (Revelation 20:10).
We believe that all in this dispensation who have accepted Christ as Savior are members of the Church, the Body of Christ, that Christ is the Head (Colossians 1:18) and we are members of His Body, the Church (I Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians 5:25-32). We believe every believer should unite with a local, visible church which we believe is a congregation of baptized believers (I Corinthians 1:2; Acts 2:41, 47) associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ (I Corinthians 11:2), governed by His laws (Matthew 28:20), exercising the gifts, rights and privileges invested in them by His Word, that its only officers are Bishops or Pastors and Deacons, whose qualification, claims and duties are defined in the epistles to Timothy and Titus. We believe in the principle of separation of Church and State (Matthew 22:21).
We believe that the ordinances of the church are baptism, which is the immersion in water of the believer in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:14, 46-47), thus portraying the believers union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4); and the Lord’s Supper, which is a provision of bread and the fruit of the vine, representing Christ’s broken body and shed blood, partaken of by believers, commemorating the death of their Lord, showing their faith and participating in the merits of His sacrifices and their dependence on Him for spiritual life. It is also to be preceded by faithful self-examination (I Corinthians 11:23-24).
We believe that we should be active in the support of world-wide missions both at home and abroad, and that our support should be missions which have as their supreme motive the winning of souls to Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20).
We believe that every true believer should faithfully give of his income to God for the spreading of the Gospel. God owns all (Colossians 1:10-16); we are His stewards (I Corinthians 4:1-2); our giving is not to be as unto men (Matthew 6:1-4), but as an act of worship (I Corinthians 16:1-3).