We Believe.

We believe the Bible is the only inspired, inerrant, infallible, and authoritative Word of God, and that God’s Spirit communicated through human authors so that the Scriptures are without error, and therefore, authoritative in all that they say (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21; Psalm 119:160).

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person in the Godhead possesses the same attributes and is equal in essence and power but distinct in their relation to one another (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 3:13-17; II Corinthians 13:14; I Peter 1:1-2).

We believe God the Father is a person separate from the Son and the Spirit and invisible to man. With God the Father, the Son has had an eternal relationship as Son, and from the Father and Son proceeds eternally the Holy Spirit. God the Father also has a personal relationship with each believer as Father (John 15:26, 17:21; Romans 8:14-16).

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man (Matthew 1:20-21; Luke 1:35; John 1:1,2,14).

We believe in the deity and personhood of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 26; Acts 5:3-4). We believe the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8-11), and is the Divine Agent of the new birth, bringing sinners to faith through the Word of God (John 3:1-8; Romans 10:17).

We believe in the existence of a myriad of angels created by God to serve Him in various capacities, having differing levels of authority and responsibility (Nehemiah 9:6; Colossians 1:16). Obedient angels faithfully carry out God’s plan and help God’s people through acts of service, worship, and spiritual battle against all who oppose God and His people (Hebrews 1:14).

We believe in the personality of Satan. We believe he was once a holy angel who enjoyed heavenly honors, but through pride and ambition to be as the Almighty, fell and drew after him a host of fallen angels, now called demons (Isaiah 14:12-15). He is now the malignant prince of the power of the air and the unholy god of this age (Ephesians 2:2). He faces final defeat at the hand of God’s Son to the eternal judgment of an eternal justice in the Lake of Fire (Matthew 25:41; Ephesians 6:11-12; Revelation 20:10).

We believe the creation account presented in the book of Genesis, and that this account is to be accepted in its plain sense: that man was created directly in God’s own image and after His own likeness, and that man’s existence on earth is not attributable to an evolutionary process, but is the result of a direct creative act of God (John 1:3; Hebrews 11:3).

We believe that mankind was created by the direct act of God, that He made both man and woman in His own image, uniquely and distinctly reflecting the character of their Creator, and that having had God’s life breathed into them, they became living souls (Genesis 1:27, 2:7). We believe that God created the first man and woman from one flesh with unique physical characteristics, that God is therefore the Creator of the distinction between men and women, and that He alone has the authority to define gender (Genesis 2:21-23). We believe that God designed men and women with the capacity to reunite as one flesh in the complementary marriage relationship and that God has clearly defined marriage as a covenant of companionship between one man and one woman for life (Genesis 2:24-25; Matthew 19:4-5). We believe that God gave Adam and Eve all that they needed to obey Him and flourish in this world as His appointed representatives. However, in Adam’s disobedience, sin entered the world and passed to all mankind, severing man’s relationship with God and resulting in death. Thus, all people are sinners by nature and by choice and are therefore under just condemnation without defense or excuse, deserving of eternal punishment in hell, and hopelessly lost forever apart from divine grace (Romans 3:23, 5:12-21, 6:23; Ephesians 2:1-10).

We believe that sin is any thought, word, deed, or desire that is contrary to the holy character of God, that it originated with Adam in the historical Garden of Eden under the influence of Satan (I John 3:4, 5:17), and that it resulted in the curse falling upon all creation (Romans 8:22).

We believe the Bible teaches that God’s wrath rests on mankind because of our sin (Romans 1:18). However, because of His great love for mankind, God took the initiative in providing salvation for man by offering His only Son Jesus as a ransom for the atonement of our sins (Romans 5:8; II Corinthians 5:19; Matthew 20:28; John 6:44). This vicarious death of Jesus Christ on the cross not only delivered us from the power of Satan, but also satisfied God’s justice completely (II Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 2:14; Romans 3:26).

We believe that repentance and faith are solemn obligations and inseparable graces which the life-giving Spirit of God accomplishes in a believer’s soul (Mark 1:15). This work of the Spirit is evidenced by deep conviction of guilt, danger, helplessness, and the realization that the way of salvation is by and through Christ alone (Psalm 51:1-4; II Corinthians 7:10; Romans 10:9-11).

We believe that a genuine child of God will see his salvation endure through the power and grace of God (John 10:28; Philippians 1:6). Therefore, believers have the immense privilege of rejoicing in the assurance of their salvation (Psalm 13:5). We also believe that God’s Word clearly forbids the use of this Christian liberty as an occasion to serve the flesh but rather warns believers to avoid unbelief and sin (Galatians 5:13; Hebrews 10:26-27).

We believe that the Church, the body of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again believers of this present age; that it was constituted and empowered by the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost; that it was purchased with the blood of Christ; and that it was founded upon Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23; Acts 2, 20:28; I Corinthians 3:11; He-brews 12:2). We believe that the Church’s mission is to bear to the ends of the earth a Spirit-filled testimony of the judgment of God against sin and the salvation of sinners who repent toward God and exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20; II Corinthians 5:20). We believe that a local New Testament church is a body of regenerated believers in Christ that have followed the Lord in baptism as an act of obedience to Christ, associated together under the direction and government of the Holy Spirit for worship, instruction, discipleship, fellowship, service, and the spread of the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 2:38-42).

We believe that God’s salvation includes a consecration to Him and a separation from those things that would draw our hearts away from Him. While Christians ought to reflect God’s love for the lost by developing deep relationships and seeking to share the saving truth of the gospel, we must also wisely guard our affections from an undo attachment to the mindset, values, and distractions of this passing world (I John 2:15-17). The New Testament also challenges believers to make note of false teachers who profess to be Christians but knowingly or unknowingly deceive the Church with unsound teaching concerning the fundamentals of the faith (Galatians 1:8-9). We must also maintain a separation from disobedient brothers who deliberately refuse to conform some aspect of their conduct to the clear teaching of Scripture, while claiming to have faith in Christ’s saving work (I Corinthians 5:11). Because the Church is the Bride of Christ, God desires that the Church be pure (Ephesians 5:25-27). This purity is maintained by publicly identifying the disobedient person and ultimately restoring them after they have demonstrated the fruit of repentance (Romans 16:17; Galatians 6:1; II Corinthians 2:5-8).

We believe that upon death those who are saved experience conscious, eternal bliss in heaven and those who are lost experience conscious, eternal punishment in hell (II Corinthians 5:6-8; Matthew 25:46). We further believe the Scriptures describe an imminent, personal, pre-tribulational appearance of Christ to catch away His Church and that every saved person of the Church Age will appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ to give an account for the stewardship of his Christian life (I Thessalonians 4:13-18; II Corinthians 5:10). We believe all who have placed their faith in Christ will live eternally with Him in glory (John 3:16; Revelation 22:5).