What We Believe

The following are our core beliefs.  They are based on the foundational truths taught in the bible. All of our teaching and ministry is rooted in and flows out of these biblical doctrines.

There is one eternally existing God who has three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is the creator of all that exists, both visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy of all glory and praise.  God is perfect in love, power, holiness, goodness, knowledge, wisdom,  justice, and mercy. He is unchangeable and therefore is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow (Isaiah 46:9,10; Matt. 28:19; I Cor. 8:6).

We believe that the Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments is the verbally and plenary inspired WORD OF GOD, and inerrant in the original writings, and that it is the only infallible rule of faith and practice of life (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:19-21).

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary in a supernatural manner.  He is very God of very God, existing from all eternity, being “God manifest in the flesh” and that He is true God and true man.  He lived a life of absolute sinlessness and in His death He made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins, dying not a martyr’s death, but as a voluntary substitute in the sinner’s place.  He arose again from the dead on the third day and ascended bodily into heaven and in His present life, is there for us as our High Priest and Advocate.  He is coming again to this world to establish His Kingdom and to set up the Throne of David.  His coming will be personal and is imminent and premillennial  (Isaiah 7:14; John 1:1; Matt. 1:18-25; I Pet. 2:22; John 14:3; I Pet. 3:18; Matt. 28:6; Acts 15:16; I Thess. 4:16).

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person possessing all the attributes of personality and of deity.  He is equal with the Father, and with the Son and is of the same nature. His relation to the unbelieving world is that He convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment.  His work among believers is that He seals, indwells, infills, guides and teaches them the ways of righteousness  (Jn. 14:16,17,26; Heb. 9:14; Eph. 1:13,14).

We believe that God created the heavens and the earth, including all life, “each after its own kind” by direct act out of nothing in a period of six literal days and not by the process of evolution  Genesis 1:2, 1:31-2:2; Colossians 1:16-17; John 1:3.

We believe that the Scriptures teach that man was created in innocence, but by voluntary transgression he fell from his sinless state; in consequence of which all men are now sinners not by compulsion, but by choice, and therefore, under just condemnation to eternal punishment without defense or excuse.  (Gen. 1:27; Rom. 5:12-19; Isa. 53:6; Rom. 3:23)

Salvation

We believe the Scriptures teach that salvation of sinners is wholly of grace through the mediatorial work of the Son of God; it is wholly apart from works and is upon the sole condition of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that in order to be saved the sinner must be born again, being regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit and becoming the recipient of a new nature; that the great Gospel blessing which Christ secures to such as believe in Him is justification which includes pardon of sin and the impartation of divine righteousness solely through faith in the Redeemer’s blood; that having exercised personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the believer is completely justified and is in possession of a salvation which is eternally secure (Eph. 2:8,9; Jn. 3:3-6; II Pet. 1:4; Jn. 10:28,29; Acts 13:39).

We believe the Scriptures teach that a visible Church of Christ is a congregation of baptized believers, associated by a covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word; that its Scriptural offices are  Pastors and Deacons; that it has the absolute right of self-government directed by the Holy Spirit and it is answerable only to Christ, and that in all matters of membership, policy, government, discipline and benevolence, the will of the local Church is final.

We believe the Scriptures teach that Christian baptism is the immersion of the believer in water to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem, our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior with its effect in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life; that it is a prerequisite to the privileges of a Church relation.  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  (Acts 8:36,39; Rom. 6:3-5; I Cor. 11:23-28).

We believe the Scriptures teach that all those who through faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will spend eternity in full enjoyment of God’s presence and that those who through impenitence and unbelief refuse to accept God’s offer of mercy will spend eternity in everlasting punishment  (Psalm 16:11; John 14:2; Matthew 25:46).

We believe the Scriptures teach that there is a personal devil who is “the god of this age; the prince of the power of the air” who is full of all subtlety; who seeks continually to frustrate the purposes of God and to ensnare the sons of men  (Eph. 2:2; II Cor. 4:4; 11:13,15; Rev. 12:9).

We believe in the bodily, personal, and premillennial return of Jesus Christ; that He will come before the Tribulation Period to remove from the earth His waiting Church, coming only into the air, and that He will come with His Church at the close of the tribulation to judge the living nations and to set up His Kingdom on earth  (I Thess. 4:13-18; Matt. 25:31-46; II Thess. 2:1-12; Rev. 19:11-21; 20:1-15).

We believe in the resurrection of the bodies of the dead; that the bodies of believers who died in Jesus will be raised at the coming of Christ for His Church and caught up with transformed living saints to meet the Lord in the air, and that the wicked dead will be raised at the close of the Millennial Kingdom and stand in their bodies at the Great White Throne of Judgment to receive their final doom  (Jn. 5:21-30; I Thess. 4:16; Rev. 7:9-17; 20:11,15).

In view of the fact that we must come before the Judgment Seat of Christ, and in order to demonstrate our loyalty to the Word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ, we strive our lives by God’s grace (II Cor. 6:17; Romans 12:1,2).

We believe that the Bible specifically places man and woman in a biblical, God-ordained relationship and that God instituted the marriage relationship between man and woman (Gen. 2:23-24; Eph. 5:22-23; Romans 1:18-32) and the creation of the biblical family.

We believe that the Scriptures teach that all human life begins at conception (Jer. 1:5; Ps. 51:5; Luke 1:39-44) and that God is fashioning that life throughout the period of pregnancy (Psalm 139:13-16).  The Bible places dignity upon the human life because man is created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26).  Therefore, all life is sacred from conception to death.