Statement of Faith:

 

THE WORD OF GOD: We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, fully inspired, both functionally and intrinsically, according to the corresponding view of truth, establishing the Bible to be without error as to fact as well as purpose in the original manuscripts, written under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that it has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

 

THE TRINITY: We believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three Persons, that these are equal in every Divine perfection and that they execute distinct but harmon­ious offices in the work of Crea­tion, Providence and Redemption.

 

GOD THE FATHER: We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal Spirit, perfect in holiness, wis­dom, power and love. We believe that He concerns Himself merci­fully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.

 

JESUS CHRIST: We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. We believe in His virgin birth, sin­less life, miracles and teach­ings. We believe in His substitu­tionary expiating death for the sins of all people, bodily resur­rection for empowering of the new life of all who believe, ascen­sion into Heaven, perpetual in­tercession for His people, and personal, visible return to earth. We believe that He was truly God and perfectly human.

 

HOLY SPIRIT: We believe in the Holy Spirit who came forth from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, and to regenerate, sanc­tify and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ and that He is an abiding helper, teacher and guide. We believe He is God.

 

REGENERATION: We believe that all men are sinners by nature and by choice and are therefore under condemnation. We believe that those who acknowledge their sin­fulness and trust in Jesus Christ’s death as payment in full for their sins are regenerated by the Holy Spirit. We believe that they become a new creation in Christ Jesus but that the old nature is not eradicated.

 

THE CHURCH: We believe in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the Head and all regenerated persons are members. We believe that God has laid upon the mem­bers of the church the primary task of giving the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world. We believe that the purpose of the local church is to edify be­lievers.

 

SATAN: We believe in the per­sonality and existence of Satan.

 

LAST THINGS: We believe in the pretribulational rapture of the church and the personal and vis­ible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the estab­lishment of His kingdom. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, the eternal felicity of the justified and the endless suffering of the lost.

 

THE ORDINANCES: We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has committed two ordinances to the local church: (1) baptism and, (2) the Lord’s Supper. We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water as a public witness to his spiritual baptism by which the Holy Spirit places him in union with Christ in His death, burial and resur­rection.

 

We believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ for commemoration of His death and remembrance of His return. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

CHRISTIAN CONDUCT: We believe that a Christian should live for the glory of God and the wellbeing of his fellow men, that he should be a faithful steward of his possessions, that his conduct should be a good testimony before the world, and that he should seek to realize for himself and others the full stature of maturity in Christ.

 

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY: We believe that every human being has direct relations with God and is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith, that each church is independent and must be free from interference by any ecclesiastical or po­litical authority, that church and state must therefore be kept separate as having different functions, each fulfilling its duties free from dictation or patronage of the other.