WHAT WE BELIEVE

STATEMENT OF FAITH

BIBLE

We believe that the Bible, both the 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament, is supernaturally inspired by the Holy Spirit so that it is inerrant in the original manuscripts. It is preserved by God so that it will always remain the supreme, authoritative standard in all matters of faith and conduct. On its sure foundation, we affirm these additional essentials of our faith:

GOD

We believe in one, and only one, living and true God. He is the sovereign Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, and Ruler of all things. He is infinitely perfect and eternally reveals Himself as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, yet without division of nature, essence or being. To Him be all honor, glory, and praise forever!

THE FATHER

The Father eternally reigns with providential care over all life and history, according to the purpose of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father to those who become His children through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

THE SON

Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation, Jesus was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Being fully God and fully man, He perfectly carried out the will of God, identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He provided salvation through His atoning death in our place and by His bodily resurrection. On the third day, He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He intercedes for all believers and dwells in them as their ever-present Lord. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and consummate His redemptive mission.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, has come to glorify Christ, apply His saving work to our hearts, and seal us for the day of redemption. He convicts individuals of their sinfulness and of the righteousness of Christ, draws them to the Savior, and bears witness to their new birth. Indwelling each believer, He empowers, guides, teaches, fills, sanctifies, and produces the fruit of Christlikeness in all who yield to Him, to the glory of the Father. He leads each believer to glorify God by exalting Christ, equipping believers and evangelizing sinners.

MAN

We believe that man is the special creation of God, made in His own image to have fellowship with Himself and to be steward over His creation. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. Through the temptation of Satan, Adam chose to disobey God, fell from his original innocence which this brought sin and death to the human race and suffering to all creation. Therefore, everyone is born with a sinful nature, under the condemnation of their sin, and in need of being reconciled to God.

MARRIAGE

Throughout the Bible, God defines marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:2-9). This framework is the only means in which a man and a woman should experience intimate companionship and procreation. The New Testament uses this definition of marriage as a way of describing the union of Christ and the Church. The Bible calls Jesus the “Bridegroom” and the Church his “Bride” (John 3:29). Any alterations of this definition of marriage are unnatural, dishonoring, and unfruitful perversions of God’s intended design for marriage.

SIN

God’s mandate to Adam and Eve was to be fruitful and multiply in order that the earth would be filled with the praise of his glorious image. But Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden and the result of their sin was a distortion of that image. They no longer reflected the light of life, love, faithfulness and purity of God. They now reflected the darkness of death, destruction, and impurities of selfish ambition. Since God, who is light, cannot fellowship with darkness, he cast them out of the garden (Genesis 3:23-24, 2 Corinthians 6:14). This was the just penalty for their sin. Not only was it a physical separation from God, but physical death entered the picture as well. And their physical death and separation were an outward display of the their spiritual death and separation from God.

Now that the image of God had been marred, Adam and Eve were only capable of multiplying an impure image. Through their physical multiplication, all of mankind is now born into sin.

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. ”

Romans 5:12

The earth is now filled with a people that are desperately wicked and spiritually dead in their sins. They are separated from God, and at the point of their physical death, that separation becomes eternal.

SALVATION

We believe that salvation is a free gift of God, by His grace, that is to be received through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from our work. There is no salvation apart from faith in Jesus Christ. Through faith in Christ, a believer is justified and brought into a new relationship of peace with God.

THE CHURCH

We believe the true Church is comprised of all persons who, through saving faith in Jesus Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, are united together in the body of Christ. The Church finds her visible expression in local congregations where the Word of God is preached in its purity and the sacraments (or ordinances) are administered in their integrity; where scriptural discipline is practiced, and where loving fellowship is maintained. For her perfecting, the Church awaits the return of her Lord.

THE LORD'S DAY

We believe Jesus Christ will come again to the earth— personally, visibly, and bodily—to judge the living and the dead and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).