The Bible

We believe that the Bible is the Word of God. Its sixty-six books are fully inspired, infallible, and without error in the original manuscripts, written by men superintended by the Holy Spirit. We further affirm that the New Testament is the final authority for the faith and conduct of the church. (2 Sam 23:2; John 10:35; 14:26; 16:12-13; 17:17; Acts 1:16; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:19-21; 3:15-16; Jude 3)

The Trinity

We believe there is only one true God, eternally existing in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. While distinct in function, these Persons are equal in every divine attribute. (Matt 3:16-17; 28:19; John 10:30; 14:10; 16:13; 1 Cor 11:3; 2 Cor 13:14; Gal 4:6; Eph 1:3-14; Phil 2:5-6)

God the Father

We believe in God the Father, who rules sovereignly over the affairs of mankind, knows infallibly all that will come to pass, and intervenes supernaturally in His creation as He chooses. We believe that God directly created the physical universe, all spirit beings, mankind, and all other forms of life in six solar days, without any evolutionary process and without the use of preexisting matter, as recorded in the literal and accurate history of Genesis. God sustains all creation and continues to work within it, but in His being transcends time and space. (Gen 1-2; Ps 77:14; 139:4, 16; Prov 21:1; Matt 5:35; John 1:3, 12; 8:41-44; 2 Cor 1:3; Eph 1:4; 4:10; Col 1:15-17; Rom 11:33-36; Heb 1:3; Rev 4:11; 13:8; 17:8)

God the Son

We believe in Jesus Christ, the eternal and only begotten Son of God. He is fully God and fully man, His two natures being inseparably united in the incarnation. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, atoned for the sins of mankind through the substitutionary sacrifice of His death, rose bodily from the tomb, and has ascended into Heaven as the believer’s Advocate and High Priest. He will return for the Church at the Rapture, and later will return again to reign on earth following the Tribulation. (Matt 1:18-25; 24:30-31; Luke 1:26-38; 24:1-6; John 1:1-2, 14, 18; 8:58; 1 Cor 15:1-8, 51-52; Phil 2:5-11; Col 3:1; 1 Thess 4:13-18; 1 Tim 2:6; Titus 2:13-14; Heb 1:8; 4:14;1 John 2:1)

God the Holy Spirit

We believe in the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He regenerates, indwells, progressively sanctifies believers, and also provides a guarantee of their future salvation. We believe He gives spiritual gifts to believers as He wishes, but does not presently bestow miraculous gifts such as prophecy, tongues, and healing. (John 15:26; 16:7-11; Rom 8:9; 1 Cor 6:19-20; 2 Cor 3:18; 12:12; 13:14; Gal 4:6; Eph 1:13; Titus 3:5; Heb 2:4)

Angels

We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless spirit beings, or angels, who are real and possess personality. One of these, though created holy by God, sinned and led a host of angels in rebellion against God. Though this fallen angel, known as Satan or the Devil, is the god of this age and the ruler of all the powers of darkness, he and the entire company of fallen angels, are destined to eternal punishment in the lake of fire. Holy angels continue to serve God as ministering spirits. (Matt 4:11; 25:41; Rom 8:38-39; 2 Cor 4:3-4; Col 1:16; Heb 1:14; 12:22; 2 Pet 2:4; Jude 6; Rev 12:7-9; 20:10)

Salvation

We believe that God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for the sins of all mankind as a demonstration of His love. Jesus the God-man lived a sinless life, took upon Himself the sins of the world, and paid the penalty of sin which each person deserved to receive. Man does not naturally seek after God, but God works through His Holy Spirit to draw to salvation all those chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Salvation is therefore all of God, yet He gives man the responsibility of trusting Him. A sinner is converted when he believes in the gospel (the death and resurrection of Christ), turning in repentance from sin and in faith toward God. The believer is judicially declared righteous by God when Christ’s righteousness is applied to the converted sinner. Those who have genuinely trusted Christ cannot lose their salvation, for they are kept by God’s power. God gives His Holy Spirit to believers as the guarantee of salvation. While believers are progressively sanctified in this life, in the presence of Christ the believer will be finally delivered from the presence of sin. (John 1:29; 3:16; 6:37; 10:27-30; 16:8-11; Acts 13:48; 16:31; Rom 3:10-18, 21-26; 5:1, 6-12; 6:23; 7:14-25; 8:29-39; 2 Cor 1:21-22; 5:14-15; Gal 5:16; Eph 1:13-14; 2:8-9; 5:1-10; Phil 3:9; 1 Thess 1:9; 1 Tim 2:5-6; Titus 3:5; Heb 9:27; 1 Pet 1:3-5; 2 Pet 3:18; 1 John 2:1; Rev 21:27; 22:3)

Mankind

We believe that man was created holy in the image and likeness of God, but by the voluntary transgression of Adam the race fell. All are now sinners, wholly defiled and by nature utterly void of that holiness required by God. All people are disposed to sin, alienated from God, and under His just and eternal condemnation. Mankind is totally depraved, without excuse, and unable to remedy his lost condition. (Gen 1:26; Ps 51:5; Rom 1:20; 3:9-18, 23; 5:12; 6:20; Eph 2:1-3, 12; Col 1:21; Titus 3:3)

Human Sexuality. Distinctions in masculine and feminine roles are ordained by God as part of the created order. We believe that the Bible attributes to men and women distinct roles of equally high value and dignity. We moreover affirm male headship in the family and male leadership in the church. We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any forms of homosexuality, lesbianism, transvestism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. We believe that God disapproves of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender. We believe that the only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man and one woman. (Gen 1:26-27; 19:5, 13; 2:24; 3:16-17; 26:8-9; Deut 22:5; Matt 19:4-6; Rom 1:26-27; 1 Cor 5:1; 6:9; 7:10; 11:3, 8-9; Eph 5:3, 5; 21-33; Col 3:18-19; 1 Thess 4:1-8; 1 Tim 2:11-15; Heb 13:4)

The Church

We believe that the Church is composed of all true believers in Jesus Christ, and is distinct from the nation of Israel. A local, visible church is an organized congregation of immersed believers, associated by a covenant of faith and by fellowship in the gospel. A true church preaches a pure gospel, rightly administers the ordinances, and disciplines its members. It is congregational in government and autonomous in nature. A local assembly has two offices, those of pastor and deacon. Its two ordinances are baptism by immersion and the regular observance of the memorial of the Lord’s Supper. A church ought to refuse to collaborate with those who depart from the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith, as well as those who tolerate such departure. (Matt 16:17-20; 28:16-20; Acts 1:8; 2:41-42; 10:47-48; Rom 11:23-26; 1 Cor 12:12-13; Eph 1:22; 4:7, 11-16; 5:30; Phil 1:1; Col 1:16; 2 Tim 4:2-4; Heb 10:25; 1 John 4:1; 2 John 1:10, 11; Jude 1:3)

Baptism. Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Baptism is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper. (Matthew 3:13-17; 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 3:23; Acts 2:41; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; Romans 6:3-5; Colossians 2:12)

The Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming. (Matthew 26:26-30; 14:22-26; 22:19-20; Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Corinthians 10:16, 21; 11:23-29)

Future Events

We believe in the bodily resurrection and subsequent judgment of both the righteous and the wicked. The righteous will live forever in Heaven, while the wicked will receive the just punishment of eternal, conscious torment in the Lake of Fire. We believe that Jesus Christ may come at any time to gather the Church from the earth into His presence. Then God will judge the earth during a seven-year Tribulation, which will culminate in the public return of Jesus to establish His kingdom on earth for one thousand years. (Isa 35:1-7; Mal 3:18; John 3:16-18; Rom 11:26-27; 1 Cor 15:51-57; 2 Cor 5:8; Phil 3:20-21; 1 Thess 4:13-18; Titus 2:13; Rev 6:17; 19:11-20:6; 20:7-15; 21:1-3)