Statement of Faith

What we believe

The Bible

We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally and plenarily inspired Word of God; that the Scriptures are inerrant, infallible, God-breathed, and without error or omission in the whole and in the part; that the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the complete and divine revelation of God to Man; that the Scriptures are to be interpreted according to their normal grammatical-historical meaning; and that the Bible is our only and final authority in all matters of belief and practice.

God

We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ

We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His shed blood for atonement, His bodily resurrection, His ascension, His present intercessory work, His return to rapture the Church before the tribulation, and His literal, personal return to establish His kingdom on earth.

Justification by Faith

We believe that men are justified only and exclusively on the ground of faith in the shed blood and finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, not by works; and that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God's power and are thus secure in Christ forever.

The Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, makes believers children of God through the new birth assuring them of Heaven, and that by His indwelling enables Christians to live a godly life.

We believe that every believer immediately upon being saved receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit; that God still works miracles today, but that "sign gifts" such as speaking in tongues (known, spoken languages), predictive prophecy, healing and miracles are not operational in this age.

The New Birth

We believe that all men are by nature sinful and lost and that, for salvation, Holy Spirit regeneration and new birth are absolutely essential.

The Church

We believe that a New Testament Church is an organized body of baptized believers practicing two scriptural ordinances (baptism and the Lord's supper) and actively engaged in fulfilling the Great Commission; that each local Church is autonomous -- free of any external authority or control.

Baptism

We believe that baptism is a scriptural ordinance requiring immersion of believers, and that it is absolutely essential to the carrying out of The Great Commission.

The Lord's Supper

We believe that the Lord's supper is a scriptural ordinance of the Church, of which obedient Christians of like faith are the rightful partakers.

The Resurrection

We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; the saved unto the resurrection of life and the lost unto the resurrection of damnation, and that Hell is a place of eternal conscious punishment of all who are unsaved.

Satan

We believe that Satan is a personal being, the author of sin and the cause of the fall of man; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man; that he will be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire.

The Great Commission

We believe that the main mission of the local Church as defined by Christ in The Great Commission is to preach the gospel in all the world, to make disciples of all the nations, to baptize those disciples, and to instruct those disciples to observe all of the commands of Scripture.

Personal Holiness

We believe that Christians are called to live holy and exemplary lives, separated unto God and separated from the world.

Creation

We believe that God created the universe in six literal, 24-hour periods, and we reject evolution, theistic evolution, and the day-age theory as unscriptural theories of origins.

God Ordained Authority

We believe that God has authored, created, and ordained all true and legitimate authority, and has thereby established three institutions: the home, the Church, and the state; that every person is subject to these authorities, but all (including the authorities themselves) are answerable to God and are to be governed by His Word; that God has given each institution specific biblical responsibilities and their authority (being derived, and therefore not absolute) is limited to that which is given to them by God; and that the home, the Church, and the state are equal and sovereign in their respective biblically assigned spheres of responsibility under God.

Marriage

We believe that marriage is a lifetime contract between one man and one woman which can be broken only by death, gross sexual sins, or possibly abandonment (refusal of an unbelieving spouse to remain); that God hates divorce because of its terrible destructiveness; that remarriage after divorce is regarded as the sin of adultery except when enacted on the grounds of gross sexual sins or abandonment; and that there is complete forgiveness for those who are truly repentant.

Morality

We believe that there are clearly defined biblical standards of morality; that the Scriptures clearly teach that the practice of "premarital sex", adultery, incest, homosexual and bisexual acts, pornography and all other sexual sins are hated by God, and are totally incompatible with the Christian life and serving in the local Church; and that those who are truly repentant are completely forgiven.

Gender Distinction

We believe that the role and function of men and women in society, the family, and the church are to be defined in terms of God's created order as revealed in the Scriptures namely, that there is a prescribed order of authority — God is head of the man and man is the head of the woman; that the role and function of the sexes are distinctly different; that though they differ in role and function, both are equal in worth, dignity, and spiritual privilege; and that based on the foregoing principles and teachings, women are prohibited from exercising authority over the Church and thus from assuming the Pastorate.

Sancitity of Life

We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being; that the abortion of unborn children (with the exception of saving the physical life of the mother) is an act of murder and, as such, is a crime against God and man; that there is complete forgiveness for the truly repentant individual guilty of this sin; and that the nation that permits this atrocity invites upon itself the certain judgment of Almighty God.

We believe that God is the creator of all life; that the power over life and death belongs to Him alone; that God alone can rightfully terminate or order the termination of life and, therefore, that the taking of human life in what is called euthanasia constitutes a violation of the sanctity of human life and of divine prerogatives; and that this termination of life premised upon the false notion of quality of life and/or other human whims constitutes the crime of committing murder. We do not believe that the withholding or removal of life support systems ordinarily constitutes an act of euthanasia.

Civil Lawsuits

We believe that in the context of the local Church, Christians are prohibited from bringing civil lawsuits against other Christians or the Church to resolve personal disputes, and that the Church possesses all the resources necessary to resolve personal disputes between individual members, and between members and the Church.

Separation

We believe that the local Church should not make common cause or fellowship in spiritual matters with other churches and organizations that do not whole-heartedly embrace and stand for the fundamentals of the Faith in which we believe.

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