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Doctrinal Statement

Scriptures:

We believe that the Bible, in its entirety, is the verbally inspired Word of God, inerrant in its original manuscript. The Bible was written by human authors, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We believe that the sixty–six books of the Old and New Testaments are God’s complete and final revelation of His will and that it has absolute authority in all matters of faith and conduct for the Christian life. We believe that although there may be several applications of any given passage of Scripture, there is but one true interpretation. This interpretation is to be found as one applies a literal, grammatical, and historical method of interpreting under the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.

Trinity:

We believe that there is but one true and living God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are one God, each having precisely the same nature, attributes and perfections, and each are to be honored and worshipped as God.

God The Father:

We believe that God the Father is the eternal, infinite, sovereign ruler of the universe. We believe that He is perfect, infallible in all things. He reigns with providential care over all His Creation. All things are ordered and occur according to His purposes and plan.

Jesus Christ:

We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God. He is the promised Messiah, miraculously conceived in the flesh by the Holy Spirit, and was born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life and freely offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people. The shedding of His blood and sacrificial death on the cross completely satisfied the righteous wrath of God against sin, and provided redemption and forgiveness for all who believe. Three days after His death, Jesus Christ arose bodily demonstrating His victory over death and sin. He ascended to Heaven where He is seated at the right hand of God the Father, and is now our Advocate and High Priest and perpetually intercedes for His people. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, will return to Earth to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.

The Holy Spirit:

We believe that the Holy Spirit is divine and is coequal with the Father and the Son and is that Person of the Trinity who convicts men of sin, exalts Christ, causes spiritual birth, indwells, seals, comforts, sanctifies, guides, equips, teaches, and fills the believer, enabling him to walk in obedience to God and His Word. We believe that the Holy Spirit began working in our age at the day of Pentecost when He was sent forth by God the Father and as promised by Christ to His disciples to initiate and build Christ’s body, His Church. We believe that the Holy Spirit bestows a spiritual gift or gifts upon all believers. These gifts are given for the perfecting of the saints. We also believe that speaking in tongues and the sign miracles were used by the apostles in the early Church for their authentication as teachers and revealers of divine truth. These latter gifts were never intended to be characteristic in the lives of believers. (1 Cor 13:8, Acts 2:1-13.)

Creation And Fall Of Man:

We believe that God created the universe and everything in it out of nothing by the power of His spoken Word. Before God created the universe nothing except God existed. God created the universe in six literal twenty-four hour days (Exodus 20:8-11; 31:18). Man was created by God in His own image and is not the product of evolution. All people are descendants of Adam and Eve, whom God created personally and individually at the beginning (Matthew 19:4). Adam fell into sin through personal disobedience to the revealed will of God; and as a result, all mankind is infected with sin and death, and faces eternal separation from God.

Salvation:

We believe that eternal salvation is God’s free gift by His grace. Salvation is a free gift but must be received (John 1:12) by man through his personal faith and belief in Jesus Christ. Only by belief and trusting in Jesus Christ can man be saved from the penalty of sin, which is physical and spiritual death. Christ’s shed blood and death on the cross, and bodily resurrection was a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins, thus guaranteeing our own resurrection and eternal life. We believe that salvation begins the moment the believer receives Christ as his personal Savior by faith. Salvation is not received by, nor based on, any work or merit performed by the believer, but solely on God’s free gift through His grace. Hence, salvation is not earned, but is given and is eternally secure.

The Church:

We believe that all who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ are united by the power of the Holy Spirit in one spiritual body, the Church, of which Christ is its Head, its one supreme authority. The Biblically designated leaders within the Church body serving under Christ and over the assembly of believers are Elders (also called pastors, bishops, and pastor-teachers), and Deacons. Both Elders and Deacons are men who meet specific Biblical qualifications as outlined in scripture. We believe the Scriptures command believers to:

  • Support their local Church willingly, cheerfully, abundantly, and regularly through tithes and offerings
  • Gather in order to devote themselves to worship, prayer, teaching of the Word, and fellowship
  • Serve the body of Christ through the development and use of talents and spiritual gifts
  • To reach out to the world and disciple believers in fulfillment of the commands of Christ
  • Observe the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

The Ordinances:

We believe two ordinances have been committed to the local Church body: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Christian baptism by immersion is the outward testimony of a believer’s inward faith in the crucified, buried, and resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ. Baptism is a symbol of our own death, burial, and resurrection to newness of life that happens when we become new creations in Christ. Although baptism is not required for salvation, it is commanded of all believers.

We believe the Lord’s Supper (communion) is the commemoration of Christ’s death by believers. This ordinance was commanded by our Lord to be observed until His return. The Lord’s Supper is to be a time of solemn confession of our sin and should be preceded by careful self-examination. We believe the elements of communion, the bread and the juice, are only representative of the flesh and blood of Christ. Nevertheless, the Lord’s Supper is indeed communion with our Lord, since He indwells all believers and is present in the fellowship of believers.

Human Sexuality, Marriage, And The Role Of Men And Women:

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 form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversion of God’s gift of sex. We believe that the only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man and one woman.

We believe that men and women are spiritually equal in position before God, but that God has ordained distinct and separate spiritual roles for men and women in the home and in Church. We affirm the significant role women should play in establishing and leading the local Church. Every leadership opportunity is open to women except those that are excluded by Scripture. The Scriptures clearly state that men are to serve in the offices of Elder and Deacon, and that women are not to serve in Church positions in which they exercise authority over men or in which they teach doctrine to men. (1 Timothy 2:12)

Death, Heaven, Hell, And The Return Of Christ:

We believe that when physical death occurs, the soul of the believer passes immediately into the presence of Christ and there remains in joyful fellowship until its bodily resurrection unto life. The soul of the unsaved descends immediately into Hades and is confined to misery and punishment in Hades until its bodily resurrection when it is judged to conscious separation from God and eternal torment and misery in Hell (Lake of Fire).

We believe that, according to the Scriptures, the next great event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the air to receive to Himself into heaven, both His own who are alive and remain until His coming, and also all who have died in Christ. This event (the Rapture of the Church) is the blessed hope set before us in the Scriptures, and for this we should be constantly looking, since it could occur at any moment.

We believe that immediately following the Rapture of the Church, the righteous judgments of God will be poured out upon the unbelieving world during a seven year period of Tribulation. At the end of this seven year period, the Tribulation will culminate in the glorious Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to Earth to assume His authority as King of kings and Lord of lords. Christ will establish His thousand year Millennial Kingdom in which the saved will reign with Him over Israel and all the nations of the Earth. At the end of the Millennial Kingdom the unsaved souls will be raised, and along with Satan, will be committed to eternal damnation in Hell. The saved will enter the eternal state of glory with God forever.

 

Our doctrinal statement can also be found as Article 3 in our Church Constitution. If you would like to read the Constitution in its entirety, you can download it here.