What We Believe

STATEMENT OF FAITH

WE BELIEVE

The Godhead
We believe the Godhead exists in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three persons are one God, having precisely the same nature and attributes. John 10:30; John 1:1.


Jesus Christ
We believe in His eternal existence as God; His Incarnation and Virgin Birth; His perfect life here on earth and death on the cross as the substitution atonement for sin; His literal, bodily resurrection from the dead; His present ministry of intercession in heaven; and His personal, future return to earth. Matt. 1:18-25; 4:1-11; Luke 24; John 14; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 1:13-22; 2:9.


The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, convicts men of sin, regenerates, baptizes, indwells, seals and sets apart believers unto a holy life; that He keeps and empowers believers day by day; that He is the Teacher of the Word of God and our Guide for daily living. I Cor. 2:13; 2 Cor. 13:14; Gal. 5:13-25; 1 Thess. 5:19; 1 Tim. 3:16; 4:1; 2 Tim. 1:14.


The Scriptures
We believe the Bible is the inerrant, inspired Word of God. The Bible is our supreme and final authority in matters of faith and life. 2 Tim.3:15-17; Heb. 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:19-21.


Man
We believe that man was created innocent and pure and Adam fell through the sin of disobedience. Therefore, all people are corrupted in body, soul, and spirit, and need redemption. All people have the knowledge of God and choose to seek Him or not to seek Him. Romans 1:19; 5:12; 1 Cor. 1:21-31; 15:19, 21-22; Eph. 2:1-22.

Salvation
 We believe that salvation is by grace alone, a free gift of God apart from works; salvation involves repentance, a turning from one's own way to God's way and will. Salvation is through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; all who receive Jesus Christ are a new creation, and that true salvation will be evidenced by a changed life. Romans 3:28; 6:23; John 3:16; James 2:14-26; 1 Peter 1:2-23; 1 John 1:6 to 2:11.

Church
A New Testament church is a local body of believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel. The church is an autonomous body, operating through Elder leadership under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In addition to the local church, the New Testament speaks of the church as the universal body of Christ, which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages. Matt. 16:15-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-42, 47; 15:1-30; 16:5; 20:28; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:18; 1 Tim. 3:1-15.

Baptism and Communion
We believe that 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. Communion 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 Christ and anticipate His second coming. Matt. 3:13-17; 26:26-30; Rom. 6:3-5; 1 Cor. 10:16, 21; 11:23-29; Col. 2:12.

The Future
We believe that every soul is eternal. We believe in the personal, visible, bodily return of Jesus Christ to earth; in the bodily resurrection of the just to eternally abide in the glory of God's presence, and in the bodily resurrection of the unjust to judgment and everlasting punishment. 1 John 2:28; 3:2; Jude 14; 1 Tim. 6:14; 2 Tim. 4:1, 8; Titus 2:13; Heb. 9:27-28.