Our Beliefs

1. Of the Scriptures


We believe that the entirety of the Holy Bible is verbally inspired by God and is the completed product of Spirit-controlled men, a treasure of heavenly wisdom, is accurate in its truth claims, is without error in its original autographs, and has been preserved by God since it was written. We believe the Bible to be the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions shall be tried (II Timothy 3:16-17).


2. Of the True God


We believe that there is only one living and true God, infinite in every excellence, Maker and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth, inexpressibly glorious in holiness, and worthy of all worship, confidence and love; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three personal distinctions – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – yet one in substance and equal in every Divine perfection (Exodus 20:2-3; I Corinthians 8:6; I John 5:7).


We believe in the absolute deity of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ; existing from all eternity, co-equal with the Father and the Spirit; that he never ceased to be God for one instant and that His voluntary humiliation did not consist in laying aside His deity; and that as man He was miraculously begotten of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:26-38; John 1:1-2; I John 5:20).


We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, equal with the Father and the Son and of the same substance and nature; that He convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment, bears witness to the truth, is the agent of the new birth, and that He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses to, sanctifies, and helps the believer, indwelling every true child of God at the moment of salvation (John 14:16-17; Acts 11:16; Romans 8:14-27; II Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 1:13-14).


3. Of the Devil, or Satan


We believe in the distinct personality of Satan; that he is the unholy god of this age; and he is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire (Matthew 4:1-3; II Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 20:10).


4. Of the Creation


We believe that God created the heavens and the earth, including all life, each after its own kind, by His direct act (Genesis 1 and 2; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17).


5. Of the Fall of Man


We believe that man, in the person of the first Adam, was created in innocence but, by voluntary transgression, fell into sin, thus plunging the whole human race into condemnation and death. As a result, all mankind is born into sin, shaped in iniquity, and are willful sinners without excuse before God (Genesis 3; Romans 1:18, 32; Romans 5:12, 19).


6. Of Atonement for Sin


We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of the Father’s grace through the Son of God, Who, by the appointment of the Father, freely took upon Himself our nature; remained without sin; honored the divine law by His perfect personal obedience; and, by His death, made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins; that His atonement consisted not in setting us an example by His death as a martyr, but was a voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner’s place, the just dying for the unjust and Christ the Lord bearing our sins in His own body on the cross; that, having risen from the dead, He is now enthroned in heaven, uniting in His wonderful person the tenderest sympathies with divine perfection; that He is in every way qualified to be a suitable, compassionate, and all-sufficient Savior (Isaiah 53:4-7; Matthew 18:11; John 3:16; Acts 15:11; Romans 3:24-25; I Corinthians 15:3; II Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 2:7; Hebrews 2:14; I John 4:10).


7. Of the Resurrected Christ


We believe in the literal, physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the tomb; that on the third day He arose from the dead as a mighty conqueror over sin and the grave; and that Christ experienced a victorious resurrection (Matthew 28:6-7; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:2-6, 39; John 20:27; I Corinthians 15:4).


8. Of the Ascended, Interceding Christ


We believe that, after His post-resurrection ministry, Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; that He returned to the glory from which He came at the time of His incarnation; that this ascension to the Father was in a real, tangible, resurrected body; and that He is at the present time interceding on our behalf at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51; Acts 1:1-11; I Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 5:9-10; Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 12:2; I John 2:1; Revelation 3:21).


9. Of Faith and Salvation


We believe that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition of salvation (Acts 16:31), and that true faith will always be coupled with repentance (Luke 24:47; James 2;14-26; Luke 3:7-18).


We believe that the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus; that it is instantaneous and not a process; that in the new birth the one dead in trespasses and sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God, making him eternally secure in Christ; that the new creation is brought about in a manner above our comprehension, solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the gospel; and that its proper evidence is repentance and faith and newness of life (Luke 13:1-3; John 1:12; John 3:3, 6-8; John 10:28-29; Acts 16:30-33; Romans 6:23; Romans 8:35-39; II Corinthians 5:17, 19; Ephesians 2:1, 8-9; Philippians 1:6; Colossians 2:13; II Peter 1:4; I John 5:1).


10. Of Sanctification


We believe that sanctification is the divine setting apart of the believer unto God accomplished in a threefold manner: first, an eternal act of God, based upon redemption in Christ, establishing the believer in a position of holiness at the moment he trusts the Savior (justification); second, a growth and change process in the saint as the Holy Spirit applies the Word of God to his life (sanctification); third, the final accomplishment of this process is a restoration of the image of God that was marred by man’s sin (glorification), which happens at the Lord’s return (John 17:17; II Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 5:25-27; I Thessalonians 4:3-4; I Thessalonians 5:23-24; Hebrews 3:1; Hebrews 10:10-14; I John 3:2; Jude 24-25; Revelation 22:11).


We believe every Christian should be separated from the world unto God as evidenced by his lifestyle; that believers are to be in the world but not of it; that the Christian is not to love the world nor to be conformed to it; that he is a pilgrim and a stranger here and should walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit (Colossians 3:1-19; I John 2:15-17).


11. Of Justification


We believe that justification of the individual includes God’s pardon for sin, the imputation of Christ’s perfect righteousness, and the gift of eternal life, based on Christ’s atoning work. It is bestowed, not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done, but solely through faith in the Redeemer’s blood (Isaiah 53:11; Zechariah 13:1; Acts 13:39; Romans 5:1, 9; Romans 8:1).


12. Of the Church


We believe that the church universal is a New Testament institution unknown to the Old Testament prophets and established by Jesus Christ, Who is its sole Head; revealed through the apostles; empowered and perpetuated by the Holy Spirit. We believe that it is His “body” for service and His “bride” for glory (Matthew 16:18; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:1-13, 41-47; Acts 15:14; Romans 16:26; I Corinthians 12:12-28; Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 3:21; Ephesians 5:28-33; I Thessalonians 4:13-18).


We believe that the church universal is manifested through the local church, which is a congregation of believers, baptized by immersion, associated by covenant of faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, and exercising the gifts, rights, and obligations entrusted to it in His Word; that its officers are Elders/Pastors/Overseers and Deacons (whose qualifications, claims, and duties are defined in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus); that it has the absolute right of self-government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations; and that its one and only superintendent is Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. The scriptural pattern for local churches is to cooperate with one another in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the gospel. Each local church is the sole judge of the measure and method of its cooperation. The local church is accountable only to Jesus Christ in all matters of membership, government, discipline, and benevolence (Acts 2:14, 42; Acts 6:1-8; Acts 15; I Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 4:11; Ephesians 5:23-24; Colossians 1:18; I Timothy 3:17).


13. Of the Ordinances


We believe that water baptism is the immersion of the believer in water to show forth in solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, and faith’s effect in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life. We believe baptism is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and that the ordinance of baptism is not in itself saving but, rather, is a public act of obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 3:16; Matthew 28; John 3:23; Acts 8:36-39; Romans 6:3-6; Colossians 2:12).


We believe that the Lord’s Supper, or Communion, is the commemoration of Christ’s death “until He comes,” to be undertaken regularly by believers in the church through the use of broken bread and the juice of grapes and should be preceded always by solemn self-examination (Matthew 26:26-30; Luke 22:19-20; I Corinthians 11:23-28).


14. Of the Security of the Saints


We believe that all who are truly born again are kept eternally in a state of grace by God the Father for Jesus Christ, and they are secure apart from any human works. Only true believers will endure in their faith to the end (John 8:31; I John 2:19; John 10:28-29; Philippians 1:6; Jude 1; Revelation 21:7).


15. Of the Righteous and the Wicked


We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked; that only those who through faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ are truly righteous in His esteem; while all those who continue in unbelief and fail to repent in this life are in His sight wicked and under the curse; and that this distinction continues among men both in and after death, in the everlasting blessedness of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost (Genesis 18:23; Proverbs 14:32; Malachi 3:18; Matthew 25:34-41; Luke 16:19-21; John 8:21; Romans 6:17-18, 23; Romans 7:6; I John 5:19).


16. Of the Return of Christ


We believe in the bodily, personal, imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ to claim His church, to judge the living nations, and to set up His kingdom on the earth.


We believe in the bodily resurrection of the believer; that those who sleep in Jesus will be raised at the coming of Christ for His church and will be caught up with transformed living saints to meet the Lord in the air; that the wicked dead will be raised to stand at the Great White Throne to receive their final judgment (John 5:21-30; Acts 1:11; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Thessalonians 5:9; Hebrews 9:28; James 5:8; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 20:11-15).


17. Of Heaven


We believe in a real, literal heaven, a place of joy and blessedness to which the righteous (saved) dead go to be consciously in God’s presence as they await Christ’s establishment of His eternal kingdom on earth (John 14:2-3; II Corinthians 1:5; Hebrews 11:16; Hebrews 12:22-23; I Peter 1:3-5; Revelation 21:2).


18. Of Hell


We believe in a real, literal hell and the lake of fire, prepared for Satan and fallen angels - places of torment to which the wicked (unsaved) go - in which they will forever consciously experience punishment and banishment from the presence of the Lord (Matthew 5:22; Matthew 10:28; Matthew 23: 15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6; Jude 6; Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10, 14-15; Revelation 21:8).


19. Of Separation


We believe that the church of redeemed believers in Jesus Christ has no true fellowship with those who belong to other faiths or who claim no faith at all. The local church can serve, be a witness to, engage for business purposes, or receive benefit from any individual or organization, however, it must never partner in a ministry endeavor with individuals or organizations that do not adhere to and promote the true gospel as recorded in Scripture. Further, the church must be careful to identify and refuse partnership with any group or public individual that claims to be Christian but which distorts or contradicts the true gospel (Romans 16:17; II Corinthians 6:14-7:1; Galatians 1:6-9; I Thessalonians 1:9-10; I Timothy 6:3-5; II John 9-11).


20. Of Civil Government


We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the interests and good order of human society; that government officials are to be prayed for and conscientiously honored and obeyed, except in things that would compel the Christian to sin (Exodus 18:21-22; II Samuel 23:3; Daniel 3:17-18; Matthew 22:21; Acts 4:19-20; Acts 5:20; Acts 23:5; Romans 13:7).


21. Of the Fruit of the Spirit and Spiritual Gifts


We believe the Fruit of the Spirit is the outwardly visible manifestation of a changed, regenerate life in each believer. Modern day believers are still endowed with spiritual gifts and exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit. God still performs miracles as well, particularly in response to prayer (Galatians 5:22-26).


We believe that every Christian is endowed with spiritual gifts suited to the working of the church; that these gifts are bestowed by the Holy Spirit and exist to be discovered and employed by the individual in the course of his lifelong spiritual walk. These gifts exist, not for the possessor’s benefit, but for the edification of others within the body of Christ. It is the combination of gifted people that the Lord places in a specific location that enables them to function within the body of Christ as a local New Testament church (Romans 12:4-8; I Corinthians 11:7, 11, 27-28; Ephesians 4:11-12, I Peter 4:10). 


God has often used signs and sign gifts during special periods of history to validate His prophets and His words through His prophets. Periods where God was revealing new truths to man were accompanied by high frequencies of these signs. We also believe that signs and the sign gifts are going to be frequent again in the last days of this earth (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2-4; Acts 10:44-46; Acts 19:6; I Corinthians 13:8).