In a nutshell, we believe in Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God, born of a virgin, died, and rose again. Jesus is the truth, the life and the way and no one comes to the Father except through Him. We believe the Bible as the Word of God.
- We believe the Father is the source of all that exists, whether of matter or of the spirit. With the Son and the Holy Spirit, He made man, male and female, in His image.
- We believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, truly God and truly Man. He died on the cross, was buried, to be a sacrifice for the sins of man. He rose from the dead, ascended into Heaven, where he intercedes for us at the Father’s right hand until He returns to judge all humanity on the last day.
- We believe in the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is of the same essential nature, majesty and glory as the Father and the Son, truly and eternally God. He is the administrator of grace, the agent of conviction for sin, for regeneration and sanctification and in glorification. He is ever present, assuring, preserving, guiding, and enabling the believer.
- We believe the books of the Old Testament and New Testament constitute the Holy Scriptures. They are the inspired and infallibly written Word of God, fully inerrant in their original manuscripts and superior to all human authority. We believe that they contain all things necessary to salvation and life is offered ultimately through Christ, who is the only mediator between God and humanity.
- We believe that the two great commandments which require us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves, summarize the divine law as it is revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures.
- We believe that every person is created in the image of God, that human sexuality reflects that image in terms of intimate love, communication, fellowship, subordination of the self to the large whole, and fulfillment. Therefore God’s plan for human sexuality is that it is to be expressed only in a monogamous lifelong relationship between one man and one woman within the frame marriage. We adhere to the teachings of Scripture regarding gender identity, sexual conduct and the sacredness of marriage and believe that sexual relationships outside of marriage and sexual relationships between persons of the same sex are immoral and sinful.
- We believe that humanity’s creation in the image of God included the ability to choose between right and wrong. We are morally responsible for our choices. However since the fall of Adam, humans are very far from original righteousness. But through Jesus Christ, the prevenient grace of God makes possible what humans in self effort cannot do.
- We believe that through the disobedience of Adam and Eve sin entered the world and all creation suffered its consequences. The effects of sin include disruption of the relationship between God and humanity, deterioration of the natural order of creation, and exploitation of persons by evil or misguided social systems. The whole of creation groans for redemption. The atoning work of Christ is the only remedy for sin, whether original, willful, or involuntary.
- We believe that Christ’s offering of Himself, once and for all, through His sufferings and death on the cross, provides the perfect redemption and atonement for the sins of the whole world. There is no other ground of salvation from sin but in Christ.
- We believe that for men and women to appropriate what God’s prevenient grace has made possible, they must voluntarily respond in repentance and faith. Repentance is prompted by the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit. It involves a willful change of mind that renounces sin and longs for righteous, a godly sorrow for and a confession of past ins, proper restitution for wrong doings, and a resolution to reform the life. Repentance is the precondition for saving faith, and without it saving faith is impossible. Faith, in turn is the only condition of salvation.
- We believe that when one repents of personal sin and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, that at the same moment that person is justified, regenerated, adopted into the family of God, and assured of personal salvation through the witness of the Holy Spirit.
- We believe that justification is the judicial act of God whereby a person is accounted righteous, granted full pardon of all sin, delivered from guilt, completely released from the penalty of sins committed, by the merit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by faith alone, not on the basis of works.
- We believe that regeneration, or new birth, is that work of the Holy Spirit whereby, when one truly repents and believes, one’s moral nature is given a distinctively spiritual life with the capacity of love and obedience.
- We believe that adoption is the act of God by which the justified and regenerated believer becomes a partaker of all rights, privileges, and responsibilities of a child of God.
- We believe that although good works cannot save us from our sins or from God’s judgement, they are the fruit of faith and follow after regeneration. Therefore they are pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and by them a living faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by its fruit.
- We believe that after we have experienced regeneration, it is possible to fall into sin, for in this life there is no such height or strength of holiness from which it is impossible to fall. But by the grace of God one who has fallen into sin may by true repentance and faith find forgiveness and restoration.
- We believe that sanctification is that work of the Holy Spirit by which the child of God is separated from sin unto God and is enabled to love God with all their heart and to walk in all His holy commandments blameless. Sanctification is initiated at the moment of justification and regeneration and is a life long process in our walk with God.
- We believe that the gift of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit Himself, and He is to be desired more than the gifts of the Spirit which He in His wise counsel bestows upon individual members of the church to enable them properly to fulfill their function as the body of Christ.
- We believe that the Christian church is the entire body of believers in Jesus Christ, who is the founder and only head of the church. The church includes those believers who have gone to be with the Lord and those who remain on the earth, having renounced the world, the flesh and the devil, and having dedicated themselves to the work which Christ committed unto His church until He comes.
- We believe the church on earth is to preach the pure Word of God, properly administer the sacraments according to Christ’s instructions, and live in obedience to all that Christ commands. A local church is a body of believers formally organized on gospel principles, meeting regularly for the purposes of evangelism, nurture, fellowship and worship.
- We believe that water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the sacraments of the church commanded by Christ and ordained as a means of grace when received through faith.
- We believe water baptism is a sacrament of the church, commanded by our Lord and administered to believers. It is a symbol of the new covenant of grace and signified acceptance of the benefits of the atonement of Jesus Christ. By means of this sacrament, believers declare their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
- We believe that the Lord’s Supper is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ’s death and of our hope in His victorious return, as well as a sign of the love that Christians have for each other. To such as receive it humbly, with a proper spirit and by faith, the Lord’s Supper is made a means through which God communicates grace to the heart.
- We believe that the certainty of the personal and imminent return of Christ inspires holy living and zeal for the evangelization of the world. At His return He will fulfill all prophecies made concerning His final and complete triumph over evil.
- We believe in the bodily resurrection from the dead of all people. For the just, unto the resurrection of life and for the unjust unto the resurrection of damnation. The resurrection of Christ is the guarantee of the resurrection which will occur at Christ’s second coming. The raised body will be a spiritual body, but the person will be whole and identifiable.
- We believe that the Scriptures reveal God as the judge of all and the acts of His judgement are based on His omniscience and eternal justice. His administration of judgement will culminate in the final meeting of all persons before His throne of great majesty and power, where records will be examined and final rewards and punishments will be administered.
- We believe that the Scriptures clearly teach that there is a conscious personal existence after death. The final destiny of each person is determined by God’s grace and that person’s response, evidenced inevitably by a moral character which results from that individual’s choices: Heaven with its eternal glory or hell with its everlasting misery.