Our Beliefs …
AN ABBREVIATED STATEMENT OF FAITH
1. SCRIPTURE: The Holy Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. It is God-breathed and perfect in its original manuscripts. It is the perfect treasure of divine instruction, with God as its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.
2. GOD: There is one and only one living and true God. He is the supreme omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent personal and spiritual Being. He reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
3. JESUS CHRIST: Jesus is the infinite God/man, the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a perfect life, tempted yet without sin, died on the cross and arose from the dead to pay the penalty for our sin and to purchase a place in Heaven for us. He ascended into Heaven in His resurrection body and is now exalted at the right hand of the Father. He is the only Mediator between God and man. He will return to the earth in power and glory to consummate His redemptive work.
4. THE HOLY SPIRIT: The Holy Spirit, third person of the Trinity, convicts men of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption, and bestows spiritual gifts by which the saints serve the Lord. He enlightens and empowers believers in worship, evangelism, Bible study, prayer, and Christian service.
5. MAN: Man was created in God’s image and given the choice of obedience or disobedience. Man chose to sin against God and thereby brought sin into the human race. He is a sinner by nature and by choice and cannot merit eternal life. Only the grace of God can enable a man to enter Heaven.
6. SALVATION: Salvation is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. By His own blood, Christ obtained eternal life for the believer. Salvation includes regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.
7. SECURITY: Since salvation is the work of God, the believer’s security rests in God and is grounded in God’s Word. Those whom God has accepted in Christ can never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. When the believer sins, he grieves the Holy Spirit, brings reproach upon the cause of Christ, and invites the chastening of his Heavenly Father. Yet he is kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
8. SATAN: Satan is a person, the author of sin, the father of liars, and the declared enemy of God and man. He has power but is not omnipotent and he has intelligence but is not omniscient. He shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire.
9. THE CHURCH: The local New Testament church is an autonomous body, operating with a congregational form of polity under the Lordship of Christ. Its Scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. The New Testament also speaks of the church as the body of Christ, which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages.
10. ORDINANCES: The two ordinances of the church are baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Christian baptism is the immersion of the believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Although not required for salvation, it is necessary for obedience to Christ. It is testimony to the fact that the candidate has already experienced regeneration by accepting Christ as Lord and Savior. The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience using the elements of unleavened bread and unfermented grape juice, whereby Christ’s death is memorialized and His return is anticipated.