The Holy Scriptures
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God-breathed. – Exodus 20:1; Matthew 5:18; John 16:12–13; II Timothy 3:16–17; II Peter 1:20–21
The Godhead
We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. – Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; John 10:30, 36, 38; II Corinthians 13:14
The Person and Work of Christ
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men. – Luke 1:26–35; John 1:1–18
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for all mankind as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice, and that the sufficiency of this atoning sacrifice to accomplish the redemption and justification of all who trust in Him is assured by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead. – Romans 3:24–25; Romans 4:25; Romans 5:8–9; I Corinthians 15:3–4; Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 2:8–10; I Timothy 4:10; Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 9:22; I Peter 1:3–5; I Peter 2:24
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate. – Acts 1:9, 11; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 4:14–16; Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 9:24; I John 2:1, 2
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. The Holy Spirit is the one that brings about regeneration in the heart of man, baptizing all believers into the Body of Christ, and indwelling and sealing them unto the Day of Redemption. – John 3:3–6; John 16:8–11; Romans 8:9; I Corinthians 6:19; I Corinthians 12:12–14; II Corinthians 3:6; Ephesians 1:13–14
We believe that He is the Divine Teacher who guides believers into all truth; and that it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit. – John 16:13; Acts 4:29–31; Ephesians 5:18; I John 2:20, 27
Creation
We believe in the direct creation by God of the physical universe, all spirit beings, man, and lower forms of life without the process of evolution, and also that the early chapters of Genesis are literal and accurate history. The Genesis record clearly teaches six twenty-four hour days of creation. The Bible also teaches a young age of the earth. The age of the earth is less than 10 thousand years old. God sustains all creation but exists in no necessary relationship to it. – Genesis 1,2,3; John 1:3; Colossians 1:15–17;Ex. 20:11; 30:16,17; Luke 3:23-38
Spirit Beings
We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless spirit beings. One of these, though created holy by God, sinned through pride, thereby becoming Satan (our adversary), the Devil, the enemy of his Creator, leading a host of angels in rebellion against God. We believe that Satan is a fallen angel, the originator of sin, and the cause of the fall; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man; and that he shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire. – Job 1:6–7; Isaiah 14:12–17; Matthew 4:2–11; Matthew 25:41; II Corinthians 4:3–4; II Corinthians 11:14–15; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 12:22; I Peter 5:8; Revelation 12:7–11; Revelation 20:10
The Total Depravity of Man
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death but also that spiritual death which is separation from God, and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature and are now sinners by birth and by choice, positively inclined to evil, and, therefore, under just condemnation to eternal ruin without defense or excuse. – Genesis 1:26–27; Genesis 2:17; Genesis 3:1–19; Psalm 58:3; Jeremiah 17:9; Mark 7:20–23; John 2:25–3:21; Romans 1:20; Romans 3:9–23; Romans 5:12–21; I Corinthians 2:14; II Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:1–3, 12
Salvation
We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. We believe that upon personal repentance of sins towards God and confession of one’s faith in Christ’s substitutionary work on the cross and believing in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection from the dead, one can be saved from the wrath and judgment of God which is to come upon all unbelievers on the Day of Judgment. – John 1:12–13; Romans 10:9–10; Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 2:8–10; Hebrews 12:6–8; I Peter 1:18–19 I Corinthians 15:3,4
The Two Natures of the Believer
We believe that every saved person possesses two natures with the provision made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and that all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural. – Romans 6:13; Romans 8:12–13; Galatians 5:16–25; Ephesians 4:22–24; Colossians 3:10; I Peter 1:14–16; I John 3:5–9
The Eternal Security of Believers
We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. It is the privilege of the saved to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word. – John 3:16; John 6:37–40; John 10:27–30; Romans 6:23; Romans 8:1, 38–39; I Corinthians 1:4–8; I Peter 1:5
Missions
We believe that it is the obligation of the saved to witness by life and by word the truths of the Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all mankind. – Matthew 28:18–20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47–49; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:17–18; II Corinthians 5:19–20
Spiritual Gifts
We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of all His gifts; that the gifts of evangelist, pastor, and teacher are for the perfecting of the saints today. The Holy Spirit is sovereign in giving spiritual gifts to men and illuminates the Word of God in the hearts of men. Speaking in tongues and working of sign miracles gradually lessened and ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed and their authority established among believers. We also believe that every Christian is given at least one spiritual gift (divine enablement) by God to edify the body of Christ. – John 15:7; Romans 12:4–8; I Corinthians 12:4–11; II Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 4:7–12; I Corinthians 13:8
The Sanctification of Believers and Separation from the World
We believe that all believers should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord and that separation from all religious apostasy and all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations is commanded of God. – I Thessalonians 5:22; II Timothy 3:1–5; Titus 2:11–15; James 4:4; I John 2:15–17; II John 9–11
These include but are not limited to:
- Membership in oath-bound religious or social secret organizations or other entangling alliances with unbelievers. – II Corinthians 6:14–15; I Thessalonians 5:22
- Because the Holy Spirit indwells every believer’s body, each believer is required to take care of the temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the believer’s moral conduct should be beyond reproach and free from carnal indulgence, such as adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, the use of intoxicating liquors, tobacco in all its forms, and narcotic drugs, all of which are harmful, a stumbling block, and out of harmony with a dedicated life. A believer should avoid media entertainment whether in print, visual, or audio that would cause one to mock sin and its consequences to the dulling of their conscience. – Romans 1:24–28; Romans 8:12–13; Romans 12:1–2; Romans 13:14; Romans 14:21; I Corinthians 6:19–20; Galatians 5:16–26; Ephesians 4:22–24; Colossians 3: 1–17; I Peter 1:14–16; I John 3:5–9
The Church
We believe that the Church, which is the Body and the espoused Bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all the born-again persons of this present age, from the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) to the Rapture (I Thessalonians 4:13–18). In the ages to come, this Body of believers will bear testimony to the exceeding riches of God’s grace. – I Corinthians 12:12–14; II Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22–23; Ephesians 2:7; Ephesians 5:25–27
We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. – Acts 14:27; Acts 20:17, 28–32; I Timothy 3:1–13; Titus 1:5–11
We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or control. – Acts 13:1–4; Acts 15:19–31; Acts 20:28; Romans 16:1,4; I Corinthians 3:9, 16; I Corinthians 5:4–7, 13; I Peter 5:1–4
We believe in the ordinances of Believers’ Baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper as scriptural means of testimony for the Church Age. – Matthew 28:19–20; Acts 2:41–42; Acts 18:8; I Corinthians 11:23–26
We believe that holy matrimony was instituted of God and sanctioned by our Lord Jesus Christ and should be held in honor by all. This relationship should be between one man and one woman until separated by death. This church does not advocate divorce or the remarriage of divorced persons. – Genesis 1:26–28; Genesis 2:21–25; Mark 10:9; I Corinthians 7:39; Hebrews 13:4
We believe that every Sunday is to be set aside for holy worship in commemoration of the Resurrection of Christ. This day, therefore, should be observed in a manner that calls believers to worship Jesus Christ and should be a day of rest. – Acts 20:7; Revelation 1:10; I Corinthians 16:2; Genesis 2:2,3
Dispensationalism
We believe that the Scriptures interpreted in their natural, literal sense reveal divinely determined dispensations or rules of life that define man’s responsibilities in successive ages. These dispensations are not ways of salvation, but rather divinely ordered stewardships by which God directs man according to His purpose. Three of these — The Dispensations of Law, Grace, and the Millennial Rule of Christ — are the subjects of detailed revelation in Scripture. – John 1:17; I Corinthians 9:17; II Corinthians 3:9–18; Galatians 3:13–25; Ephesians 1:10; Colossians 1:24–25; Hebrews 7:19; Revelation 20:2–6
The Second Advent of Christ
We believe in the “blessed hope,” the personal, imminent, pre-tribulation, and pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones and in His subsequent return to earth following the Tribulation with His saints to establish His Millennial Kingdom. – Zechariah 14:4–11; Matthew 24:27–30; I Thessalonians 1:10; I Thessalonians 4:13–18; I Thessalonians 5:9; Titus 2:11–14; Revelation 3:10; Revelation 19:11–16; Revelation 20:1–6
The Eternal State of Believers
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. – Matthew 25:46; John 5:28–29; John 11:25–26; I Corinthians 15:26, 51–54; Revelation 20:5–6, 11–15
We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord. We believe that after death the believer will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive rewards given by the Lord. – Luke 23:43; I Corinthians 3:11–15; II Corinthians 5:7–10; Philippians 1:23; Philippians 3:21; I Thessalonians 4:16–17; Revelation 20:4–6
The Eternal State of Unbelievers
We believe that the souls of the unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection when with the soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment. – Matthew 25:41–46; Mark 9:43–48; Luke 16:19–26; II Thessalonians 1:7–9; Jude 6–7; Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:11–15; Revelation 21:8
Biblical Definitions
We believe that God created humanity, male and female, to bear His image on the earth (Gen. 1:26). We believe that men and women are created as spiritual equals, yet designed in complementary order to assume God-given roles in the home, the church and society (Gen. 1:26-27; Gen 2:18; Gal. 3:28).
We believe that God has designed the marriage relationship to portray the profound mystery of Christ and His Church (Eph. 5:31-32), to produce godly offspring (Gen. 1:28), to provide helpful companionship (Gen. 2:18), and to promote sexual purity and fulfillment (I Cor. 7:2-5). We believe that marriage is designed by God to join one man and one woman in a lifetime covenant of love (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:3-9; I Cor. 7:10-11).
We believe that God gives some individuals the gift of celibacy in order that they may serve Him without the responsibility of a spouse or family (Matt. 19:11-12; I Cor. 7-8). We believe that remaining single is a godly choice and carries with it the opportunity and responsibility to maintain sexual purity as prescribed by the Scriptures (I Cor. 7:6-9).
We believe that God forbids intimate sexual activity outside of marriage. We believe any form of adultery, fornication, incest, polygamy, homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex (Gen. 2:24; Gen. 19:5, 13; Gen. 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom. 1:26-29; I Cor. 5:1; I Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5:19-21; I Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4). We believe that attempts to alter one’s sex by surgery or appearance reflect a heart that does not submit to God’s good and sovereign right to determine our sexuality and thus are disapproved of and forbidden by God (Gen. 1:27; Jer. 1:5; I Cor. 6:9).