What We Believe
We believe in the one living and true God, both holy and loving, eternal, unlimited in power, wisdom, and goodness, the Creator and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible. Within this unity, there are three persons of one substance, power, and eternity — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We believe the Father is the Source of all that exists, whether of matter or spirit. With the Son and the Holy Spirit, He made humanity, male and female, in His image. By intention He relates to people as Father, thereby forever declaring His
goodwill toward them. In love, He both seeks and receives penitent sinners, adopting them as his sons and daughters.
We believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, truly God and truly man. He died on the cross and was buried, to be a sacrifice both for original sin and for all human transgressions, and to reconcile us to God. Christ rose bodily from the dead and ascended into heaven, and there intercedes for us at the Father's right hand until He returns to judge all humanity at 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 to all and is particularly the effective Agent in conviction for sin, in regeneration, in sanctification, and in glorification. He is ever present, assuring, preserving, guiding, and enabling the believer.
We believe that the books of the Old and New Testaments 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 and have been transmitted to the present without corruption of any essential doctrine. It is to be received through the Holy Spirit as the true rule and guide for faith and practice.
We believe that the Christian Church is the entire body of Holy Spirit-filled believers in Jesus Christ, who is the founder and only Head of the Church. The Church includes both 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 again. The Church on earth is to preach and spread the pure Word of God 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 God’s greatest desire is for human relationship. We believe that this relationship is lived out through the two great commandments which require us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength, and our neighbors as ourselves. These commandments summarize the divine law as it is revealed in the Scriptures. They are the perfect measure and norm of human duty, both for the ordering and directing of families and nations, and all other social bodies, and for individual acts. Through these, we acknowledge God as our only Supreme Ruler and all persons as created by Him, equal in all natural rights. Therefore, all persons should so order all their individual, social, and political acts as to give to God entire and
absolute obedience, and to assure to all the enjoyment of every natural right.
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 larger whole, and fulfillment. God's Word makes use of the marriage relationship as the supreme metaphor for His relationship with His covenant people and for revealing the truth that this relationship is of one God with one people. 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 framework of marriage. This is the only relationship which is divinely designed for the birth and rearing of children and is a covenant union made in the sight of God, taking priority over every other human relationship. We adhere to the teachings of Scripture regarding birth gender, 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. Thus, individuals were made morally responsible for their choices. Since the fall of Adam, people are unable in their own strength to do right. This is due to original sin, which is not simply the following of Adam's example, but rather the corruption of the nature of each mortal, and is reproduced naturally in Adam's descendants. As a result, humans are very far gone from original righteousness, and by nature are continually inclined to evil. They cannot of themselves even call upon God or exercise faith for salvation. Through Jesus Christ the prevenient grace of God makes possible what humans in self effort cannot do. It is bestowed freely upon all, enabling all who will to turn and be saved.
Baptism is the Holy Spirit’s work of initiating all who believe into the body of Christ, the church (1 Corinthians 12:13). Baptism is an act of faith indicating one’s commitment to Jesus Christ. Baptism is not a means of salvation, rather an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s death to sin, the washing away of guilt, and the new life in Jesus (Romans 6:3-5). The preferred method of baptism is immersion, but those who are unable to be immersed may use sprinkling or pouring. Infants and children are invited to participate in baptism as a sign of inclusion in the body of Christ. However, dedication is preferred so that the child may one day choose baptism as their own profession of faith.
The Lord’s supper, or communion is a sign of the new covenant instituted by God through Jesus Christ. Through communion, we remember the body and blood of Jesus given on our behalf for the remission of sin. Communion reminds us of the atoning work of Jesus on the cross and the continuing work of sanctification through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. All who wish to know Christ more are welcome to participate. It remains the parent’s decision whether their children participate. The only command given in Scripture regarding communion is “to remember,” and Jesus never turned children away. Parents are expected to teach their children the meaning of communion as commanded in Deuteronomy 6.
We believe we are never accounted righteous before God through our works or merit, but that penitent sinners are justified or accounted righteous before God only by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe regeneration is the renewal of man in righteousness through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, whereby we are made partakers of the divine nature and experience newness of life. By this new birth, the believer becomes reconciled to God and is enabled to serve him with the will and the affections. We believe, although we have experienced regeneration, it is possible to depart from grace and turn away from salvation; and we may even then, by the grace of God, return to him and be renewed in righteousness.
We believe sanctification is the work of God’s grace through the Word and the Spirit, by which those who have been born again are cleansed from sin in their thoughts, words, and acts, and are enabled to live in accordance with God’s will and to strive for holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Entire sanctification is a state of perfect love, righteousness, and true holiness which every regenerate believer may obtain by being delivered from the power of sin, by loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and by loving one’s neighbor as one’s self. Through faith in Jesus Christ, this gracious gift may be received in this life both gradually and instantaneously and should be sought earnestly by every child of God. We believe this experience does not deliver us from the infirmities, ignorance, and mistakes common to man, nor from the possibilities of further sin. The Christian must continue to guard against spiritual pride and seek to gain victory over every temptation to sin. He must respond wholly to the will of God so that sin will lose its power over him; and the world, the flesh, and the devil are put under his feet. Thus, he rules over these enemies with watchfulness through the power of the Holy Spirit.
We believe all people stand under the righteous judgment of Jesus Christ, both now and in the last day. We believe in the resurrection of the dead; the righteous to life eternal and the wicked to endless condemnation.