The Bible

We believe the Bible is the authoritative Word of God. We believe the Bible is the final authority in determining all doctrinal truths. We believe it is the complete revelation of God’s will for the salvation of man and the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and life. We believe it was fully inspired by the Holy Spirit and thus, in its original manuscripts, it is inspired, infallible, and inerrant.

God

We believe there is one true and living God, who sovereignly reigns over all. He is eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which is known as the Trinity. These three are co-equal and co-eternal, executing distinct but harmonious offices.

God the Father

We believe God the Father serves as head of the Trinity even though He is not superior in essence or being to the Son or the Holy Spirit. As the head of the Trinity, God the Father can be understood as the sovereign author of all the acts of God. We believe He directs the will of the Son and the Holy Spirit, both of whom voluntarily submit to Him on a functional level to accomplish the will of God. We believe God the Father created the heavens and the earth through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. We believe His fatherhood exists both within the Trinity and His relationship with mankind. As Creator, He is Father to all men, but He is spiritual Father only to believers. We believe God the Father sent His Son into the world to save sinners.

God the Son

We believe Jesus Christ is the eternally existent Son of God and second person of the Trinity. We believe He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and entered into the world through the virgin birth and lived among mankind without sin as perfect Man and perfect God. We believe Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law of God, suffered and died on a cross for the salvation of sinners, offering mankind complete forgiveness of sin and reconciliation with God by faith. We believe He was buried, rose again from the dead on the third day, and ascended to His Father in heaven, at whose right hand He lives forever to make intercession for His people. We believe Jesus is the only way of salvation as the sole mediator between God and man.

God the Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit is the eternally existent third person of the Trinity, sent from the Father through the Son. We believe the Holy Spirit has come into the world to reveal and glorify Jesus Christ, and bears witness to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe He convicts and draws sinners to faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sin, imparts new spiritual life to them, guides believers into understanding the truth of the Word, empowers believers for the work of the ministry through the giving of spiritual gifts, continually indwells them from the moment of spiritual birth and seals them until the day of redemption.

Creation

We believe God created, out of nothing, the universe as we know it today, speaking it into existence as recorded in the book of Genesis, which is an accurate historical and literal account of God’s power and sovereignty over time, space and matter. We believe He created everything in six twenty-four hour days.  We believe mankind and all the kinds of life on earth were created as a direct act of God and did not evolve into being.

Man

We believe mankind was created male and female by God, without sin, in His own image, and was created to glorify God and have eternal fellowship with Him. We believe the first man Adam fell from this sinless state by disobeying the command of God through the temptation of Satan.  As a result, the entire human race then fell from this state of fellowship with God and took on a sinful nature that is corrupt and wholly opposed to God and His law.  Left in this sinful state, all mankind is condemned to suffer the holy wrath of God, eternally separated from Him.

Salvation

We believe the salvation of man is wholly a work of God’s free grace through faith and not the work, in whole or in part, of human effort or goodness, but that God sent His one and only Son to die in our place as the perfect substitute to atone for the sins of men, satisfying the wrath of God.  We believe God imputes His righteousness, forgiveness, and eternal life to those who put their faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for their sins, being born again of the Holy Spirit.  We believe it is the privilege of all who are born again to be assured of their salvation from the very moment they trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.  This assurance is not based upon any kind of human merit, but is produced by the witness of the Holy Spirit, who confirms in the believer the testimony of God in His written word.

Good Works

We believe true salvation is always followed by repentance and a determination to follow Jesus in a life of obedience and good works for the glory of God.  We believe these works of obedience are done out of love for God and gratitude to Him as we seek to grow to maturity in Christ, and are not steps taken to earn or keep salvation.  We believe the ability to consistently perform good works for God comes only from the grace and strength received from the Holy Spirit.

The Church

We believe there is one universal Church of which Christ is the Head and the Church is His body, made up of true believers in all places and at all times.  We believe through the visible local church God is spreading His kingdom and building up His people in Christ.  The primary means by which God extends His grace are the Word, the sacraments, fellowship, and prayer. The marks of a true church are the proclamation of the whole revelation of God in Scripture, the biblical administration of the sacraments, the exercise of biblical government and discipline, the edifying use of the spiritual gifts given to the members of the body, and a manifestation of unity and love among the members.

The Sacraments

We believe Christ has ordained two sacraments for the Church in the present age: water baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  They are not means of salvation.  They are signs and seals of the covenant of grace and are properly given to every member of the visible Church.

Last Things

We believe Jesus Christ will return personally and bodily at the end of the age. We believe the righteous, those who are saved in Christ, and the unrighteous, those who are lost without Christ, will be bodily resurrected to face final judgment.  We believe the righteous will enjoy eternal blessedness in heaven, and the unrighteous will suffer conscious and eternal punishment in the lake of fire (hell).  Satan, who is a personal spiritual adversary of both God and mankind, will be judged and cast into the lake of fire (hell) for eternity.