What We Believe
The Scriptures
We believe in the verbal inspiration and inerrancy of the Scripture as originally written in the 66 books of the Old and New Testament. The Scripture is the sole and final source of all that we believe (2 Timothy 3:16-17). In order to accurately understand the Scripture, we study from a normative/literal, grammatical, historical, contextual, and dispensational perspective.
The One True God
We believe that there is one, and only one, living and true God (Isaiah 45:5-6) who has revealed Himself in the Scriptures as a Trinity of the Godhead, three co-equal Persons as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20).
The Father
We believe in the full deity of the Father—that is, He is completely and wholly God—who, although a Spirit, is not a force, but a divine person, fully and equally sharing the attributes of God.
The Son
We believe in the full deity of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who did not become God, but is, and always has been, fully God, and not a created being (John 1). He is the one who spoke creation into existence (Colossians 1:16-17), yet He became the redeemer—the one who in love paid the penalty of our sins. We believe in His sinless life, and His voluntary substitutionary death. We believe in His bodily resurrection and ascension into heaven where He intercedes on our behalf as our faithful High Priest ruling over His creation as Lord and God (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Hebrews 7:25).
The Holy Spirit
We believe in the full deity of the Holy Spirit who, although a Spirit, is not a force, but a divine person fully and equally sharing the attributes of God. Through His present ministry, unsaved people are drawn to salvation and every believer is regenerated, indwelt, sealed, gifted at conversion, and empowered for service in the building up of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:4,7,11; Ephesians 2:20-22).
Angels and the Devil, or Satan
We believe in the creation, personal existence and activity of angelic beings, created by God to worship Him and to accomplish His will (Hebrews 1:14). They have interacted with people, and on occasion they have even taken on the appearance of men (Hebrews 13:2).
We believe in the reality and personality of Satan, the Devil; that he was created by God as an angelic being, but that through pride and rebellion, he became the enemy of his Creator and of those who follow Christ. He actively opposes those who seek to follow the Lord (1 Peter 5:8). We further believe that he and the other fallen angels ultimately will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).
The Creation
We believe in the Biblical revelation of creation recorded in Genesis; that God created a fully mature universe, including mankind, in six consecutive 24-hour solar days, without any process of evolution or change of species (Exodus 20:11, Genesis 1 & 2, Acts 17:22-26).
The Fall of Man
We believe that mankind was originally created in a state of innocence and fellowship with God, but Adam rebelled by violating the will and purpose of His Creator. Each person is a sinner by nature and also by choice through personal decisions and actions, and is condemned as sinners without defense or excuse (Romans 5:12, 3:23).
Salvation and Grace
We believe that the Triune God saves sinners by grace alone through faith alone in the Person and work of Christ alone (John 1:12). We believe that salvation is freely offered to mankind as a gift wrought through the Person and work of Christ and presented through the Holy Spirit; it is received solely by grace and not through religious works of any kind (Romans 5:1 & 9, 10:13). We believe that genuine salvation includes repentance which should lead to a transformed life (Ephesians 2:1-10).
The Church
We believe that the local church provides mutual encouragement and mutual accountability to strengthen believers and build up the body (Hebrews 10:23-25). We believe that the true mission of the church is to fulfill the Great Commission: first, to make individual disciples who love and serve Jesus Christ; second, to baptize new believers as a testimony of their new life in Christ and of their commitment to follow Him; and third, to model and teach what He has commanded. (Matthew 28:18-20).
We believe that the local church is ecclesiastically independent and autonomous, not under the authority of any governing or ecclesiastical body (Revelation 2-3), and that each local church is to be congregationally ruled under the leadership of the pastor and the service of the deacons (Hebrews 13:7 & 17, 1 Timothy 3).
The Ordinances
We believe that the church is given two ordinances to be observed by believers as a testimony of their love for, faith in, and connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism shows the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the believers’ commitment to walk in newness of life, purposefully following Christ. (Acts 2:41-42, Romans 6:4, 1 Peter 3:21). The Lord’s Supper is solely a commemorative memorial of Christ’s death and should be celebrated by all believers after a solemn self-examination of their relationship to the Lord and to one another (1 Corinthians 11:26-28).
Eternal Destinies and End Time Events
We believe that that because we have believed and trusted Christ as Savior, we will be included with the righteous in heaven when we die (1 Peter 1:18-19, John 14:1-6). Those who do not believe and trust Christ during their life on earth will be included with the wicked in hell and eventually the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).
We believe in the imminent return of Christ in the clouds to call believers up to be with Him forever (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52); this is referred to as the rapture. Unbelievers living on the earth will endure the tribulation of God’s wrath for rejecting Christ and rebelling against Him (Matthew 24:15,21-22; Revelation 6-19). Believers will be rewarded for their faithfulness during their life on earth (2 Corinthians 5:9-10), and the church will be presented to Christ as His bride (Rev. 19:6-9).
At the end of the tribulation, Satan will be defeated at Armageddon (Revelation 19:11-21), and Christ will rule for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1-6). There will be one final battle before unbelievers will face the Great White Throne Judgment, followed by irrevocable, conscious punishment in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15). Believers will be welcomed into the eternal kingdom with the new heaven and the new earth, where they will forever worship, serve and enjoy the presence of their Lord (Revelation 21-22).
Our full Articles of Faith explain each of these beliefs with greater clarity.