Statement of Beliefs

We believe that the Bible is God's written revelation to humanity, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments. We believe that God the Holy Spirit superintended the human authors of Scripture so that they wrote the exact words that He desired them to write. The words of Scripture penned by human authors are thus the very words of God Himself.

We believe that Scripture in its original manuscripts is verbally and plenarily inspired—equally inspired in all its parts—and is completely free from error. The Bible is inerrant, infallible, and God-breathed. As inspired by God, it serves as the final and supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

We believe that Scripture is entirely sufficient for all matters of life and godliness. The Bible provides everything necessary for salvation, sanctification, and the entirety of the Christian life. No additional revelation is needed for the believer to know God, understand themselves, comprehend their problems, or find solutions to those problems. Scripture is sufficient to equip the believer for every good work and to address all issues of life.

We believe the literal, grammatical-historical interpretation of Scripture, which affirms the belief that the opening chapters of Genesis present creation in six literal days, describe the special creation of man and woman, and define marriage as between one man and one woman.

We believe that while there may be several applications of any given passage of Scripture, there is but one true interpretation. The meaning of Scripture is to be found as one diligently applies the literal grammatical-historical method of interpretation under the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. Scripture interprets Scripture, and the meaning of each text must be understood in light of the whole.

We believe that the Bible constitutes the only infallible rule of faith and practice. Scripture alone is our supreme and final authority. The Scriptures must not be added to or taken away from, and all creeds, confessions, teachings, and prophecies are to be tested by the final authority of God's Word.

2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Matthew 5:18; John 10:35; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; Acts 1:16; 2 Peter 1:3-4; Psalm 19:7-11

We believe that there is but one living and true God, an infinite, all-knowing Spirit, perfect in all His attributes, one in essence, eternally existing in three distinct and fully divine Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—each equally deserving worship and obedience. Our confession of the Trinity stands firmly within historic Christian orthodoxy, affirming the great doctrines set forth in the Nicene Creed and the Chalcedonian Definition.

We believe that God is eternal and infinite in all of His perfections. He is creator of all that exists, having made the heavens and the earth out of nothing. He exerts comprehensive sovereignty over all of His creation. He possesses exhaustive and perfect knowledge of all events past, present, and future. He is present everywhere at all times. He is infinitely good with no shadow of sin in any part of His being.

God the Father

We believe that God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity, orders and disposes all things according to His own purpose and grace. He is the Creator of all things. As the only absolute and omnipotent Ruler in the universe, He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption. He has decreed for His own glory all things that come to pass. He continually upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and events. In His sovereignty He is neither the author nor approver of sin, nor does He abridge the accountability of moral, intelligent creatures.

He has graciously chosen from eternity past those whom He would have as His own; He saves from sin all who come to Him through Jesus Christ; He adopts as His own all those who come to Him; and He becomes, upon adoption, Father to His own.

God the Son

We believe that Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, possesses all the divine excellencies, and in these He is coequal, consubstantial, and coeternal with the Father. He is the eternal Son of God who exists as one person with two distinct natures, fully divine and fully human, without any mixture of the two.

We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ was virgin born; that He lived His entire life on earth without transgressing the law of God, thus earning righteousness for His people; that He suffered a violent death on the cross to pay for the sins of His people as a voluntary, vicarious, substitutionary, propitiatory, and redemptive sacrifice.

We believe that He rose miraculously from the grave on the third day as Lord and Savior, demonstrating His victory over sin, death, and the devil. He ascended bodily into heaven where He reigns over all creation and actively upholds and intercedes for His people as His bride, the church, awaits His glorious return.

God the Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, the eternal third member of the Trinity, possessing all the attributes of personality and deity. In all the divine attributes He is coequal and consubstantial with the Father and the Son.

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the person who convicts of sin and who indwells Christians. He regenerates believers and empowers them to live the Christian life, to understand the Scriptures, and to worship Jesus Christ. He is the supernatural and sovereign Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the Body of Christ.

We believe that the Holy Spirit also indwells, sanctifies, instructs, empowers believers for service, and seals them unto the day of redemption. He is the sovereign God who equips believers with gifts of service to do ministry in the church.

Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; John 4:24; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Genesis 1:1-31; Psalm 139:1-16; Isaiah 46:8-11; Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 12-13; Ephesians 1:13-18

We believe that God directly and immediately created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them out of nothing in six literal days. He made mankind in His image and likeness as the pinnacle of creation.

We believe that God's providence is His continuous sovereign involvement in His creation, by which He preserves and governs all things according to His eternal purpose and decree. He upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and events, working all things according to the counsel of His will.

Genesis 1-2; Exodus 31:17; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:3; Ephesians 1:11

We believe that humanity was directly and immediately created by God in His image and likeness. Man was created free of sin with a rational nature, intelligence, volition, self-determination, and moral responsibility to God. God's intention in the creation of man was that man should glorify God, enjoy God's fellowship, live his life in the will of God, and accomplish God's purpose for man in the world.

We believe that God made mankind in two complementary genders of male and female who are equal in dignity and worth. Gender is biologically defined and set by God for each individual. Men are called to roles of spiritual leadership, particularly in the home and in the church. Women are called to respond to and affirm godly servant leadership, particularly in the church and home.

We believe that God created the human person with a physical body and an immaterial soul, each possessing equal honor and essential to humanity. The great hope of Christians is the restoration of body and soul in a glorified existence in the new heavens and new earth.

Genesis 1:26-28; 2:7, 15-25; Psalm 139:13-14; Romans 8:29; 1 Timothy 2:8-15; Ephesians 5:22-33; 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10

We believe that God created mankind in a state of sinless perfection, but the human race fell from this state when Adam willfully chose to rebel against God and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In Adam's sin of disobedience to the revealed will and Word of God, man lost his innocence, incurred the penalty of spiritual and physical death, became subject to the wrath of God, and became inherently corrupt and utterly incapable of choosing or doing that which is acceptable to God apart from divine grace.

We believe that since that time, every human being except Jesus Christ has been born in sin and separated from God. A nature corrupted by Adam's sin has been transmitted to all men of all ages. Every element of human nature is inherently corrupted by sin so that mankind stands in desperate need of the grace of God to be cleansed from sin by the Holy Spirit through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

We believe that all men are thus sinners by nature, by choice, and by divine declaration. With no recuperative powers to enable him to recover himself, man is hopelessly lost. Man's salvation is thereby wholly of God's grace through the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Genesis 2:16-17; 3:1-19; Psalm 51:5; Romans 3:9-23; 5:12-21; Ephesians 2:1-3; 1 John 1:8

We believe that salvation is thoroughly a work of divine grace from beginning to end, wholly of God by grace on the basis of the redemption of Jesus Christ, the merit of His shed blood, and not on the basis of human merit or works.

Election

We believe that before the foundation of the world, the Father elected to save a people who would compose the church. Election is the act of God by which, before the foundation of the world, He chose in Christ those whom He graciously regenerates, saves, and sanctifies. This sovereign election does not contradict or negate the responsibility of man to repent and trust Christ as Savior and Lord. Nevertheless, since sovereign grace includes the means of receiving the gift of salvation as well as the gift itself, sovereign election will result in what God determines. All whom the Father calls to Himself will come in faith, and all who come in faith the Father will receive.

Regeneration

We believe that regeneration is the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit by which He transforms the hardened heart of a sinner into the soft heart of a believer who loves God and obeys His Word. It is instantaneous and is accomplished solely by the power of the Holy Spirit through the instrumentality of the Word of God when the repentant sinner, as enabled by the Holy Spirit, responds in faith to the divine provision of salvation.

We believe that regeneration, along with the God-given gifts of repentance and faith, is granted solely by grace, resulting in all the attendant evidences of our great salvation in Christ. Genuine regeneration is manifested by fruits worthy of repentance as demonstrated in righteous attitudes and conduct.

Justification

We believe that justification before God is an act of God by which He declares righteous those who, through faith in Christ, repent of their sins and confess Him as sovereign Lord. This righteousness is apart from any virtue or work of man and involves the imputation of our sins to Christ and the imputation of Christ's righteousness to us.

We believe that the declaration of justification does not come through any past, present, or future merit in the sinner. Justification is based exclusively on the merits of Jesus Christ and is received through faith alone.

Sanctification

We believe that every believer is sanctified (set apart) unto God by justification and is therefore declared to be holy and identified as a saint. This positional sanctification is instantaneous and has to do with the believer's standing, not his present walk or condition.

We believe that there is also, by the work of the Holy Spirit, a progressive sanctification by which the state of the believer is brought closer to the standing the believer positionally enjoys through justification. This work of grace requires believers to utilize, by faith, the normal means of grace such as Bible reading, prayer, thought renewal, and fellowship in the context of the local church.

We believe that Christians will experience real progress in growing more like Christ, yet this work will be incomplete in this life. The struggle with sin stays with the believer all through this earthly life and is never completely ended. All claims to the eradication of sin in this life are unscriptural.

Security of the Believer

We believe that the Holy Spirit applies the work of Christ to all who believe, creating the gift of faith in their hearts, and He keeps them in that faith forever. All the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God's power and are thus secure in Christ forever.

John 1:12-13; 3:3-7; 5:24; 6:37-40; Romans 3:21-28; 4:1-12; 8:28-39; Ephesians 1:3-14; 2:1-10; Philippians 1:6; 2:12-13; 2 Timothy 2:10; Titus 3:4-7; 1 Peter 1:1-5

We believe that the church is the bride of Christ, a unique spiritual organism designed by Christ, made up of all born-again believers in this present age. All who place their faith in Jesus Christ are immediately placed by the Holy Spirit into one united spiritual Body of which Christ is the Head.

We believe that the formation of the church began on the Day of Pentecost and will be completed at the coming of Christ for His own. The church is the organism through which God accomplishes His mission in the world. It is the main agent for all ministry of the Word, including the ministry of counseling and discipleship.

We believe in the importance of the local church. The establishment and continuity of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. The members of the one spiritual Body are directed to associate themselves together in local assemblies.

We believe that the one supreme authority for the church is Christ, and that church leadership, gifts, order, discipline, and worship are all appointed through His sovereignty as found in the Scriptures. The biblically designated officers serving under Christ and over the assembly are elders (also called bishops, pastors, and pastor-teachers) and deacons, both of whom must meet biblical qualifications.

We believe that the purpose of the church is to glorify God by building itself up in the faith, by instruction of the Word, by fellowship, by keeping the ordinances, and by advancing and communicating the gospel to the entire world. The local church is the primary context for all ministry of the Word, including the personal ministry of discipleship, counseling, and mutual edification among believers.

The Ordinances

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has committed two ordinances to the local church: baptism and the Lord's Supper. Christian baptism by immersion is the solemn and beautiful testimony of a believer showing forth his faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, and his union with Him in death to sin and resurrection to a new life. The Lord's Supper is the commemoration and proclamation of Christ's death until He comes.

Matthew 16:18-20; 18:15-20; 28:19-20; Acts 2:38-47; Romans 6:1-11; 15:14; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 11:23-32; 12:12-13; Ephesians 1:22; 4:11-16; 5:23-32; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9; Hebrews 10:25; 1 Peter 2:1-12; 5:1-5

Holy Angels

We believe that angels are created beings and are therefore not to be worshiped. Although they are a higher order of creation than man, they are created to serve God and to worship Him.

Satan and Fallen Angels

We believe that Satan is a created angel and the author of sin. He incurred the judgment of God by rebelling against his Creator, taking numerous angels with him in his fall, and introducing sin into the human race by his temptation of Eve.

We believe that Satan is the open and declared enemy of God and man; that he is the prince of this world who has been defeated through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; and that he shall be eternally punished in the lake of fire.

Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:11-19; Matthew 4:1-11; 25:41; Luke 2:9-14; Romans 16:20; Hebrews 1:6-7, 14; 2:6-7; Revelation 12:1-14; 20:10

We believe that the church has been called to go into the world with the task of evangelism and discipleship. In giving this commission, Jesus requires His people to use their conversations to point people to Christ in evangelism and to build people up in Christ in discipleship.

We believe that the Great Commission necessitates that all faithful ministry conversations must have Jesus Christ as their ultimate goal. Our Lord and Savior does not give believers the option to avoid the work of making disciples or to avoid directing those efforts toward Jesus.

We believe that discipleship includes the personal ministry of the Word—the one-another ministry of believers speaking the truth in love to help fellow believers grow in Christlikeness. This ministry of soul care and biblical counsel is the calling and privilege of every believer and is to be carried out within the context of the local church. The Scriptures are sufficient to address the deepest problems of the human heart and to guide believers toward spiritual maturity.

Matthew 28:16-20; Romans 10:1-17; 15:14; 2 Corinthians 5:11-21; Galatians 6:1-2; Colossians 1:24-29; 3:16; Hebrews 3:12-13; 10:24-25

Death and the Intermediate State

We believe that physical death involves no loss of our immaterial consciousness; that the soul of the redeemed passes immediately into the presence of Christ; and that there is a separation of soul and body which will continue until the return of Christ. We believe that the souls of the unsaved at death are kept under punishment until the second resurrection, when the soul and the resurrection body will be united.

The Return of Christ

We believe in the personal, bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ to receive His church unto Himself and to establish His kingdom on earth. Jesus Christ will return for His church at a moment known only to God. At Jesus' coming, He will sit in judgment on the entirety of the human race.

The Resurrection and Final Judgment

We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men—the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. At the conclusion of the final judgment, Christ will usher all humanity into the eternal state.

Eternity

We believe that all those who have spent their lives persisting in unbelief will go away into everlasting torment in conscious punishment in the lake of fire, cut off from the life of God forever. The righteous in Christ will go away into everlasting joy in the presence of Jesus Christ in the new heavens and new earth.

We believe that Christians can therefore have hope that all wrongs will be punished, that all righteous acts will be rewarded, and that God's people will ultimately abide with Him forever. The hope of the new creation is the foundation of the Christian life.

Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 16:19-26; 23:43; John 5:28-29; 14:1-3; Romans 2:6-11; 1 Corinthians 15:35-54; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:21-24; 3:21; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 19:6-10; 20:4-15; 21-22

We believe that God discloses Himself to humanity in two ways. General revelation is God's disclosure of Himself to the entirety of humanity in the things that have been made, leaving no one without a testimony of Himself. Special revelation is God's disclosure of Himself to His people in the pages of Scripture.

We believe that general revelation and special revelation each come from God and so are of equivalent authority, though they differ in content. Special revelation discloses detailed information about the character of God and how to live all of life in a way that honors Him. General revelation is a disclosure of the beauty and power of God, which leads to judgment. General revelation requires special revelation to be properly understood and applied.

Psalm 19:1-11; Romans 1:18-23

We believe that God extends His goodness to all people by making provision for their physical needs and granting them intellectual gifts. This common grace grants unbelievers the ability to apprehend facts in various fields, and believers can affirm the true information that unbelievers come to understand.

We believe, however, that the chief manifestation of God's grace is His salvation of sinners by the blood of Jesus Christ to all who believe. Common grace cannot overcome the corrosive effects of sin upon human thinking without this special, saving grace of Jesus. Though unbelievers can know many facts, they will misunderstand information that is most central to human life, which includes information about God, the human problem, and its solution in Christ.

Matthew 5:44-45; John 1:9; Romans 1:18-23; Colossians 1:21