WHAT WE BELIEVE

Doctrinal Statement

SCRIPTURE
We believe in what is termed “The Apostles’ Creed” as embodying all the fundamental doctrines of orthodox evangelical Christianity. We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God and inerrant in the original writings. 2 Timothy 3:16 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."

GOD

We believe there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

FATHER ~ We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love; that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men; that He hears and answers prayer; and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Christ. John 1:1-3 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."

JESUS CHRIST ~ We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He was fully human and fully God; in His virgin birth; in His sinless life, in His miracles; in His vicarious atonement through His death and shed blood; in  His  bodily resurrection (1 Cor 15:1-11); in His ascension to the right hand of the Father; in His personal return in power and glory (Rev 19)!  John 1:1-14 "...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth..."

HOLY SPIRIT ~ We believe in the Holy Spirit, who came forth from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8-10) and to regenerate, sanctify, and empower in ministry all who believe in Christ. We believe the Holy Spirit indwells every believer (Acts 1:7-8) in Jesus Christ and that He is an abiding Helper, Teacher and Guide. We believe that Jesus Christ baptizes the seeking believer with the Holy Spirit and power for service, either at the time of or subsequent to regeneration which is a separate work from the indwelling Spirit for salvation. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit and in the exercise of all biblical gifts of the Spirit as listed in scripture (1 Cor 12:4-11).

MANKIND AND SALVATION 

We believe all people are by nature separated from God and responsible for their own sin (Romans 8:23-24), but that salvation, redemption, and forgiveness are freely offered to all by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. When a person repents of sin and accepts Jesus Christ as his/her personal Lord and Savior, trusting Him to save, that person is immediately born again and sealed by the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-8), all of his/her sins are forgiven, and that person becomes a child of God, destined to spend eternity with the Lord.

We believe that Jesus saves us from something and that thing is eternal seperation from God in hell, which is the result of rejection of Jesus' offer of the free gift of salvation; we also believe in a literal heaven and that all those who place their faith and trust in Jesus will spend eternity there with the Lord. We are neither five-point Calvinists, nor are we Arminians. We adhere firmly to the biblical teaching of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. We avoid any theological systems of belief that go beyond the written Word and thereby divide the body of Christ.

CHRIST’S RETURN 

We await the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church (Matthew 24:36-44), and we believe in the literal second coming of Christ with His saints to rule the earth, which will be personal and visible (Matthew 24:29-30). This motivates us to holy living, heartfelt worship, and committed service. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the unsaved; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are unsaved unto the resurrection of damnation (Revelation 20:11-15).

THE CHURCH ~ We believe in the universal church, in the living spiritual body, of which Christ is the head and all regenerated persons are members  (Ephesians 4:1-6).

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ committed two ordinances to the Church: 1. baptism, 2. the Lord’s supper. We believe in baptism by immersion and communion, both of which are open to all believers in Jesus Christ.  

We believe in the laying on of hands, for the sending out of pastors and missionaries, and in conjunction with the anointing of oil by the elders for the healing of the sick.

MARRIAGE, GENDER and SEXUALITY 

We believe that God creates each man and woman and that He created them with the immutable and unchangeable nature of male and female, and that these two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God (Matthew 19:4-5).

We believe that God created marriage to be exclusively the union of one biological man and one biological woman (Gen 2:18-25; Matt 19:4-6), and that intimate sexual activity is to occur exclusively within that union (1 Cor. 6:18; 7:2-5; Heb. 13:4).

We believe that sexual relations outside of biblical marriage are sinful and offensive to God (Matt 15:18-20; 1 Cor. 6:9-10) and that legitimate sexual relations are excercised soley withing marriage. Any behavior that contradicts or denigrates the biblical sexual relationship is incompatible with a true biblical witness. (John 4:16-18; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Cor. 5:11; 6:9-11; 6:18-20; 7:1-3; 7:8-9; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:3-7; 1 Tim. 1:9-11) 

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WE DO NOT BELIEVE 

We do not believe in “positive confession” (the faith movement belief that God can be commanded to heal or work miracles according to man’s will); human prophecy that supersedes the scriptures; the incorporation of humanistic and secular psychology into biblical teaching; the overemphasis of spiritual gifts and experiential signs and wonders to the exclusion of biblical teaching; or that true Christians can be demon possessed.

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WHAT WE HOLD TO:

• The inerrancy of scripture

• The continuance today of the diversities of spiritual gifts as found in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

• Simplicity in church government, rather than a complex bureaucracy

• The pre-millennial, pre-tribulation return of Christ for His waiting church

• The teaching of the word of God in such a way that it can be applied to life as beneficial toward growing maturity

WHAT WE REJECT:

• The teaching of "positive confession"

• The belief that true-Christians can be possessed by demons

• A fatalistic, Calvinistic view, which allows no room for free will

• Prophecy that supersedes biblical scripture

• The incorporation of humanistic psychology and philosophy into biblical teaching

• “Charismania”, over emphasis upon spiritual gifts, experiential signs and wonders

• Universalism - the teaching that faith in Jesus is not necessary for salvation and that all humanity will finally end up in heaven