Statement of Faith

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES – We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New testaments to be the verbally and plainspoken inspired Word of God. The Scriptures are inerrant, infallible and God-breathed, and therefore are the final authority for faith and life. The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the complete and divine revelation of God to Man. The Scriptures shall be interpreted according to their normal grammatical historical meaning. (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21)

THE GOD HEAD – There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. (Deut. 6:4; Isaiah 43:10; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; John 14:10, 26)

THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST – We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men. (Is. 7:14, 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2, 14; 2 Cor. 5:19-21; Gal. 4:4-5; Phil. 2:5-8; 1 Tim. 3:16)

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitution sacrifice; and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead. (Acts 2:18-36; Romans 3:24-25; 1 Peter 2:24; Eph. 1:7; 1 Peter 1:3-5)

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate. (Acts 1:9-10; Heb. 9:24, 7:25; Rom. 8:34; 1 John 2:1-2)

THE PERSON AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and that He is the Divine Agent in regeneration, and baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption. (John 16:8-11; Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:12-14; 2 Cor. 3:6; Eph. 1:13-14)

We believe that He is the Divine Teacher who assists believers to understand and appropriate the Scriptures and that it is the privilege and responsibility of all the saved to be continuously filled with the Spirit. (Eph. 1:17-18; 5:18; 1 John 2:20, 27)

We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of spiritual gifts to every believer. God uniquely uses evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip believers in the assembly in order that they can do the work of the ministry. (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-11; Eph. 4:7-12)

We believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues was temporary. We believe that speaking in tongues was never necessary for fulfillment of the baptism or filling of the Holy Spirit. (1 Cor. 13:8; 14:22-23)

THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN – We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the human race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and become alienated from God; and that man is the totally deprived, and, of himself utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. (Gen. 1:26-27; Rom. 3:22-23, 5:12, 6:23; Eph. 2:1-3, 4:17-19)

SALVATION – We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. (John 1:12; Eph. 1:7, 2:8-10; 1 Peter 1:18-19)

THE ETERNAL SECURITY AND ASSURANCE OF BELIEVERS – We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. (John 6:37-40, 10:27-30; Rom. 8:1, 38-39; 1 Cor. 1:4-8; 1 Peter 1:4-5)

We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word, which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh. (Rom. 13:13-14; Gal. 5:13; Titus 2:11-15)

THE CHURCH – We believe that the local church which is the body and the espoused bride of Christ, is solely made up of born again persons. (1 Cor. 12:12-14; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 1:22-23, 5:25-27)

We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. (Acts 14:27, 20:17, 28-32; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11)

We recognize water baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper as the Scriptural ordinances of obedience for the Church. (Mat. 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42, 18:18; 1 Cor. 11:23-26)

SEPARATION – We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord; and, that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations is commanded of God. (Rom. 12:1-2; 14:13; 2 Cor. 6:14, 7:1; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; 1 John 2:15-17; 2 John 2:9-11)

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST – We believe that God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end; according to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. (Matt.16:27-28, Matt. 24:3, 27-31, 37-39, 42-44; Matt. 26:64; Luke 21:27-36; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 3:10-18; Rev. 1:7; Rev. 22:12-13)

THE ETERNAL STATE – We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. (Matt. 25:46; John 5:28-29, 11:25-26; Rev. 20:5-6, 12-13)

We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, in a state of conscious bliss. Upon Christ’s return, the redeemed, in their resurrected and glorified bodies, will receive their reward and will dwell forever with the Lord. (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23, 3:21; 1 Thess. 4:16-17; Rev. 20:4-6)

THE PERSONALITY OF SATAN – We believe that Satan is the author of sin and the cause of the fall of Man; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man; and, that he shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire. (Job 1:6-7; Is. 14:12-17; Matt. 4:2-11, 25:41; Rev. 20:10)

CREATION – We believe that God created the universe in six periods of time. We reject evolution, the Day-Age Theory, and Theistic Evolution as unscriptural theories of origin. (Gen. 1:2; Ex. 20:11; Psalms 104; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 11:3, 10; Rev. 4:11, 10:6)

HUMAN SEXUALITY – We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should be engaged in outside of marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of sexual perversions is sin against God’s gift to mankind. (Gen. 2:24, 19:5,- 13; Gen.26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; 1 Cor. 5:1, 6:9; 1 Thess. 4:1-8; Heb 13:4)

MARRIAGE – We believe that marriage was instituted and ordained by God. Marriage is a covenant of companionship. It is a commitment to love and serve each other which God intends to last till “death do they part”. Divorce is permitted only on Biblical grounds. (Gen. 2:18, 24; Malachi 2:14; Prov. 2:17; 2 Cor. 6:14-18; 1 Cor. 10:39; Eph. 5:22-33; Matt. 5:32, 19:9; 1 Cor. 7:10-16)

ABORTION – We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life. (Job 3:16; Psalms 51:5, 139:14-16; Is. 44:24, 49:1, 5; Jer. 1:5, 20:15-18; Luke 1:44)

GIVING – We believe that every Christian is a steward of that portion of God’s wealth entrusted to him. We believe that God has established the tithe as a basis for giving, that cheerfully giving should be from the heart. Tithes are used for the support of the local church, the relief of those in need, and the spread of the Gospel through the support of Home, State, and Foreign Missions. (Gen. 14:20; Prov. 3:9-10; Acts 4:34-37; 1 Cor. 16:2; 2 Cor. 9:6-7; Gal. 6:6; Eph. 4:28; 1 Tim. 5:17-18; 1 John 3:17)