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Our Statement of Faith

WE BELIEVE that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory; this triune God is uncreated, eternal, created all, upholds all, and governs all according to the purpose of His will. God is the greatest reality in life, and has sovereignly revealed Himself through the Bible to us. (Deuteronomy 6:4, Isaiah 45:21-22, Matthew 28:19, Colossians 1:16)

GOD THE FATHER
We Believe that God is essentially Spirit, personal, transcendent, sovereign, life, love, truth, almighty, timelessly eternal, unchangeable, wise, just, holy, relational, pure actuality, dynamic, infallible in all things, including His foreknowledge of all future decisions and events.

We Believe that God the Father 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 faith in Jesus Christ. (Psalm 68:5, Psalm 145:8-9, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Genesis 1:1-31, Ephesians 3:9, Psalm 103:19, Psalm 115:3, Romans 11:36, Ephesians 4:6, Romans 8:14, Ephesians 1:11, 1 Chronicles 29:11)

GOD THE SON
We Believe in Jesus Christ—the second person of the Godhead, God's only begotten Son, the promised Messiah, conceived by the Holy Spirit.

We Believe in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, teachings, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people, and personal, visible return to earth.

We Believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human, possessing two distinct natures which are co-joined in one person, and that He provided for the atonement of our sins by His vicarious, substitutionary death on the cross. (John 1:1, 14, Matthew 1:18-25, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 3:18, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Hebrews 10:12-13)

GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
We Believe in the Holy Spirit—the third person of the Godhead, who came forth from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and to regenerate, sanctify, and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ for ministry. (John 14:16-17, John 16:7-11, Titus 3:5-6, Romans 8:9, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Ephesians 1:13-14, Acts 1:8, Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12-14, 1 Peter 4:10-11)

We Believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ and that He is an abiding helper, teacher, and guide.

We Believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit and in the exercise of all the biblical gifts of the Holy Spirit, to be employed within scriptural guidelines. We believe that love is more important than the most spectacular gifts, and without this love, all exercise of spiritual gifts is worthless.

THE BIBLE
We Believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, fully inspired without error in their original manuscripts and are the infallible rule of faith and practice. The Bible is the foundation upon which the church operates and is the basis for which the church is governed. We believe that the Bible supersedes any earthly law that is contrary to the Holy Scriptures. (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:21, John 10:35, Isaiah 40:8, Luke 24:27)

We Believe that we are to faithfully teach the Bible in such a way that its message can be applied to an individual's life, leading that person to greater maturity in Christ. We do this by explaining the relevance of the Bible to empower and transform lives for service.

CREATION
We Believe that God is the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens and the earth and of every basic form of life. We believe that God created all things ex nihilo (out of nothing) as taught in the book of Genesis, calling it good. We believe that God exercises providential care for every life form in His creation, and calls Christians to be faithful stewards of the natural world.

We Believe that God created man and woman as unique biological persons made to complete each other. God instituted monogamous marriage between male and female as the foundation of the family and the basic structure of human society. For this reason, we believe that marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female, sanctioned by the church and recognized by the state as evidenced by a marriage ceremony. (Genesis 1:1-31, Colossians 1:16-20, Isaiah 40:12-31, Job 38:4-30, Nehemiah 9:6, Isaiah 45:7, Isaiah 66:2, Ephesians 3:9, Revelation 4:11)

HUMANITY
We believe that God created human beings, male and female, in His own image. He created them sinless, equal in value, dignity, and worth. (Genesis 1:26-28, Ephesians 5:22-6:4, 1 Timothy 3:1-7) However, after the fall of Adam and Eve, all people are by nature separated from God and responsible for their own sin, but that salvation, redemption, and forgiveness are offered as a free gift by the Lord Jesus Christ to all based on His grace alone. (Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, Psalm 51:5, Romans 5:18-19, Matthew 1:21, 1 John 4:14, John 14:6, Acts 4:12, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 10:9)

We Believe that when a person repents of sin and receives Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord, trusting Him to save, that person is immediately born again and sealed by the Holy Spirit, all his/her sins are forgiven, and that person becomes a child of God, destined to spend eternity with the Lord.

We Believe that Jesus Christ baptizes the seeking believer with the Holy Spirit and empowers believers for service, often subsequent to regeneration.

We believe that all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in Scripture are available to, and active in His church today. (John 14:16-17, John 16:7-11, Titus 3:5-6, Romans 8:9, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Ephesians 1:13-14, Acts 1:8, Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12-14, 1 Peter 4:10-11)

THE CHURCH
We Believe in the universal church, the living spiritual body, of which Christ is the Head, and all regenerated persons are members.

We Believe that Jesus committed two ordinances to the church: 1) baptism and 2) the Lord's Supper. We believe in baptism by immersion and Communion open to all believers.

We Believe in the laying on of hands for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, for ordination of pastors, elders, and deacons, and receiving from the Holy Spirit through the believer the gift of healing.

We Believe that the church has the responsibility to worship the Lord and share the good news of Christ's death and resurrection to the world, making disciples, baptizing believers, and teaching them to observe sound doctrine and to live a holy life.

We believe there is one church, the body of Christ, consisting of men and women from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. We believe that each local congregation is an expression of that universal church. We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 4:4, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Matthew 16:18-19, Revelation 5:9, Acts 2:42-47)

CHRIST'S RETURN
We Believe in the personal, visible return of Christ to the earth and the establishment of His kingdom, in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment and eternal blessing of the righteous, and the endless suffering of the wicked. (Revelation 22:12, Hebrews 9:28, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Mark 13:32, Matthew 24:44, John 14:3, Acts 1:11, Colossians 3:4, Revelation 1:7)

ETERNAL STATE
We believe in the resurrection of the dead. Believers will be raised to life (Heaven), and unbelievers to shame and everlasting contempt (Hell). (Daniel 12:2, John 5:25-29, Revelation 21:1-22:5)

HISTORIC WITNESS
We Believe in what is termed the Apostles' Creed as embodying the fundamental facts of the Christian faith:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
He descended into hell.
The third day He rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy universal church,
the communion of the saints,
the forgiveness of sins, 
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.

     Amen.

#SOLASCRIPTURA