What We Believe

We believe in the divinely inspired, infallible, and completed canon of Holy Scripture. We believe the Holy Scriptures contain thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and twenty-seven books of the New Testament. The Apocryphal books are invalid (and thus unauthoritative) in their origin and content.

We believe the Holy Scripture acts as a sufficient mode of communicating divine truth to mankind regarding salvation, discipleship, and future things. We believe Jesus Christ to be the central theme and character of both the Old and New testaments. The Holy Scriptures were written by men, but inspired by God and will remain until the end of the world.  (II Tim 3:15-17, Heb. 1:1, John 1:1-14, II Peter 1:21) We use the King James Version.

We believe in one living and true God. This one God exists in three persons: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. These three are equal in power and essence. The persons of the God-head are not divided in nature but are ‘distinguished by several peculiar, relative properties and personal relations.'  God is perfect in holiness, unparalleled in power, and is alone worthy of human worship and adoration. God is also the creator and sustainer of all things, and everything was created by his will and for his glory. Although God is a Spirit, he has a personality that is manifested by an intellect, a will, and emotions. (Deut. 6:4, Exodus 3:14, I John 5:7, Mat. 28:19, Rev 4:11, John 4:24)
 

We believe Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God and that he existed with the Father in eternity past. The Son of God was born of a virgin after being conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ took upon himself the nature of humanity (‘yet without sin’) and was delivered up by the predeterminate will of the Father to suffer the substitutionary death of the cross. Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead and presently acts as a mediator for the children of God. ‘This same Jesus’ will return to the sky, and then to earth, bodily. (John 1:1-14, Gen 1, Luke 1, Heb. 4:14-16, Acts 1:11, Rev. 21&22)

We believe the Holy Spirit to be the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit acts as the comforter of God’s children, the exalter of Jesus Christ, the illuminator of Holy Scripture, the convincer of sin and judgement, and the sealer of salvation. He is also manifested in the Old Testament as “Spirit of God” who possesses divine attributes. (Gen 1, John 16:13, Eph. 4:30, Acts 1:5, Eph. 1:13-1)

We believe man was created “very good”, having all perfection and virtue, in the image of and for the glory of the triune God. By God's wisdom and design “male and female created he them.” Man fell from his state of innocence after being tempted by Satan to disobedience, and he now exists (in his natural state) under the wrath of God. God, in his judgement, gave man over to a reprobate mind, and by this, he is spiritually dead because of the Adamic nature he possesses. Man is subject to this sinful nature from birth and eventually suffers physical death because of its effects. God saw that it was not good that man be alone, so he created the family. Marriage was designed and given by God in the beginning to men
and women, and it represents the union of Christ and the church. (Gen 2&3, Rom. 1-3, Rom. 6, I Cor. 15:22, Eph. 1)

We believe Salvation to be the divine work of God alone. Salvation was procured by Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross and is not earned by man’s works- as the basis of salvation is ‘’by grace through faith.” Regeneration, or being “born again” is the work of grace that makes sinful men into new creatures in Christ. Repentance and Faith are necessary elements in the supernatural work of salvation and apart from faith in Jesus Christ alone, no person can be saved. People are saved by the preaching/teaching and the gospel, and salvation is free to all who will believe.  (Eph. 1&2, Titus 3:5, John 3, Rom 8, Acts 3:18-19)
 

We believe that the New Testament church was founded by Jesus Christ during His personal ministry on earth. We believe in the perpetuity of the church; that there have been New Testament churches on the earth since His personal, earthly ministry and that they will continue to be here until He returns. The New Testament church is a local, visible body of baptized believers covenanted together to carry out the Great Commission; observe the ordinances Christ has placed in the church and maintain discipline within the body. It's only Scriptural offices are Pastors, and Deacons, whose qualifications, claims, and duties are defined in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus. Each local church is autonomous, recognizing Jesus only as it's Head, and the Bible only as it's rule for faith and practice. The church is the pillar and the ground of truth. (Matt. 16:18; 18:165-19; 28:19,20; Acts 2:41-47; Eph. 5:23; Col. 1:18; 1 Tim. 3:15)

We believe in a pre-millenial bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that it (His return) is the blessed hope Christians anticipate. We believe there will be a literal 1,000 year reign of Jesus on the earth. We believe the souls of believers, upon death, are absent from the body and present with the Lord. We believe their spirit, soul, and body will be reunited and glorified forever with the Lord. We believe the souls of unbelievers, upon death, are in torment and await their resurrection when, with soul and body reunited, they shall appear at the Great White Throne judgment and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire to suffer everlasting punishment. (Titus 2:13; Zech. 14:4-11; Gen. 12:1-3; Deut. 30:1-10; 2 Sam. 7:10-13; Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23, 3:21; 1 Thess. 4:16-17; Matt. 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-26; 2 Thess. 1:7-9; Rev. 20:11-15)