What We Believe

The Bible, with its 66 books, is the very Word of God. The Bible is verbally and plenarily inspired as originally given and it is divinely preserved in the Hebrew Masoretic Text and the Greek Received Text. The Bible is our sole authority in all matters of faith and practice.

The King James Version in English is an example of an accurate translation of the preserved Hebrew and Greek texts; we believe it can be used with confidence.

The Scriptures testify that God is a spirit whose nature is light, love, and holiness; He is infinite, eternal, all wise, all powerful, all knowing. There is only one God, but that God is revealed as three distinct Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is the traditional doctrine of 1 John 5:7, and Matthew 28:19.

We believe in God the Father, perfect in holiness, infinite in wisdom, measureless in power. We rejoice 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 that come to Him through Jesus Christ.

 The second Person of the triune God is the Son, whose name is the Lord Jesus Christ. He existed eternally with the Father. At His incarnation, without change in His deity, the eternal Son of God became a man through the miracle of the virgin birth. Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He lived a sinless life, performed miracles to prove that He was the Messiah, died a substitutionary death for all men, was buried, and arose from the grave bodily the third day. Thereafter He ascended into Heaven and is presently fulfilling His intercessory and mediatorial ministry. He has promised to return to Rapture the church age saints  prior to the Tribulation and to return to the earth 

The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Godhead (Matt. 28:20; 1 Jn. 5:7). He is eternal (Heb. 9:14). He was active in creation (Gen. 1:2). He fashions men and imparts life to them (Job 33:4). He anointed and empowered Israel’s judges, kings, and prophets (Jud. 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 1 Sam. 16:13). He inspired the Scriptures, imparting the words of God to holy men of old (Jn. 14:26; 1 Cor. 2:11-13; 1 Pet. 1:10-12; 2 Pet. 1:19-21). He convicts the world of sin and draws men to Christ (Gen. 6:3; Jn. 16:7-11). He came upon the church age saints at Pentecost to empower them for world evangelism (Acts 1:8). He regenerates those who believe (Jn. 3:5-8) and seals them unto the resurrection (Eph. 1:13-14). He indwells all who are born again, sanctifies them (1 Pet. 1:2), equips and empowers them for service (Acts 1:8; 1 Cor. 12), and illuminates their understanding of the truth. He calls and sends missionaries (Acts 13:1-4).

We believe that the church on earth is a congregation of scripturally baptized believers bound together by a common New Testament faith and fellowship in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The church was established and built by Jesus Christ (Mat. 16:18). Its two ordinances are baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which are performed as memorials of Christ’s death and resurrection (Acts 2:41-42; 1 Cor. 11:23-24). Baptism is for believers only and is by immersion and is called a burial (Rom. 6:1-4). It is not for salvation and is not a part of salvation but follows after salvation as a public testimony thereof and as a picture of the believer’s death, burial, and resurrection with Christ (Acts 8:36-39; 16:30-33; 18:8). Baptism is not the gospel but is a picture of the gospel, being the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for our sins (1 Cor. 1:17; 15:1-4). The church’s sole authority is the Bible (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Its Great Commission is the work of world evangelism and discipleship (Mat. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 13:1-4).

Salvation is by the grace of God alone, which means that it is a free gift that is neither merited nor secured in whole or in part by any virtue or work of man or by any religious duty or sacrament. The gift of God’s grace was purchased by Jesus Christ alone, by His blood and death on Calvary. The sinner receives God’s salvation by repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Though salvation is by God’s grace alone through faith, it results in a changed life; salvation is not by works but it is unto works. The faith for salvation comes by hearing God’s Word. Men must hear the gospel in order to be saved. The Gospel is defined in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.

We believe in the Genesis account of Creation and that it is to be accepted literally and not figuratively; that the world was made in six 24-hour days; that man was created directly in God’s own image and did not evolve from any lower form of life; that all animal and vegetable life was made directly and made subject to God’s law that they bring forth only “after their kind.” God made mankind male and female, and marriage was ordained by God to be between only male and female.