(We are currently in the process of revising our statement of faith to express more clearly our doctrinal stance)
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
The Bible is God's written revelation to man. The Word of God is verbally inspired in every word,
absolutely inerrant in the original documents, infallible, and God-breathed. The Bible constitutes the only infallible
rule of faith and practice. God spoke in His written Word by a process of dual authorship. The Holy Spirit so superintended
the human authors that, through their individual personalities and different styles of writing they composed and recorded
God's Word to man without error in the whole or in the part. Whereas there may be several applications of any given passage of
Scripture, there is but one true interpretation. It is the responsibility of believers, under the enlightenment of the
Holy Spirit, to ascertain carefully the true intent and meaning of Scripture. The truth of Scripture stands in judgment
of men; never do men stand in judgment of the Scripture.
THE GODHEAD
GOD THE FATHER
The first person of the Trinity orders and disposes all things according to His own purpose
and grace. He is the Creator of all things and sovereign over all things. He is infinite, eternal, omniscient,
omnipotent, and omnipresent. As the only absolute and omnipotent ruler in the universe, He is sovereign in creation,
providence, and redemption. His fatherhood involves both His designations within the Trinity and His relationship with
mankind. As Creator He is Father to all men, but He is Spiritual Father only to believers.
GOD THE SON
Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, possesses all the divine excellencies, and in these
He is coequal with the Father. God the Father created all things according to His own will, through His Son, Jesus Christ,
by whom all things continue to exist and operate. In the incarnation Christ set aside only the prerogative of deity
but nothing of the divine essence, either in degree or in kind. Jesus Christ represents humanity and deity in indivisible
oneness. Our Lord Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit, was born of the virgin Mary, and was God incarnate. In His death on the cross Jesus Christ atoned for the sins of men and made provision
for the redemption of men from the penalty of sin. We teach the literal, physical death, burial, and resurrection of
Jesus from the dead and that He is now ascended to the right hand of the Father, where He now mediates as our Advocate and
High Priest.
GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is a divine person, eternal,
possessing all the attributes of personality and deity, including intellect, emotions, and will. In all the divine attributes
He is coequal with the Father and the Son. We recognize His sovereign activity in the creation, the incarnation, the
written revelation, the work of salvation, and sanctification.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and convict men of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. The Holy Spirit indwells, fills, sanctifies, instructs, and empowers believers for service.
The Holy Spirit administers spiritual gifts to the Church. The exercise of all spiritual gifts
will always be in keeping with biblical precedent. The Holy Spirit glorifies neither Himself, His gifts, nor the
one exercising His gifts by ostentatious displays. He does glorify Christ by implementing His work of redeeming the
lost and building up believers in the most holy faith.
MAN
Man was directly and immediately created by God in His image and likeness. Man was created free
of sin with a rational nature, intelligence, volition, self-determination, and moral responsibility to God. In Adam's
disobedience to the revealed will and Word of God, sin entered the world and man lost his innocence; incurred the penalty
of physical and spiritual death; became subject to the wrath of God; and became inherently corrupt.
THE CHURCH
All who are saved are immediately placed by the Holy Spirit into one united spiritual body, the Church, the bride of
Christ, of which Christ is the head. This supernatural event at the time of conversion is known as the baptism of the
Holy Spirit. The Church is thus a unique organism designed by Christ, made up of all born-again believers in this present
age. The Church is distinct from Israel, but does not replace Israel in redemptive history.
The establishment of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament. The biblically
designated officers serving under Christ and over the assembly are elders (males, who are also called bishops, pastors, and
pastor-teachers) and deacons (men and women), both of whom must meet biblical qualifications. These officers lead and
rule as servants of Christ and have His authority in directing the church. The congregation is to submit to their leadership
as they follow the Head of the Church Jesus Christ.
The local church is autonomous, free from any external authority or control, with the right of
self-government and freedom from interference of any spiritual hierarchy of individuals or organizations.
It is scriptural for churches to cooperate with each other for the presentation and propagation of the faith.
The functions of the Church are: to exalt by offering our lives as living sacrifices in honor and praise
to God; to express grace to everyone by reflecting the image of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior in our lives; to evangelize
the world by the preaching and sharing of the gospel, baptizing disciples in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit; and to equip believers individually and the church corporately with God’s Word.
ELECTION
Election is the act of God by which, before the foundation of the world, He chose in Christ those whom
He graciously saves. Election should not be looked upon as based merely on abstract sovereignty. God is truly
sovereign, but He exercises His sovereignty in harmony with His other attributes: omniscience, justice, holiness, wisdom,
grace, mercy, and love. God exercises sovereignty in a manner totally consistent with His character as revealed in the
life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God's sovereign election, predestination to salvation, does not eliminate man's responsibility
to respond in faith and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. God’s Word cannot contradict itself, so rather
than being a contradiction these truths reveal a paradox. Divine sovereignty
and human responsibility are integral and inseparable parts of salvation – though exactly how they operate together
only the infinite mind of God knows. Sadly man’s tendency is frequently
to compromise one truth in favor of the other or to weaken both by taking a position somewhere between the two. We should
let the mystery remain, believing both truths completely and leaving the harmonizing to God.
SALVATION
Salvation is the gift of God offered freely to all who will receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It is obtained by grace through faith in order to produce works of righteousness in
the believer’s life. On the basis of the efficacy of the death of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the believing sinner is freed from the punishment, the penalty, the power, and one day the very presence of
sin. Believers are declared righteous, given eternal life, adopted into the family
of God, and made joint heirs with Christ. In its broadest sense salvation includes
regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification.
REGENERATION
Regeneration is a supernatural work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ
Jesus. The sinner responds in repentance and faith to the divine provision of salvation and receives Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior when the Holy Spirit accomplishes regeneration through the instrumentality of the Word of God.
JUSTIFICATION
Justification is an act of God by which He declares righteous those who, through faith in Christ, believe
the gospel, repent of their sins, confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This righteousness is apart from any virtue
or work of man and involves the placing of our sins on Christ and the imputation of Christ's righteousness to us.
SANCTIFICATION
Sanctification is the process, beginning at regeneration, by which the state of the
believer is brought closer to the likeness of Christ through obedience to the Word of God and the empowering of the Holy Spirit.
In this respect every saved person is involved in a daily conflict – the new creation in Christ doing battle against
the flesh.
GLORIFICATION
Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding
state of all that persevere.
BELIEVERS' SACRAMENTS
So gracious is our God and so aware is He of our weakness in believing that He has added to the preached
Word baptism and the Lord's Supper. Not only does He announce forgiveness to our ears, He gives us His gospel in the
form of something we can see, taste, feel, and smell.
BAPTISM
Christian baptism is by immersion in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit
and is to be administered immediately following ones profession of faith. It
is the place where the believer experiences the spiritual realities of death, burial, and resurrection with Jesus Christ;
the new birth, salvation, the cleansing of the conscience, spiritual circumcision, and the forgiveness of sins. Baptism
does not cause salvation; rather it conveys the realities of the new life to the believer. Nowhere do we see baptism
described as a mere symbol or a bare sign, but only as something that actually conveys the thing that is promised. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are a means by which God communicates grace to believers thus
we call them “believers' sacraments”.
THE LORD’S SUPPER
The Lord's Supper is the most intimate time of worship for the body of Christ and it should
always be preceded by solemn self-examination. The cup and the bread are a means of commemorating and proclaiming the
death of Jesus until He returns. The elements of communion are only representative of the flesh and blood of Christ;
the Lord's Supper is nevertheless an actual spiritual Communion with the risen Christ who is present in a unique way, in fellowship
with His people.
PERSEVERANCE
All the redeemed, once saved, are sealed by the Holy Spirit, adopted into God's family, granted eternal
life, persevered by God's power and are thus secure in Christ as they persevere. It is the privilege of believers to
rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's Word as they persevere in the faith. God's
Word, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an excuse for sinful living and carnality.
APOSTASY
Apostasy, also known as the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, is the willful, conscious act of rejecting and forsaking
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior by those who have clearly understood and experienced the gospel. The consequence of apostasy, or blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, is the forfeiture of ones opportunity to
be saved and is without remedy. A person only arrives at this unhappy circumstance after being exposed to the true
presentation of the gospel, coming under the conviction and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, professing faith in Jesus Christ,
and then willfully and knowingly rejecting Him as Lord and Savior. Hebrews 10:29-31 "Of how much worse punishment,
do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled
the Son of God underfoot, counting the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit
of grace? For we know Him who said, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord. And again, 'The
Lord will judge His people.' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 6:4-6 "For
it is impossible for those who were once
enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good
word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they
fall away to renew them again to repentance,
since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God,
and put Him to an open shame." I John 2:19 "They went out from us, but they were not of
us; for if they had been of us, the would
have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us."
THE ETERNAL STATE
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 He will
receive the church, which is His body, unto Himself. Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous
will be consigned to hell, the place of conscious, everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified
bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in heaven with the Lord.
IN CLOSING, WE UNDERSTAND
THAT THE ABOVE STATEMENTS DO NOT BY ANY MEANS EXHAUST THE CONTENT OF OUR CREED, WHICH IS THE WHOLE WORD OF GOD.
AND THEY ARE NOT INTENDED TO SET A LIMIT BEYOND WHICH FAITH CANNOT GO WITHIN THE WORD; BUT, WE DO BELIEVE THAT INSOFAR AS
THESE STATEMENTS EXTEND, THEY ARE A TRUE PRESENTATION OF THE SOUND DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN THE SCRIPTURES, AND THEREFORE, ARE BINDING
UPON US AS CHRISTIAN BELIEVERS
