a. We believe the Scriptures consist of the 39 Old Testament (Genesis – Malachi) and the 27 New Testament (Matthew - Revelation) books.

b. We believe “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” by which we understand that the whole of the book called the Bible is inspired in the sense that the Holy Spirit gave the identical words of the sacred writing to holy men of old, chosen by Him to be the channel of His revelation to men. (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:20-21)

c. We believe the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments to be the verbally inspired (God-breathed) Word of God, the final authority for faith, life and practice, inerrant and infallible in the original writings. (Matthew 5:18, 24:35; John 16:12-13; Romans 10:17; II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:19; Psalm 119:9-11)

We believe there is one God Who eternally exists in a plurality, specifically in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, coequal in power and glory, having the same attributes and perfections and worthy of precisely the same worship and honor, confidence and obedience. (Genesis 1:1, 1:26, 2:17- 18, 11:6-8; Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19-20; Mark 12:29; John 1:1-4; Acts 5:3-4; II Corinthians 13:14; Hebrews 1:1-3; Revelation 1:4-6)

We believe God spoke creation into existence in six literal (24 hour) days as described in Genesis 1. Man was uniquely created from the dust of the ground directly in God’s own image and after His own likeness. All of creation was made “very good” without the presence or effect of any sin. All life brings forth after its own kind according to God’s command. (Genesis 1:1-2:7; Exodus 20:11; John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 11:3)

a. We believe that man, originally created in the image and likeness of God, fell from his high and holy estate through disobedience, by eating of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and in consequence, the threatened penalty of death was then and there inflicted (Genesis 1:26-27, 2:16-17, 3:1-24). As a result of Adam’s sin, all mankind inherited a sinful nature, so that he totally lost all spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins and subject to the power of the Devil. (Isaiah 64:6; John 5:40; 6:53,63; Romans 5:12-21; Ephesians 2:1-3; I John 3:8)

b. We believe that this spiritual death, or total depravity/corruption of human nature has been transmitted to the entire race of man, the man Christ Jesus alone excepted, and hence, that every child of Adam is born into the world with a sinful nature, utterly unable and unwilling to remedy his lost condition. (Genesis 6:5; Psalm 14:1-3, 51:5; Jeremiah 17:9; John 3:5-6, Romans 3:10-23, 5:12-19)

We believe that, owing to this universal depravity and death in sin, no one can see or enter the kingdom of God unless born of the Spirit whereby he becomes a new creation. (John 3:5-8; II Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Titus 3:5; James 1:18; I Peter 1:23; I John 5:1)

a. We believe that sinners are saved by grace through faith alone, and that not of themselves, it is the gift of God, not of works. (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5)

b. We believe that salvation, as the gift of God brought to man, is received by repentance of sin and individual personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. (Mark 1:15; John 1:12, 3:16-17; I Peter 1:18-19)

c. We believe that every saved person is justified (declared righteous) by faith apart from any obedience to the law. (Acts 13:39; Romans 3:28, 5:1, Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 2:11-14)

d. We believe that at the moment of salvation an exchange is made or imputed to us wherein we receive Christ’s righteousness before God because Christ took upon himself our sin and guilt which he bore upon the cross. (Romans 3:21-22, 4:5-11, 22-25; Philippians 3:9; I Corinthians 1:30; II Corinthians 5:21; I Peter 2:24)

a. We believe that all who are born again by the Spirit, redeemed, once saved through faith in Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, are a people that God the Father has given to His Son, Jesus Christ. This people- whom He foreknew, predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son Jesus, called, justified and ultimately will glorify- are secure in Christ due to God’s saving and preserving work in them by which they will ultimately persevere until the end. (Luke 10:20, 12:32; John 1:12-13, 6:37-40,47, 10:25-29, 17:1-2; Romans 8:29-39; II Corinthians 5:1-8; Philippians 1:6; II Timothy 1:12; I John 5:13)

b. We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's Spirit through His Word. (Romans 8:16; I John 3:19-24, 4:13-15) However, Scripture clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh. (Romans 6:1-4, 13:13-14; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:11-15)

c. We believe that every saved person possesses two natures, with provision made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. All claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural. (Romans 6:13-14, 8:12-13; Galatians 5:16-25; Ephesians 4:17-24; Colossians 3:1-10; I Peter 1:14-16; I John 3:5-9)

a. 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 a virgin. He lived a life of sinless perfection in fulfilling the law of God, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men. (John 1:12,14; Luke 1:30-35; Hebrews 4:15; I Peter 3:18) We believe the healings and deliverances of Christ in connection with His earthly ministry are evidences and manifestations of His power to prove that He is indeed the Son of God and Servant of Jehovah, as well as illustrations and forecasts of the power that shall be manifest in His earthly kingdom, when He shall reign over restored Israel and the nations of the earth (Isa. 11:1-9, 65:18-25; John 20:30-31).

b. We believe that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though without sin himself, He was made to be sin, was made a curse for us, bore God’s wrath, dying in our place as a substitutionary sacrifice acceptable to God and effectual for every sinner who receives him. (Leviticus 17:11; Matthew 26:28; John 1:12; Romans 5:6-9; II Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 1:5-7; I Peter 1:18-19, 2:24)

c. We believe our justification is made sure by his literal and physical resurrection from the dead. In addition, 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 and King, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor and Advocate. (Acts 1:9-11; Romans 4:24-25, 8:34; Hebrews 9:24; I John 2:1)

a. We believe that the Church is composed of all who are united to the crucified, risen and ascended Son of God by the Holy Spirit. By the same Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we are Jews or Gentiles, thus being members one of another and knit together in love. (Romans 6:3-5; 12:4-5; I Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians 4:1-16; Colossians 2:19)

b. We believe that there are only two ordinances given in Scripture to be obeyed by believers following salvation which declare our unity in Christ. The first is Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, to be done in remembrance of the atonement of Christ. The second is water baptism, an outward testimony of our identity with Christ. (Matthew 28:19-20; Luke 22:19-20; I Corinthians 11:23-26)

a. We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, equal to the Father and the Son. He is now, throughout this age of grace, here present in the true church as the Agent of the new birth, indwelling, renewing to holiness, and sealing believers for the day of redemption. He reveals and glorifies Christ Jesus to the members of the Church that they may be comforted, instructed and built up in their most holy faith. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. (John 7:38-39, 14:16-17, 15:26, 16:7-15; Acts 1:8, 2:1-4; Jude 20-21)

b. We believe the Holy Spirit came upon the whole body of believers on the day of Pentecost in fulfillment of the promises of Christ to his own. At that time, the disciples were individually endued with power to witness concerning Christ, and collectively baptized into one body which was the formation of the Church. We also believe that the New Testament distinguishes between being indwelt with the Spirit, which is true of all believers, and being filled with the Spirit, which is the believer’s privilege and duty. There is one baptism with (in) the Spirit, and it is into the body of Christ at the time of conversion, but there are many fillings. Pentecost is an historical event and is not repeated. (Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16, 24:46-49; John 1:33, 14:16,17,26, 15:26,27; Acts 2:1-4, 4:8,31; Ephesians 1:13-14, 5:18)

c. Gifts and Healings today – We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowing of all His gifts; that the gifts of evangelists, pastors and teachers are sufficient for the perfecting of the saints today; and that the working of sign gifts (prophecy, tongues, healing) gradually ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed and their authority became established. (I Corinthians 12:4-11; II Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 4:7-12) We believe that sickness, together with every other disorder and evil in our world, is the outward effect of sin and the curse, and is not sin itself. Since, according to the clear teaching of the New Testament, Christ died for our sins and was made sin for us, we believe that divine healing is not provided in the atonement made by Christ in the same sense that salvation and the forgiveness of sins are. We believe that God does hear and answer the prayer of faith for the sick and afflicted in accord to His own will, but not because He is bound to do so due to what He has accomplished by Christ’s death on the cross. (I Corinthians 15:3; I Peter 2:24)

We believe that the sanctification of the believer is the divine, three-fold action of setting apart a believer from sin and unto God. (John 17:17-19; II Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 3:1) Initial sanctification is an eternal act of God. At the moment of redemption through faith in Christ, the believer has the righteousness of Christ applied to him or her giving the believer a standing of absolute holiness. (I Corinthians 1:30; Hebrews 10:10-14) Progressive sanctification is the continuing process in the believer as the Holy Spirit applies the Word of God to his or her life, conforming the believer to the likeness of Christ. This always follows justification and involves both God’s grace and man’s obedient cooperation. (II Corinthians 3:18; I Thessalonians 4:3-4, 5:23-24; Revelation 22:11) Final sanctification will take place at the Lord’s return, at which time the believer shall be glorified. (Ephesians 5:25-27; I John 3:2-3; Jude 24-25)

We believe in the blessed hope, the imminent return of Jesus Christ, when He will gather living and dead saints to Himself to be with Him forever. The coming of Christ which will occur at a time only known to God, demands constant expectancy and motivates the believer to perseverance in Godly living. We believe in a period of time lasting seven years known as the Tribulation, in which the antichrist will be given authority in the world while in this same period the Lord will rain various judgments upon the earth. We believe in the bodily, pre millennial return of Jesus Christ to this earth. We believe He will reign as the sovereign King of the world for a thousand years and eventually banish Satan, death and all unbelievers to the Lake of Fire for all eternity. He will then remake the heavens and the earth to be absent of any effect of the fall, in which believers will spend the rest of eternity dwelling with God.
With reference to the time of the believer’s rapture we
acknowledge that there are divergent views among born again believers. Our Christian maturity allows us to tolerate our differences so as not to make this a basis of fellowship and membership.
(Matthew 24; John 14; Acts 1:11; I Corinthians 15; II Corinthians 5; I Thessalonians 1:10, 4:1-18, 5:1-11; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; Titus 2:13; Zechariah 14:4-11; Revelation 19-22)

a. We believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead in bodily form according to the Scriptures. At His future coming, He will raise up from among the dead those who have died in Christ, this being the first resurrection. After 1000 years, He will raise them that have died in unbelief from their graves to receive their eternal judgment. (I Thessalonians 4:14; Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2; John 5:28-29; Romans 1:4, 8:23; I Corinthians 15; Revelation 20:4-6)

b. We believe that the souls of believers are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord. We believe all believers will appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ to receive reward or suffer loss according to the works that they have done. (Luke 23:43; I Corinthians 3:12-15; II Corinthians 5:8-10; Philippians 1:23, 3:20-21; I Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 20:4-6)

c. We believe that the souls of unbelievers are, at death, absent from the body and remain in conscious misery until the second 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 conscious punishment. (Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-26; II Thessalonians 1:6-11; Jude 6-7; Revelation 20:11-15)

We believe that Satan is a created angelic being. Rebelling against God, he is the author of sin, the cause of the fall of man, a liar and murderer from the beginning, the great deceiver of all the nations, the god of this world, father of unbelievers and accuser of the brethren. He is the open and declared enemy of God and man, yet can do no more than God permits. He has been overcome by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, yet he has continued dominion on the earth until he is cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years. He will ultimately be defeated and cast into the Lake of Fire with all his angels to be tormented forever and ever. (Job 1:6-12, 2:5-6; Isaiah 14:12-17; Matthew 4:1-11, 25:41; John 8:44; II Corinthians 11:13-15; Ephesians 6:12-16; Colossians 2:13-15; Revelation 20:1-3, 7 10)

We believe that Christians (personal) and churches (ecclesiastical) must contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints and that all believers should live in such a manner as to not bring a reproach upon their Savior and Lord. This includes the confrontation of biblical error and, when necessary, separation from that error. We believe that cooperation with and tolerance of error –even for the sake of evangelism dishonors God and disobeys His Word. By God’s grace, we are committed to determining our ministry relationships on the basis of biblical fidelity. Individual Christians are commanded to live a life that is distinct from the world and set apart to God, not to partner in spiritual endeavors with those who deny or dilute the faith, and not to fellowship with willfully disobedient brothers. (Matthew 18; Romans 12:1-2, 16:17-19; II Corinthians 6-7; II Thessalonians 3; II Timothy 3:1-9; Titus 1:10-16; James 1:22- 27; I John 2:15-17, 4:1-6; II John 9-11; Jude 1-25)

We believe it is the obligation and privilege of every believer to witness by life and by word to the truths of Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to all mankind that they may be reconciled to God and become disciples of Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; II Corinthians 5:17 20)

a. We believe that the Church, which is the spiritual body and espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born again persons of this present age. Scripture describes the closeness of the relationship between Christ and His church as one body (Head and His body) and as one flesh (Husband and His bride). (I Corinthians 12:12- 14, 27; II Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:25-33)

b. We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. These local churches, when led in obedience to Scripture, demonstrate the context for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. (Acts 2:41-47, 4:4, 5:14; 14:26-27, 20:17-21,28-35; I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11)

c. We believe that baptized believers should identify with and be faithful to a local church for the purpose of worship, discipleship, spiritual discipline, edification, accountability to spiritual authority, mutual care, service, giving, exercise of spiritual gifts, and the celebration of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42; I Corinthians 12:4-7; 12:12-27; Hebrews 3:13, 10:24-25; Matthew 28:19-20; I Corinthians 11:17-34)

d. We believe that the Church is a distinct body separate from the nation of Israel, but made up of both Jews and Gentiles who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has addressed each with unique promises, obligations and privileges. (Genesis 15:5, Ephesians 2:11-13; Deuteronomy 7:1-2, Matthew 5:44; Leviticus 17:8-9, Hebrews 10:19-25, I Peter 2:5)

We believe the following regarding human life:
- Morality is based on the unchanging standard of God’s Word
- Life begins at conception
- Sexuality is lawful only when enjoyed by one man and one woman who are joined together in the covenant of marriage
- The gender of which one is born is an inviolable part of one’s human identity and has been determined at conception by sovereign God
- Both male and female are created in God’s image
- Men and women are absolutely equal in value, yet complimentary in their roles within the home and the church.

Therefore, we believe that any form of sexual immorality, such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bi-sexual conduct, bestiality, incest, pornography or any attempt to change one’s sex or disagreement with one’s biological sex is sinful and offensive to God.
We believe that in order to preserve the function and integrity of the church as the local body of Christ, and to provide a biblical role-model to the church members and the community, it is imperative that all persons employed by the church or who seek membership should abide by and agree to this statement of “marriage and believer’s morality” and conduct themselves accordingly.
We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity. Hateful and harassing speech, behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture or the doctrines of the church. Speaking the truth of God’s Word in love on these subjects does not constitute hateful or harassing speech. (Genesis 1:24-28; Psalm 127:3-5, 139:13 16; Jeremiah 1:4-5; Matthew 19:3-9; Ephesians 5:22-33; Romans 1:24-28; I Corinthians 6:9-11,15-20; Hebrews 13:4)