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WHAT WE BELIEVE
The Bible
We believe the Bible to be the revealed Word of God, fully and verbally inspired by God. We believe the Scriptures, as found in the 66 books from Genesis to Revelation, are inerrant and infallible as originally written. We believe that God not only inspired every word, but that He has preserved His Word through the ages. (Psalm 12:6–7; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 Peter 1:23-25; 2 Peter 1:19-21)
God
We believe in one God; who is eternal, self-existent, infinite, unchanging, infinite in power and knowledge, and present everywhere at the same time. We believe He has one nature and one essence, yet manifests Himself to man in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Timothy 1:17; James 1:17; 1 John 4:4)
Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior of mankind. We believe He is fully and eternally God, and that He possesses all the attributes of Deity. We believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, that He was God in the flesh, and that He came to reveal God, to redeem mankind, and to rule over God's kingdom. We believe that Jesus Christ never gave up any of His divine attributes, but merely veiled them. We believe He lived a perfect, sinless life, at the end of which He offered Himself as a substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of all mankind by the shedding of His blood on the cross. This sacrifice was a just and complete payment to God for the forgiveness of sin. We believe that Jesus Christ physically rose from the dead and later ascended into Heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father. He is now waiting to receive His church at the Rapture. After a seven-year period of Tribulation and judgment on earth, Jesus will return to rule and reign on earth as King for 1,000 years. (Psalm 2:7-9; Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, 43:11; Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:1, 1:3, 14, 18, 29; Romans 3:19-25; Romans 5:6-15; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 Timothy 3:16; Titus 2:10-15; Hebrews 7:26, 9:24-28; 1 Peter 1:19, 2:2; 1 John 1:3; Revelation 20:1-6)
The Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit of God is a Person who has personality and all the attributes of Deity. We believe the Holy Spirit has always been involved in the affairs of mankind. However, we believe He has a special ministry that began at Pentecost and will continue until the Rapture. This ministry includes reproving the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit was also sent to regenerate, indwell, sanctify, seal, and fill all who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. (Genesis 1:2; John 3:5-6; John 14:16; Acts 1:5; Acts 11:15; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Corinthians 12:13)
Sin and Salvation
We believe that all men were born with an inherited sin nature received from our common ancestor, Adam. Because of this nature, man is a sinner by choice, and he is totally incapable of reforming himself or ceasing from sin by his own power. We believe the only hope of deliverance for man is a total change of mind concerning his sinful condition and inability to change it, and a turning by faith alone to Jesus Christ as the only Savior. We believe that only through the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus on the cross can a man be delivered from his sin. We believe that the gift of salvation is accomplished entirely by God and can never be lost. We believe that all those who reject Jesus Christ as their Savior are already condemned to an eternity in the Lake of Fire. (Genesis 5:1-5; Acts 4:19; Acts 16:31; Romans 3:10-23; Romans 5:6-12; Romans 6:23; Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-6; Revelation 20:11-14)
The New Testament Church
We believe that the church began with the calling out of the twelve apostles by Jesus Christ and was empowered by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. We believe the local church is composed of members who have been saved and baptized according to the command of Christ, and have voluntarily joined together for the purposes of worship, fellowship, service, the observance of the ordinances, and making disciples of all nations. We believe that the two biblical offices of the church are elders (pastors, overseers/bishops) and deacons. We believe that all true believers will be taken up at the Rapture, just before the time of Tribulation on earth. (Matthew 16:16-18; Acts 1:15; Acts 2:41-43; Acts 11:15; Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians 15: 51-58; Ephesians 1:12-14; Ephesians 5:25-30; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Timothy 3:4-15)
Baptism and Communion
We believe that baptism and communion (the Lord's Supper) are the two ordinances of the local church. We believe that biblical baptism is the immersion in water of a born-again believer, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, under the authority of a New Testament church. Baptism is a picture of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and illustrates a believer's death to sin and resurrection to walk in a new life. We believe that communion, or the Lord's Supper, is a figurative, memorial observance of the Lord's death, of the offering of His sinless body and blood for the sins of mankind. Since the elements represent the sinlessness of the Lord's body and blood, we use unleavened bread and unfermented "fruit of the vine." (Matthew 3:6, 16; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41-42; 8:36-39; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 11:23-28; Colossians 2:12)
Missions
We believe that God has given the church a Great Commission to proclaim the Gospel and to make disciples of all nations and people groups, so that there might be a great multitude in Heaven from every nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language group who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. As ambassadors of Christ we must use all available means to go to the foreign nations and not wait for them to come to us. (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:20)
Giving
We believe that every Christian is a steward of wealth and resources that belong to God, but have been entrusted to him or her to administer. We believe that every Christian is obligated to support his local church financially. We believe that God has established the tithe as a basis for giving, but that every Christian should also give other offerings sacrificially and cheerfully to the support of the church, the relief of those in need, and the spread of the Gospel. We believe that a Christian relinquishes all rights to direct the use of the tithe or offering once the gift has been made. (Genesis 14:20; Proverbs 3:9-10; Acts 4:34-37; 1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:6-7; Galatians 6:6; Ephesians 4:28; 1 Timothy 5:17-18; 1 John 3:17)
The Last Days
We believe in the literal interpretation of the Scriptures in their grammatical and historical context. We believe in the imminent Rapture of the church saints, followed by a seven-year period of Tribulation on earth. We believe in the Return of Christ to the earth, followed by His literal rule of 1,000 years. Following this one-thousand-year reign is the Great White Throne Judgment and then the new heaven and new earth. (1 Corinthians 15:51-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-9; Revelation 19-22)
Separation
We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord. God commands His people to separate from all religious apostasy, and from all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices, and associations. (Romans 12:1-2; 14:13; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; 1 John 2:15-17; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
Creation
We believe that God created the universe in six literal, 24-hour periods. We reject all other theories or textual interpretations as unscriptural theories of origin. (Genesis 1-2; Exodus 20:11)
Civil Government
We believe that God has ordained and created all authority consisting of three basic institutions: 1) the home, 2) the church, and 3) the state. Every person is subject to these authorities, but all (including the authorities themselves) are answerable to God and governed by His Word. God has given each institution specific Biblical responsibilities and balanced these responsibilities with the understanding that no institution has the right to infringe upon the other. The home, the church, and the state are equal and sovereign in their respective Biblically-assigned spheres of responsibility under God. (Romans 13:1-7; Ephesians 5:22-24; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 2:13-14)
Human Sexuality and Marriage
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We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that all forms of sexual activity outside of God's commands and design are sinful perversions of God's gift of sex. We believe that God disapproves of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender by surgery or appearance. (Genesis 2:24, 19:5, 13, 26:8-9; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1: 26-29; 1 Corinthians 5:1; 6:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4)
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We believe that the only legitimate marriage is the joining of one male-at-birth man and one female-at-birth woman. (Genesis 2:24; Romans 7:2; 1 Corinthians 7:10; Ephesians 5:22-23)
Abortion
We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life. Abortion is murder. We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, or the physical or mental well being of the mother are acceptable. (Job 3:16; Psalm 51:5; 139:14-16; Isaiah 44:24; 49:1, 5; Jeremiah 1:5; 20:15-18; Luke 1:44)
Human Euthanasia
We believe that the direct taking of an innocent human life is a moral evil, regardless of the intention. Life is a gift of God and must be respected from conception until natural death. Thus, we believe that an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder contrary to the will of God. However, discontinuing medical procedures that are extraordinary or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be a legitimate refusal of overzealous treatment. (Exodus 20:13, 23:7; Matthew 5:21; Acts 17:28)