Statement of Faith

I. The Holy Bible
We believe that the Holy Bible is the inerrant and infallible Word of God (Psalm 19:7-8, Psalm 119:89, 160). The Bible was written by men who were inspired by God (II Peter 1:20-21). It is God's message to mankind, explaining Himself, his plan for mankind, and His guide for human conduct and living. It details mankind's origin and mankind's ultimate destiny, and it is the test for all religious belief and opinion. It is completely true and accurate from Genesis to Revelation, and is to be interpreted literally unless context indicates otherwise. (II Timothy 3:15-17, Psalm 138:2). Jesus Christ is the center of the Divine revelation in the Word of God (John 1:1, Matthew 5:17-18, Luke 24:27).

II. God
There is only one true and living God, Who has revealed Himself as three distinct Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, There is no difference in their nature, essence, or being.(Genesis 1:1-2, Genesis 1:26, Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 3:16-17, Matthew 28:19, John 14:23, 26, John 17:21-22).  

   1. God the Father is sovereign over all of creation. He is eternal, self-existent, and immutable (Isaiah 43:10, Isaiah 44:6, Malachi 3:6). He is all knowing and all powerful, and omnipresent (Isaiah 44:24, Isaiah 45:18, Isaiah 46:10, Isaiah 48:3, Psalm 139:7). He is holy, righteous, perfect, and just (Leviticus 20:26, Jeremiah 9:24, Matthew 5:48). He is all loving toward His creation (I John 4:8-10,19, John 3:16). He is not willing that anyone should perish, but that all be saved through repenting of their sins and trusting in Jesus (II Peter 3:9, John 3:16). We exist, live, continue to live, and obtain every good and necessary thing for life from God, because of His common grace (His unmerited favor) toward all of mankind (Matthew 5:44-45, Acts 17:24-25). Because of God's holiness, He cannot overlook sin and must mete out punishment for it. But because of God's infinite and unconditional love for mankind, He sent His one and only Son Jesus into the world to bear the punishment for the sins of the world, so that through His amazing grace He could offer to all the free gift of forgiveness of sins and everlasting life (Numbers 14:18, John 3:16, II Corinthians 5:21, Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 2:11, I John 2:1-2).

  2. Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God, Without beginning and without end (Micah 5:2, John 1:1-2, Revelation 22:13). He is fully God, and fully man; He has existed as God for all of eternity, and He became a man when He was brought into being by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary. He lived a perfect, sinless life, in perfect obedience to God the Father, while experiencing all of the trials and temptations that we do. He became a man to reveal God to mankind, to testify to God's truth, and to reconcile mankind and all of creation to God through His sacrificial death on the cross, in which God punished Him for the sins of the world. He died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and three days later, Jesus rose physically from the dead in a glorified body according to the Scriptures. After His resurrection, He appeared physically to His Disciples, and many others, including over five hundred at once. He ascended to heaven, where He is currently at the right hand of God the Father interceding for those who have trusted in Him. He spiritually lives within all believers as the always present Lord. He will one day physically return to this earth and establish His Kingdom. Prior to His physical return to earth, Jesus will appear in the air and raise the bodies of all believers who have died physically, transform them into glorified bodies and reunite them with their spirits. Then, all living believers remaining on the earth will also be caught up to Him in the air and transformed into their glorified bodies. All of these resurrected believers will then accompany Him to Heaven for a seven year period, during which time. on the earth, the Christ rejecting world will experience what the Bible describes as the Tribulation period. At the end of this seven year period of time all resurrected believers will then accompany Jesus as He returns bodily to earth to defeat His enemies and establish His one thousand year kingdom on earth. At the end of His one thousand year kingdom, Jesus will cast Satan and his angels into the lake of fire. He will then judge all people, from all time, who have rejected Him, and they also will be cast into the lake of fire where they will suffer everlasting punishment and torment. He will then make a new Heaven and a new earth in which all believers will dwell with Him for all of eternity. Jesus is the only way to God, there is no other access apart from Him. (John 1:14, Matthew 1:18-24, Philippians 2:5-11, John 1:18, Hebrews 1:3, John 18:37, Colossians 1:20-22, II Corinthians 5:19, Hebrews 4:15, I John 2:2, I Corinthians 15:3-6, Acts 1:9-11, Romans 8:34, John 14:23, John 17:23, Revelation 19:11-16, I Thessalonians 1:10, I Thessalonians 4:13-17, I Thessalonians 5:9, I Corinthians 15:51-52, Revelation 3:10, Revelation 20:1- 21:7, John 14:6, I John 2:23).

  3. God the Holy Spirit is the third member of the Godhead. He is fully God, and Eternal. He is a person. He indwells all those who have been born again, when they repent and trust in Christ.  He convicts of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. He initiates the salvation process in true believers and seals them as belonging to God. He guides believers into all truth, and leads them through life. He does not glorify Himself, but always points people to Christ and glorifies Him. (John 3:6-8, Acts 5:3-4, Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 4:30, John 15:26-27, John 16:7-15, Romans 8:14).

III. Man
We believe that all people are sinners by nature, and sinners by choice, and our sins have separated us from God. Our sins have earned every one of us eternal punishment and separation from God in the lake of fire, and without Jesus' death and resurrection, there would be no hope and every human being would in fact spend eternity there. But because of Jesus' substitutionary death for each of us, as well as the perfectly sinless life that He lived, each of us can be saved. Prior to salvation each of us is spiritually dead because of our sin, and we must be born again (from above), in order to be forgiven of our sins and receive eternal life. A person is born again when He repents of his sin, believes that Jesus died for his personal sin and rose from the dead, and puts all of his faith and trust in Jesus Christ and commits His life to Him. God then forgives his sin, grants him eternal life, and the Holy Spirit seals him as belonging to God forever, and God indwells him. Eternal life begins at the moment of salvation, and is irrevocable. This salvation cannot be obtained through human works, it is a free gift of God offered to all people by His grace, received through faith, and it is only obtained through Jesus Christ! (Romans 3:10,23, Romans 6:23, Isaiah 59:2, Revelation 20:12-15, Ephesians 2:1, John 3:5, Mark 1:15, I Corinthians 15:1-4, John 3:3-18, Romans 10:9-10, 13, Acts 4:12, I John 5:10-13, Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 11:29, Philippians 1:6, John 10:27-30). 

IV. The Church
The church is the corporate body of all born again believers in Jesus Christ, who have lived and died, or are living, since the day of Pentecost immediately following Christ's resurrection and ascension into Heaven. The church was ordained by Christ while He was physically on earth. The church is God the Father's love gift to God the Son. The church is the Bride of Christ. Jesus is the Head of the church. The church is composed of local assemblies of individual believers (local churches) (Matthew 6:18, Ephesians 5:23-25, Ephesians 1:22-23, Colossians 1:18, Acts 2:1-47, John 6:37, John 10:29, Titus 2:14, Revelation 19:7-9, Hebrews 10:24-25, Acts 9:31, Acts 16:5, Romans 16:16, Revelation 1:14).

      1. God's purpose for the church

           A. To bring honor and glory to Himself through the church's love, honor, obedience, and worship of His one and only Son, Jesus (John 5:22-23, John 8:42, Psalm 2:7, 11-12, I John 2:23, Philippians 2:9-11, Philippians 3:3).

           B.  To build love and unity among believers in the local church, and in the entire body of Christ, and to bear one another's burdens (John 13:34-35, I John 4:20-21, Acts 2:42-47, Romans 12:10, I Thessalonians 3:12, I Peter 3:8, Galatians 6:1).

           C.  To stir up believers for good works, and to encourage and comfort one another (Hebrews 10:24-25, I Thessalonians 5:11, Colossians 2:2).

           D.  To demonstrate and convey the love, and goodness, and truth, and glory of God to the unbelieving world (Matthew 5:13-16, John 13:34-35, John 17:20-21).

           E.  To build up the body of Christ through the teaching of sound doctrine in love, for the purpose of protecting the church from false doctrine; Unifying the body of Christ in love and conformity to the knowledge, and image, and fullness of Christ. And to equip the members of the body of Christ to minister to each other, and to unbelievers (Ephesians 4:11-16).

           F.  To individually and corporately fulfill the Lord's commandment to lovingly share the good news of the Gospel with the unbelieving world, make Disciples out of all people, baptize all true believers, and to teach them to obey all of the Lord's commandments (Ephesians 4:15, Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8).

           G.  To individually and corporately practice the ordinances of the Lord's Supper and believer's baptism (Matthew 26:26-30, Mark 14:22-26, Luke 22:15-20, I Corinthians 11:23-28, Matthew 28:19, Romans 6:1-5).

           H.  To individually and corporately, in a loving, obedient, and expectant manner, eagerly await the return of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:42-46, I Thessalonians 1:10, Titus 2:11-13).

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     2. Church ordinances

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          A. Baptism
We believe, that although water baptism does not bring about salvation, God does command believers to be baptized after receiving salvation. Baptism is a celebration of the Lord’s resurrection, and a picture of the believer’s death with Christ, and resurrection to a new and transformed life. Baptism is always by immersion. And we believe that God commands believers to be part of a local church (Matthew 28:19, Romans 6:1-11, Colossians 3:3, Acts 2:38, Hebrews 10:24-25).

      
          B. The Lord’s Supper
We believe in the celebration of the Lord's Supper in remembrance of Jesus and His death for us, and in celebration of His resurrection and His eventual return (Matthew 26:26-29, Luke 22:15-20, I Corinthians 11:23-26). 

 

V. God’s Purpose and Plan for Gender, Marriage, and Sex

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     1. Gender

We believe that God wonderfully creates each and every person as either male or female, and these two genders are distinct, immutable, complementary, and non-interchangeable, and together they reflect the image and glory of God. We believe that any identification with, or presentation or representation as a gender different from one’s biological gender at birth is a deviation from, and rejection of God’s design, His purpose, His established order, and His written Word. (Genesis 1:26-27, Psalm 139:13-16, Jeremiah 1:5, Matthew 19:4, Deuteronomy 22:5, Romans 1:26-27, Romans 9:20).

 

     2. Marriage

We believe that God created, established, and ordained marriage as an institution designed for the procreation of mankind, and as the foundation of the family, which is the irreplaceable foundation of a safe, stable, moral, and peaceful society. We believe that marriage is also a picture of, and a testament to the love of the Lord Jesus Christ for His church (The corporate body of all born again believers), and to His relationship to her. We believe that God defined, established, and ordained marriage as a lifelong physical, emotional, sexual, and spiritual union and covenant only between one man and one woman, and any union that is different from this definition is a deviation from, and rejection of God’s design, His purpose, His established order, and His written word (The Holy Bible). (Genesis 2:22-25, Matthew 19:4-6, Ephesians 5:23-32).

 

     3. Sex

 

We believe that sex is a wonderful and beautiful gift from God, to men and women, to be exercised and practiced exclusively within the confines of the marital union between only one man and one woman, and any other sexual exercise, practice, or expression is a deviation from, and rejection of God’s design, His purpose, His established order, and His written word (The Holy Bible). (Hebrews 13:4, Exodus 20:14, Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1:26-32, I Corinthians 6:9-10, Ephesians 5:3-7, I Thessalonians 4:3-4).

 

VI. The Sanctity of Human Life

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We believe that each and every person is uniquely and wonderfully created by God, fashioned in God’s own image, and endowed with life by God at the moment of conception, and as such, each and every human life is sanctified and sacred to God from the moment of conception, throughout natural physical life, including during illness, infirmity, disability, and old age. (Genesis 9:6, Psalm 139:13-18, Jeremiah 1:5, Job 31:15, Psalm 127:3, Exodus 20:13, John 1:1-4, Colossians 1:16).

VII. The Authority for our Beliefs and the Interpretation of the Holy Bible

 

Recognizing that this statement of faith is not all inclusive or encompassing of our beliefs, we recognize the Holy Bible as the ultimate and overriding authority for our beliefs (Whether pertaining to our religious faith, or every area of everyday life), our conduct, our speech, and the inward and outward expression of our faith, and our religion. For purposes of interpretation of the Holy Bible, we recognize our Pastor and the church council as the ultimate determiners of the interpretation, intent, meaning and purpose of all Scripture contained in the Holy Bible. (I Timothy 3:16-17, II Peter 1:19-21, II Timothy 2:2, Psalm 119:89, 105, 128, 160, Ephesians 4:11-15, I Peter 5:1-2, Titus 1:5-9).