Our Statement of Faith

There is only one God who has chosen to reveal Himself to us through the Godhead which consists of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit We believe in one God, eternally existing in three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit who know, love, and glorify one another. Each person has precisely the same nature and attributes and is worthy of precisely the same worship, honor, and praise. This one true and living God is infinitely perfect both in his love and in his holiness. He is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible. Immortal and eternal, he perfectly and exhaustively knows the end from the beginning. He sovereignly rules over all things and is providentially at work redeeming and restoring His fallen creation. (2 Corinthians 13:14; Matthew 28:19; Psalm 24:1)

THE FATHER:

We believe in God the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth. That God is not only omnipotent, omniscient and the omnipresent Creator of the universe, but also the loving Father, Provider of all life, and righteous Judge. (Genesis 1:1; Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 6:3; Matthew 5:48; 28:18-20; John 10:30; Colossians 1:16; 1 Timothy 1:17; 1 John 4:8; Revelation 4:11)

THE SON:

We believe that the eternal Son became human: fully God and fully human being, one Person in two natures. The man Jesus, the promised Messiah of Israel, was conceived through the Holy Spirit and was born of the virgin Mary. He perfectly obeyed His Heavenly Father, lived a sinless life, performed miraculous signs, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead on the third day, and ascended into Heaven. He is seated at the right hand of God and is our High Priest and righteous Advocate. (John 1:1,2,14; 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Corinthians 1:27–30; 15:3–5; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Colossians 1:15 -22; 2:9; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 1:3)

THE HOLY SPIRIT:

We believe that salvation, attested in all Scripture and secured by Jesus Christ, is applied to His people by the Holy Spirit. Sent by the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit is present with and in believers. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life. By the Spirit’s agency, believers are renewed, sanctified, and adopted into God’s family. The Holy Spirit is Himself the down payment of the promised inheritance, and in this age indwells, guides, convicts, instructs, equips, revives, and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service. (Matthew 9:13; John 1:12,13; 3:3–7; 5:21; 7:37–39; 16:7–14; Romans 6:13; Ephesians 1:13,14; 2:5; Titus 3:5; 2 Corinthians 3:17)

God has graciously revealed His existence and power in created order, and in the Person of His Son, the incarnate Word. God is a speaking God who, by His Spirit, has graciously disclosed Himself in human words through Scripture, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, which are both a record and means of His saving work in the world. These writings alone are the inspired Word of God, which is authoritative and without error in the original writings, complete in its revelation of His will for salvation, sufficient for all that God requires us to believe, and final in its authority over every domain of knowledge to which it speaks. In summary, all of Scripture is the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God. (Psalm 19:1–4; Proverbs 30:6; John 1:14; Romans 1:19,20; Hebrews 1:1,2; 2 Timothy 3:15,16; 2 Peter 1:19–21)

We believe God created human beings, male and female, in His own image. Adam and Eve belonged to the created order that God declared to be “very good.” Both male and female were created equal in worth, value, dignity and have equal access to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

The Role of Women and Men

Although equal in value, we believe men and women have divinely ordained differences that reflect God’s original design and is intended to promote the well-being and growth of both sexes.

The Sanctity of Life

Because we were created in His image, we believe that human life is sacred from conception to its natural end and that we must honor the physical, social, and spiritual needs of all people.

Sexual Attraction and Relationship

Following Christ’s example, we believe that every person should be treated with love, dignity, and respect. We believe that all humanity is created in the image of God and possesses intrinsic dignity and worth. We believe that self-conception as male or female should be defined by God’s holy purposes in creation and redemption as revealed in Scripture. We believe that God has designed marriage to be a covenantal, sexual, procreative, lifelong union of one man and one woman as husband and wife and is meant to signify the covenant love between Christ and his bride the church. Marriage is not a mere human contract, but rather a covenant made before God. We believe that sin distorts sexual desires by directing them away from the marriage covenant and toward sexual immorality – a distortion that includes both heterosexual and homosexual immorality. (Genesis 1:27,31; 2:15-25; 3:1-24; 9:6; Exodus 20:13; Mark 12:30,31; Galatians 3:28; Ex. 20:14; 20:17; Lev. 18:22; 20:13; Dt. 5:18, 21; 22:5; Jdg. 19:22; 2 Sam. 11:1-12:15; Job 31:1; Ps. 51:1-19; Prov. 5:1-23; 6:20-35; 7:1-27; Isa. 59:1; Mal. 2:14; Matt. 5:27–30; 19:4-6, 8-9, 12; Acts 15:20, 29; Rom. 1:26–27; 1:32; 1 Cor. 6:9–11, 18-20; 7:1-7; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 5:24; Eph. 4:15, 20–24; 5:31–32; Col. 3:5; 1 Thess. 4:3-8; 1 Tim. 1:9–10, 15; 2 Tim. 2:22; Titus 2:11-12; Heb. 13:4; Jas. 1:14–15; 1 Pet. 2:11; Jude 7)

We believe that Adam, made in the image of God, distorted that image and forfeited his original blessedness—for himself and for all who came after him—by falling into sin through Satan’s temptation. Now, all human beings are alienated from God, corrupt in every aspect of their being (physically, mentally, volitionally, emotionally, spiritually) and condemned finally and irrevocably to death—apart from God’s own gracious intervention. The supreme need of all human beings is to be reconciled to the God under whose just and holy wrath we stand; the only hope of all human beings is the undeserved love of this same God, who alone can rescue us and restore us to Himself through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. (Genesis 3:6–19; Romans 1:18; 3:9-23; 5:12–14; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Ephesians 2:1-3)

We believe that by His incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus Christ acted as our representative and substitute. He did this so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God: on the cross, He canceled sin, propitiated God, and, by bearing the full penalty of our sins, reconciled to God all those who believe. By His resurrection Christ Jesus was vindicated by His Father, broke the power of death and defeated Satan who once had power over it, and brought everlasting life to all His people; by His ascension, He has been forever exalted as Lord and has prepared a place for us to be with Him. We believe that salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under Heaven by which we must be saved.(Romans 3:21,22,24,26,28–30; 4:3,5; 5:1,9; 10:9,10; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8,9; Philippians 3:9)

We believe in the personal, glorious, and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ when He will exercise His role as final Judge, and His kingdom will be consummated. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust—the unjust to judgment and eternal conscious punishment in Hell, as our Lord Himself taught, and the just to eternal blessedness in the presence of Him who sits on the throne of the Lamb, in the new Heaven and the new Earth, the home of righteousness. On that day, the Church will be presented faultless before God by the obedience, suffering, and triumph of Christ, all sin purged and its wretched effects forever banished. God will be all in all and His people will be in the presence of His holiness, and everything will be to the praise of His glorious grace. (Matthew 16:27; 25:31–34; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; 1 Corinthians 15:51–53; Ephesians 3:20,21; 1 Thessalonians 4:15–17; Revelation 1:7)

We believe that God’s new covenant people have been saved into the Church, His bride. This universal Church is manifest in local churches of which Christ is the only Head; thus each “local church” is, in fact, the Church, the household of God, the assembly of the living God, and the pillar and foundation of the truth. The Church is the body of Christ, the apple of His eye, graven on His hands, and He has pledged Himself to her forever. The Church is distinguished by her gospel message, her sacred ordinances, her discipline, her great mission, and, above all, by her love for God, and by her members’ love for one another and for the world. This gospel we cherish has both personal and corporate dimensions, neither of which may properly be overlooked. Christ Jesus is our peace: He has not only brought about peace with God, but also peace between alienated peoples. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile all people to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. The Church serves as a sign of God’s kingdom when its members live for the service of one another and their neighbors, rather than for self-focus. The Church is the corporate dwelling place of God’s Spirit and the continuing witness to God in the world. We believe it is the mandate of the whole church to go into the world and preach the gospel to every person. We believe there are two ordinances of the Church. One is that of the believer’s baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the other is the Lord’s Supper. (Matthew 28:20; Mark 16:15; John 13:35; 1 Corinthians 12:12–27; Ephesians 4:11–16; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 21:2,9,10)

We believe that God created the world from nothing and governs all things at all times in all places. God’s creative work is the overflow of the love present within the Trinitarian fellowship. Creation, according to the design of God, was good. God doesn’t let the world exist, He makes the world exist. He upholds the universe by the word of His power, and He holds the world together in himself (Colossians 1:17; Genesis. 1:1-2; Psalm 24:1; Genesis 1:3-31)