Bible

The Bible, consisting of 66 books of the Old and New Testament alone, is created and inspired by God. It is His Word to mankind and reveals to us the nature and character of our God. It was written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and is without error in the original documents. It is the supreme source of authority and truth on all matters upon which it teaches. Because the Bible is inspired by God, we can be confident that it is relevant for all time and completely sufficient to provide for all our spiritual needs and teach us how to live. Nothing may be taken from it and nothing may be added. Psalm 12:6; 19:7-11; 119; Proverbs 30:5; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12; 2 Peter 1:3, 20-21

Trinity

There is only one God, creator of heaven and earth, who exists eternally as three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each fully God yet personally distinguishable from the other and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the work of creation, providence, and redemption. Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Matthew 28:19; Mark 12:29; John 5:19; 14:26; Acts 5:3-4; 10:38; 2 Corinthians 13:13-14; Titus 3:4-7; Hebrews 1:8-10; James 2:19; 1 Peter 1:2

God the Father

God the Father is the first Person of the Trinity, being coexistent and coequal with the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Spirit. He created heaven and earth through His word and for His glory. He is completely sovereign, and before Him there was and is no other God. He is self-existent, infinite, personal, unchangeable, and eternal in His being. He is perfect in holiness, righteousness, love, grace, justice, goodness, wisdom and truth. He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. The Father was pleased to send His Son, Jesus Christ, as an atoning sacrifice to rescue, redeem, and adopt into His family all who come to Him through Christ. He is the perfect heavenly Father who loves and cares for His children. He is good in all He does and in everything He gives, including His discipline. He desires that His Name should be praised forever. Genesis 1; Exodus 3:14; Psalm 24; 72:18-19; 103; 111; Isaiah 43:10-15; Micah 7:18; John 3:16-18; 2 Corinthians 1:3; Ephesians 1:3-14; Colossians 1:12-14; Hebrews 12:3-12; James 1:17; 1 Peter 1:3-4

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is the second Person of the Trinity, being coexistent and coequal with the Father and the Spirit. Jesus took on flesh and added humanity to his deity. He is both fully God and fully man. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and miraculously born of a virgin. He lived a sinless human life on earth, willingly took upon Himself all of our sins, died on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice to justify and reconcile us to God, rose again bodily, and is at the right hand of the Father as our advocate and mediator. He will return to consummate history and to fulfill the eternal plan of God. Isaiah 9:6; 53; Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:26-38; 2:7; John 1:1-5,14, 18, 29-37; 8:58; Acts 1:9-11; Romans 1:3-4; 3:21-26; 8:34; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Galatians 4:4-5; Colossians 1:15-20; 2:9; 1 Timothy 2:5; Titus 2:14; 3:4-7; Hebrews 1:3; 4:14-16; 7:26-28; 1 John 2:1

Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, being coexistent and coequal with the Father and the Son (Jesus Christ). This Counselor reveals Christ and truth. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He indwells, gives life, instructs, and enables believers in order that they may understand and apply the Scriptures to become more Christ-like. He also equips believers with spiritual gifts for ministry in the Church and the world. He is given to believers at the moment of salvation as a seal guaranteeing their future inheritance in God’s kingdom. John 14:26; 15:26; 16:8-15; Acts 1:8; Romans 8:2, 5-17, 26-27; 1 Corinthians 2:10-16; 3:16; 12:4-11; Galatians 5:16-26; Ephesians 1:13-14; Titus 3:4-7

Humanity & Sin

All people are created in God’s image and matter deeply to Him. God loves people, and invites them to live in communion with Himself and in community with each other. While people were created in the image of God, our sin has separated us from Him. Each person is born with a sin nature and as a result naturally lives in rebellion to God. According to the Scriptures, apart from Christ we are dead in our sin and condemned to the eternal judgement of God in hell. Genesis 1:27-28; Psalm 8:3-6; Matthew 25:41-46; John 3:16-18; Romans 3:9-18, 23; 5:12-21; 6:16-18; 8:5-8; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 2:1-10; Colossians 1:21; 3:6-7; James 1:14-15; Revelation 20:11-15

Salvation & Assurance

Apart from Jesus Christ, all people are spiritually lost and, because of sin, deserve the judgment of God. We are saved by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Salvation can never be earned or kept by one’s own merit, works, or accomplishments. It is a gift that must be received through humble repentance from our sin and belief in Christ’s finished work on the cross and resurrection from the dead. The death of Jesus on the cross was necessary to provide atonement for our sin, to provide us with righteousness from God, to redeem us from the slavery of sin, to reconcile us to God, and to demonstrate God’s love for us. The resurrection of Jesus was necessary to prove God’s power over sin and death and secure salvation for all who trust in him. Those who turn from their sin and place their faith in Jesus Christ are regenerated, justified, adopted into God’s family, and receive eternal life. Their sin has been imputed to Christ and His righteousness imputed to them. Scripture assures us that believers are no longer slaves to sin, having died to it, and are now called to live for the glory of God according to His Word and by the power of His Spirit. Because salvation is God’s work and his gift to us, all who truly receive Christ are kept eternally secure in God’s mighty hand and can never be lost. 

Isaiah 53:5-6; John 1:12-13, 29; 3:16-18; 5:24; 10:27-30; 14:6; 17:11-12; Acts 4:12; Romans 3:9-26; 5; 6; 8:15-17, 31-39; 10:8-17; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21; Galatians 3:10-14, 26; Ephesians 2:1-10; Philippians 3:9; Colossians 1:21-23; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Timothy 1:9-10; Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7

The Church

All believers are under the headship of Christ and members of His Body as the one true church universal. The church exists to glorify God as we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and prepare His people to worship Him forever. Spiritual unity is to be expressed among Christians by acceptance and love of one another across ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic, national, generational, gender, and denominational lines. The local church is a congregation of believers who gather for worship, prayer, instruction, encouragement, mutual accountability, and community with each other, thus living out the Great Commandment. Through the life of the church, believers invest time, energy, and resources to fulfill the Great Commission by going to the neighborhoods and the nations reaching lost people and growing them into fully devoted followers of Christ. Matthew 22:36-40, 28:18-20; John 17:20-21; Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-20; 3:21; 4:1-6, 11-16; Colossians 1:18, 28-29, 3:1-17; Revelation 7:9-10

The Ordinances of the Church

We believe that an ordinance is an outward ceremony symbolic of a spiritual truth or experience which was instituted by Christ for perpetual use by the Church. It is not a means of salvation but becomes a source of spiritual inspiration and strength as one is obedient to the Lord’s command. We believe water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the only lasting ordinances given to the church as defined by Scripture.

In obedience to Christ’s example and teaching, we recognize and practice water baptism as a lasting command given to His church. Baptism symbolizes the experience of regeneration and union with Jesus Christ. Water baptism does not save or cleanse from sin, but rather it is a public confession of the believer’s identification with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. Baptism is to be administered in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Because of the scriptural command to baptize those who believe, and because of the clear meaning of baptism as indicated above, we recognize only baptism administered after a person has confessed faith in Jesus Christ, and we expect that all believers will be baptized. Matthew 3:13-17, 28:19; Acts 2:37-39; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Colossians 2:12

We also recognize and practice the Lord’s Supper as another lasting command given to His church so we may: remember the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for mankind; express our fellowship with God and one another; proclaim to the world our identification with Him; and practice unity within our local church family. We believe the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ on the night of his betrayal and is to be observed by his Church until he returns. The Lord’s Supper consists of partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, symbolizing the broken body and shed blood of Christ for the remission of our sins and reaffirms our continuing dependence upon him. Its observance is to be preceded by honest self-examination. Communion shall be open to all those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus. Matthew 26:26-28; Luke 22:14-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Human Sexuality & Marriage

Marriage is the joining of one naturally-born man and one naturally-born woman for life. Marriage was created by God and is a holy and divinely established covenant between man and woman to be a representation of the relationship between Jesus Christ and His church. We believe that God created sexual intimacy to be enjoyed exclusively between one man and one woman who are married to one another. We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a covenant marriage between one man and one woman. We believe that any expression of sexuality outside of a covenant marriage between one man and one woman is a sinful distortion of God’s gift of sex. We believe that any attempt to change one’s sex or disagreement with one’s biological sex is sinful and contrary to God’s design and how He has knit us together. We believe all people are created in God’s image with equal value and all people are equally in need of God’s grace because we have distorted that image through our sin. And we believe anyone can receive the grace and forgiveness we need through faith in Christ (See “Humanity & Sin” and “Salvation & Assurance” above). Genesis 1:27-28, 2:22-24; 19:4-6; Leviticus 18; 20:10-21; Judges 19:22-23; Psalm 139:13-16; Matthew 5:27-30; 19:3-9; Romans 1:18-32; 7:2; 1 Corinthians 5; 6:9-11; 7:10-11, 15-20; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:22-33, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; 1 Timothy 1:8-11; Titus 3:1-7; Hebrews 13:4

Return of Christ

We believe there will be a sudden, personal, visible, bodily return of Christ. As believers, we eagerly long for Christ’s return, the time of which is unknown. The final result of Christ’s return will be the judgement of unbelievers and the final reward of believers, and then believers will live with Christ in new heavens and a new earth for all eternity. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will reign and be worshipped in a never-ending kingdom with no more sin, sorrow, or suffering. We believe that these truths should motivate every believer to live a godly life now in the present age while we wait with eager expectation for the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Daniel 7; Matthew 24; 25; John 5:24-29; Romans 8:19-21; 1 Corinthians 3:12-15; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 5:1-11; Titus 2:11-14, 1 Peter 1:3-9; 2 Peter 3:10-14; Revelation 20-22

Eternity

People were created to exist forever. The eternal destiny of each person will be sealed by their physical death or by Christ’s physical return, whichever comes first. At the final judgment, those who have rejected Christ in this life will be separated from God into eternal condemnation, while those who believe and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior in this life will be received into God’s loving presence for eternity and rewarded for their faithfulness to Him in this life. Every human being in the history of the world will be physically raised to exist eternally either in a real place of conscious torment under God’s holy wrath or in a real place of everlasting peace, comfort, and joy in God’s holy love and grace. Matthew 7:21-23; 8:12; 13:24-30, 36-43; 22:1-14; 25:31-46; Mark 9:43; Luke 16:28; John 3:16-18, 5:24-29; Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12; Hebrews 7:24-25; 1 Peter 1:3-9; 1 John 5:11-13, Revelation 20-22