Doctrine

  1. We believe in one God, creator of heaven and earth.

  2. We believe the Bible to be the inspired, inerrant Word of God, authoritative, complete, and totally sufficient for our faith and practice.

  3. We believe there is only one God, personal, holy, and eternal, who has revealed himself in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

  4. We believe God is sovereign over all creation, and that his plan and purpose will be accomplished.

  5. We believe God created angels, most of whom are holy and serve God and his people. Some of the angels, led by Satan, fell into sin and are implacable enemies of God and his people. We believe there is a constant spiritual battle that will continue until the Day of Judgment.

  6. We believe man was created in the image of God. We believe the first man, Adam, chose to disobey God and thus fell into sin. Since then, all of us have been born in sin, separated from God, and in desperate need of a Savior.

  7. We believe that God sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from sin. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and raised bodily back to life on the third day, just as he said he would. We believe Jesus is alive.

  8. We believe the death of Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all sin. Salvation is the gift of God to all who repent of their sin and who, by faith, receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We believe that true salvation, once received, is eternal and permanent.

  9. We believe that Jesus returned to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to indwell all believers and to personally teach, guide, comfort, and empower them. The Holy Spirit’s indwelling and sealing results in a changed life on the part of the believer, producing fruits to repentance and fruit of the Spirit as evidence of true salvation.

  10. We believe the Holy Spirit unifies all believers into the Body of Christ, called the Church. This one invisible church is revealed in many local churches where believers gather to worship, learn, fellowship, and pray. We believe all persons are equal in the eyes of God and are welcome in our fellowship. We believe that men and women are spiritually equal in position before God, but that God has ordained distinct and separate spiritual functions for men and women in the home and in the church. The husband is to be the head of the home and men are to be the leaders of the church. Accordingly, only men are to be Pastors, Elders, and Deacons.

  11. We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ has left two ordinances to be observed by the church according to Scripture: believer’s water baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

  12. We believe Jesus Christ is going to return bodily to judge sin and rule on earth. We believe that after the Millennium (1000-year kingdom ruled by Christ) there will be a general resurrection and a final judgment. Those who received Christ will be united with Christ and enter into their eternal reward (heaven) and those who rejected Christ will be separated from Christ in eternal judgment (hell).

Beliefs About Matters of Faith, Morality, and Conscience

  1. We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex.

  2. We believe that Scripture defines marriage as the joining of one man and one woman by mutual covenant to a life-long marital relationship.

  3. We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the taking of a human life and thus violates God’s Sixth Commandment not to murder. We reject any teaching that abortion is permissible for any reason other than to save the physical life of the mother.