What We Believe

We affirm those essential beliefs that have united Christians across the ages, as articulated in the historic Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds.

There is one God, who is infinitely perfect, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe in God the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth. We believe in the full deity and perfect humanity of the Son, Jesus our Lord, eternally begotten but not made (John 1:14, Heb 1:3). We believe in His representative and substitutionary sacrifice, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the Father’s right hand, His present high priestly ministry, and His personal return in power and glory. His death justifies us before God when we receive the free gift of God’s grace through personal faith in Him. We believe in the Holy Spirit, who unites believers to Jesus Christ in faith, brings about the new birth and indwells all believers (Eph. 1:13-14). The Holy Spirit has come to glorify the Son who, in turn, came to glorify the Father. He will lead the Church into a right understanding and rich application of the truth of God’s Word. He is to be respected, honored and worshiped as God, the third person of the Trinity.

The Holy Spirit inspired human authors to write the books of the Bible. We believe that it accurately reflects God’s loving heart for all people and is our perfect, infallible authority for all of life, practice, and doctrine. It is the truth and is totally trustworthy in all it says (2 Tim 3:15- 17).

God made humanity—male and female—in His own image (Gen. 1:27-30). His will from the beginning has been for men and women to live in loving and mutually helpful unity. Because human beings are set apart as His image bearers, every human life is sacred. All men and all women, bearing the image of God, are created as stewards to care for creation as God’s representatives.

Through the temptation of Satan, humanity disobeyed the command of God, turning away from Him and making gods of creation and themselves. In doing so, they fell from their original righteousness (Gen 3). Through sin, the power of death has been unleashed in humanity and in all of creation. Now all of humanity is under condemnation, having inherited from birth a corrupt nature that is opposed to God and his law (Rom 3:9-20). This depravity affects every part of a person: the mind, will, body, and affections. It causes us to live under the dominion of sin and Satan, and at enmity with God and with one another.

We believe that, due to universal death through sin, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again (John 3:5-8). We can only be saved by grace through faith in the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross. All who receive Him through faith are justified, declared righteous by God and become children of God (Heb.10:19-25).

We believe that regeneration, or the new birth, occurs when God, through the Holy Spirit, makes a person a new creation in Christ Jesus, imparting to them a new nature and a new spiritual life, which they did not possess before (Gal 2:20). The dominion of sin is broken and the inner man becomes transformed, possessing a new desire to serve God, and exchanging the love of sin and self for a love of holiness and God.

The Church consists of all those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are redeemed through His blood, and are born again of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the Head of the Body, the Church, which has been commissioned by Him to go into all the world as a witness, preaching the gospel to all nations (Col 1:18, Mat 28:19). The local church is a body of believers in Christ who are joined together for the worship of God, for edification through the Word of God, for prayer, fellowship, the proclamation of the gospel, and observance of the sacraments of Believer’s Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Baptism is intended for those who have been saved by faith in Christ. In obedience to Christ’s command, believers are baptized by water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Water baptism is a visual and symbolic demonstration that a person has been united to Christ in His death and resurrection. It signifies that a former way of life has been put to death and demonstrates a release from the mastery of Satan, sin and death. Baptism is also a pledge before the Church of a person’s covenant with God to walk in the way of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. We believe that the Scriptures set the precedent of baptism by immersion into water, which depicts a believer’s union with Christ in dying and being raised with him (Rom 6:4).

The Lord’s Supper is to be observed by all followers of Jesus Christ. It is to be partaken of in the gathered body of believers as a sign of continued participation in the atoning benefits of Christ’s death. In taking this sacrament we remember the breaking of Christ’s body and the shedding of His blood on our behalf, and proclaim His death until he comes again (1 Cor 11:26). As we come to the table with a heart of faith and a posture of self-examination, we receive spiritual nourishment for our souls, are assured of our union with Christ, and participate in fellowship with the members of His body.

The Kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God over all things, visible and invisible (Mat 6:10). God’s Kingdom has come in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it continues to come in the ministry of the Spirit through the Church. The Kingdom of God is present wherever there is reconciliation, restoration, and healing in our world. This Kingdom will be consummated in the glorious, visible, and triumphant appearing of Christ – His return to earth as King.

At His second coming to this world, Christ will judge the living and the dead, the just and the unjust, and will establish His Kingdom in the new heavens and new earth. He will destroy all evil powers. Satan, with all his hosts, will be thrown into the lake of fire, enduring eternal punishment. In this consummation of all things, the dead will be resurrected. All those who have rejected Christ will be thrown into the lake of fire and be eternally separated from the presence of God (Rev 20:14-15). All those who are alive in Christ will be transformed and will receive new and glorious bodies, fit for life in God’s eternal kingdom. By God’s grace they will be united with Christ and enter into the joy of God’s eternal reign (Rev 21:3). Pain, sorrow, and death will be abolished, and the redeemed will worship God together with the angels. God will make all things new, and God will be all in all. This is the blessed hope of all believers.

In accordance with our Statement of Faith and the 2017 Nashville Statement, we believe that Marriage unites one man and one woman in a lifetime commitment to each other (Genesis 2:23- 24; Matthew 19:4-6). Marriage provides for intimate companionship, pure sexual expression (Genesis 2:25; Ephesians 5:31-33), procreation, and reflects the relationship of Christ and the church (Genesis 1:28; Proverbs 5:15-19; 1 Corinthians 7:1-5). We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between one man and one woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, pornography, or pedophilia 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; Genesis 19:5, 13; Genesis 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; 1 Cor. 5:1; 6:9; 1 Thess. 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4). Any of the sinful patterns above, if not repented of, shall be a barrier to membership and leadership in a body of believers. We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Further, we believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity. Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture nor the doctrines of the Church.