DOCTRINAL STATEMENT

1.    THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, in the original languages, to be the verbal, plenary, inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant, infallible, and God-breathed. (Matthew 5:18; Luke 24:27,44; John 16:12-13; Romans 15:4; I Corinthians 2:12-13,16; II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20-21)

2.    THE GODHEAD (TRINITY)

We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. (Genesis 1:1; Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19; John 1:14 Acts 5:3-4; II Corinthians 13:14; & I Peter 1:2)

3.    THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST

a.    We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men. (Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2, 14, 18; 3:16-18; Acts 4:10-12; Romans 4:25; Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 1:1-3)

b.    We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the Cross as the vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice by means of His shed blood on the cross; and that our justification is made sure by his literal physical resurrection from the dead. (Romans 3:24-25; 5:8; Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 9:21-22; I Peter 1:3-5; 2:24)

 c.    We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, and is now at the right hand of God, where as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate. (Acts 1:9-11; Romans 8:34; I Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 7:25; 9:24; 10:12; I John 2:1-2)

4.    THE PERSON AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Person who ministers to mankind in these ways:

a.    The unbeliever is convicted of the sin of unbelief, of righteousness, and of judgement. (John 16:8-11)

b.    At the moment of salvation, the believer is permanently regenerated, baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ, indwelt, and sealed unto the day of redemption. (John 3:3-7; Romans 8:9; I Corinthians 2:13-14; 6:19; 12:12-14; II Corinthians 3:6; Ephesians 1:13)

 c.    He is the Divine Teacher who guides all believers into all truth. (John 14:26; 16:13; I John 2:20,27)

d.    The believer is commanded to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), but the Spirit is grieved or quenched by sin in the life (Ephesians 4:30; I Thessalonians 5:19). Control (filling) by the Holy Spirit is restored by confession of sin (I John 1:9; I Corinthians 11:31), the result is the fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23)

e.    Spiritual gifts are bestowed by the Holy Spirit on every believer. (Romans 12:6-8) (See Section 11)

5.    THE PERSONALITY OF SATAN

We believe that Satan is a real, created being, a fallen angel, the author of sin, and the cause of man’s Fall, and further, he is the open and declared enemy of God and man and shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire. We believe that when Satan fell, he retained all of his power, and he uses demons, fallen angels, the unsaved, and carnal saved persons to implement his power. (Job 1:6-7; Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:12-19; Matthew 4:2-11; 25:41; Ephesians 6:11-12; James 4:7; I Peter 5:8; Revelation 20:10) We also believe that God is the final authority over all and through that authority Christians can overcome Satan’s power.

6.    THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN

We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but in Adam’s sin all mankind fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and man is totally depraved, and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. (Genesis 1:26-27; Psalm 14; Romans 1:18-32; 2:14-16; 3:9-19, 22-23; 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3, 12)

7.    SALVATION

We believe that salvation is the free gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. (John 9:12; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 1:17; 2:8-10; I Peter 1:18-19)

8.    THE ETERNAL SECURITY AND ASSURANCE OF BELIEVERS

a.    We believe that all believers are kept secure forever, that is, that the believers’ salvation cannot be lost under any condition! (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1-2, 38-39; I Corinthians 1:4-8; I Peter 1:5; I John 5:10-11)

b.    We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word. Nevertheless, Christians sin even after salvation, but when they do, they lose fellowship with God (not salvation) and must confess their sins to God to be restored to fellowship with God. (Romans 13:12-14; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:11-15; I John 1:5-10; 2:1-2)

9.    THE TWO NATURES OF THE BELIEVER

We believe that every saved person possesses two natures, the old nature and the new nature, with provision made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and all claims that the old nature can be eradicated in this life are unscriptural. (Romans 6:13; 7:18-24; 8:12-13; Galatians 5:16-25; Ephesians 4:22-24; II Peter 1:3-4; I John 3:5-9)

10. SPIRITUAL LIFE

We believe that it is the privilege, responsibility, and a commandment of all the saved to live in such a manner so that Christ is exalted as Savior and Lord. This life is a spirit-filled life, which means continuous submission to the control of the Holy Spirit. We believe that separation from all religious apostasy, worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations is commanded of God. (Romans 14:13; II Corinthians 6:14; 7:1; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:18; II Timothy 3:1-5; I John 2:15-17; II John 9-11)

11. THE MINISTRY AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS

a.    We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of spiritual gifts according to His own will giving every Christian at least one gift. These gifts were given in the first century of the Church and are listed in Romans 12, I Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4 to confirm the message of salvation (Hebrews 2:3-4), as a sign to the Jews (I Corinthians 1:22; 14:22), and to edify (I Corinthians 14:12, 26) and perfect (Ephesians 4:12) the Church. Because the need for sign gifts had ceased and because the best interpretative understanding that we have of the phrase “that which is perfect” in I Corinthians 13:8 refers to the completed Canon, we believe the gifts of prophecy (revelation from God foretelling the future), tongues, and knowledge as well as other sign gifts have ceased. However, many of the gifts are still valid today and are to be discovered, developed and deployed to equip the saints of this Church age for effective Christian ministry. (Romans 12:1-8; Ephesians 4:7-12)

b.    We do not believe the scriptures support the gift of healing through faith healers today, but we do believe that God hears and answers prayers of faith for the sick and afflicted in accordance with His own will. (John 15:7; James 5:14-16; I John 5:14-15)

c.    We believe that Spirit baptism is the union of the believer with Christ and with His Church. This union takes place at conversion, is never repeated, and the Holy Spirit indwells the believer forever. We also believe tongues are not a sign of spirit baptism. The permanent gifts were given for the perfection of the saints. (Romans 6:1-10; I Corinthians 12:13)

12. MISSIONS (WORLD EVANGELISM)

We believe that it is the privilege and obligation of the believer to witness by life and by work to the truths of Holy Scriptures and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all mankind. This proclamation involves mankind both at home and abroad. We believe discipleship involves baptism and teaching of the Word beginning in the Church. (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; II Corinthians 5:19-20)

13. THE CHURCH

a.    The universal Church – we believe that the universal church is the spiritual body composed of all born-again persons and that it is the body and espoused bride of Christ. The universal Church began on the day of Pentecost and could not have existed until Christ died, for the Church must be redeemed by His blood, and it could only be formed by the present ministry of the Spirit in baptizing all members into one body. (Acts 2; I Corinthians 12:12-14; II Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:25-27)

b.    The local Church – we believe that the establishment and continuance of local assemblies is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures and is made up of born-again persons. (Acts 2:42; 14:27; 20:17, 28-32; I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11)

c.    Membership in a local assembly has no part in salvation. (John 1:12; 3:16)

14. ORDINANCES

We believe that water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the only ordinances of the church and that they are a Scriptural means of testimony for the church in this age. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ instituted for the Church the ordinance of baptism and served the first Lord’s Supper. (Matthew 28:19; Luke 22:19-20; Acts 8:36-38; 10:47-48; 16:30-34; 18:8; I Corinthians 11:23-26)

15. DISPENSATIONALISM

We believe in the dispensational view of the Bible interpretation. A “dispensation” is a distinguishable economy in the outworking of God’s program. We reject the extreme teaching known as “ultradispensationalism” such as that teaching which opposes either the Lord’s table or water baptism as a scriptural means of testimony for the church in this age. (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; I Corinthians 11:23-26)

16. BLESSED HOPE

We believe that the next great event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the air to receive to Himself the dead in Christ and believers who are alive at His coming, otherwise known as the rapture and translation of the church. (I Corinthians 15:51-57; Philippians 3:20; I Thessalonians 1:9-10; 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14)

17. THE TRIBULATION

We believe that the rapture of the church will be followed by the fulfillment of Israel’s seventieth week, the latter half of which is the time of Jacob’s trouble, the great tribulation. (Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15-21; Revelation 6:1-17)

18. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST

We believe that the great tribulation will be climaxed by the (premillennial) return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth to set up His kingdom. (Zechariah 14:4-11; Matthew 24:15-25, 46; II Thessalonians 1:7-10; Revelation 20:6)

19. THE ETERNAL STATE

a.    We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. (Matthew 25:46; John 5:28-29; 11:25-26; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-13)

b.    We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious state they await the first resurrection, when soul and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord. (Luke 23:43; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 3:21; I Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 20:4-6)

We believe that souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited, they shall appear at the Great White Throne of Judgment and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting, conscious punishment. (Matthew25:41-46; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 20:11-15)