Doctrinal Statement

Doctrinal Statement

• God – We believe there is one and only one eternal living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfection. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The triune God exists in three distinct Persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each sharing the same nature, essence, and being, of which we understand the following:
  1. The Father – We believe God the Father is infinite, the First Person of the Godhead who is self existent, eternal, unchangeable, everywhere present, all-knowing, all-powerful, independent, good, wise, holy, just, and merciful. God the Father is the Creator who from nothing preexistent, but by the word of His power, first called forth time, energy, space, and matter to form the universe.
  2. The Son – We believe God the Son is one with the Father. He is the Second Person of the Godhead, through whom all things were created, and He fulfills the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King. While possessing all divine perfection, Jesus was miraculously conceived, born of the Virgin Mary, of the seed of David according to the flesh and the only begotten of the Father, the only incarnation of God. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His death on the cross, made provision for the redemption of humanity from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the Person who was with them before the crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God. He will physically return in power and glory to consummate His redemptive mission.
  3. The Holy Spirit – We believe the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, is one with the Father and the Son in His divine nature and having all the attributes of God. He illuminates, regenerates, indwells, sanctifies, equips and sustains those who, through repentance, believe in Jesus Christ and have entered into a personal relationship with Him. The Holy Spirit indwells and fills the lives of all believers and endows them with spiritual gifts that are used in their personal service to God; however, there are no particular gifts that serve as visible evidence of salvation or sanctification of the believer.
• The Bible – We believe that the Scriptures, consisting of all the sixty-six canonical books of the Old and New Testaments are divinely inspired. As originally given, the Scriptures are inspired, infallible, inerrant, and authoritative. They are without error and trustworthy in all matters upon which they speak – scientific, historical, moral, and theological.
  1. Special Creation – We believe God created the universe and in it a world without sin, by His spoken word. This was accomplished in a literal six-day creation week as recorded in the book of Genesis.
  2. Historicity – We believe all historical matters in the Bible, including Genesis 1-11, are to be considered as an accurate and literal record. The full historicity of the biblical record includes the literal existence of Adam and Eve as the progenitors of all people, the literal fall and resultant divine curse on the creation, the worldwide cataclysmic deluge, and the origin of nations and languages at the Tower of Babel.
• Humanity – We believe the human race was created by a special act of God, in His own image, and that humanity is the crowning work of His creation. Adam and Eve were created without sin and were endowed by God with freedom of choice. By free choice, Adam and Eve sinned against God and brought sin into the human race; whereby their posterity inherit a sinful nature and an environment inclined toward sin and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring lost humanity into His holy fellowship and enable humanity to fulfill the creative purpose of God.
• Redemption – We believe that Jesus Christ, the second person of the Divine Trinity, by His incarnation, life, sufferings, substitutionary death for sin, burial, and resurrection, offered Himself for all on behalf of our redemption from sin and is the ground of salvation by faith through His death and resurrection. Jesus died for our sins, was resurrected, and ascended to heaven, where He serves as the only mediator between God and humanity, making intercession for believers.
• Salvation – We believe individuals, by their own goodness or works, cannot become the children of God. Personal salvation from the eternal penalty of sin is provided solely by the grace of God on the basis of the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Salvation is received only through personal faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning work and justifying resurrection.
• Satan – We believe in the existence of a personal, malevolent creature called Satan who acts as tempter and accuser, continually soliciting men to sin. Satan is to be resisted by submitting to God. As the original sinner and enemy of God, he will forever be confined to hell, where he is to be tormented forever.
• Last Things – We believe the Lord Jesus, who ascended on high and sits at the right hand of God, will personally and bodily return in glory at the end of time to glorify His saints and judge the world. At the end of time, there will be a bodily resurrection of the dead and all persons will be judged according to their works. Following the judgment, the righteous will enter into everlasting life, and the wicked will be condemned to a state of endless punishment.
• The Church Community – We believe that Christ has one Body of the redeemed, whom He calls to gather in local assemblies for worship, discipleship, prayer, ministry, and mutual encouragement. As Lord of His Church, Christ commissions His people to love each other as He has loved us and to serve our world by extending the gospel of His saving love to all nations.