Statement of Faith
1. God: We believe in one God, Creator of all, holy, sovereign, eternal, existing in three equal persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
2. Christ: We believe in the absolute and essential deity and humanity of Jesus Christ, in His eternal existence with the Father in pre-incarnate glory, in His virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, triumphant ascension, mediatorial ministry and return in person.
3. The Holy Spirit: We believe the Holy Spirit to be the Third Person of the Godhead who convinces people of sin, of righteousness and of judgment; who regenerates, sanctifies, illuminates and comforts those who believe in Jesus Christ. All who believe in Christ are born of the Spirit, sealed, anointed, indwelt, gifted and baptized by the Holy Spirit. We also believe that the New Testament distinguishes between being indwelt by the Spirit, which is true of all believers, and being filled with the Spirit, which is the believer's privilege and duty. There is one baptism by the Spirit, into the body of Christ, but there are many fillings.
4. The Bible: We believe the Bible to be the complete Word of God; that the sixty-six books, as originally written, comprising the Old and New Testaments, were verbally inspired by the Spirit of God and are therefore free from error; that the Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice and is the true basis of Christian union.
5. Satan: We believe that Satan exists as an evil being, the originator of sin. and the arch-enemy of God and man.
6. Man: We believe that man was divinely created in the image of God; that he sinned, becoming guilty and void of righteousness before God, resulting in separation from God, thereby incurring spiritual and physical death.
7. Salvation: We believe that salvation is by the sovereign, electing grace of God and that justification is by faith alone in the all-sufficient sacrifice and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that all who are born again are eternally secure. It is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation and to demonstrate their new life through spiritual growth.
8. Future Things: We believe in the glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ in person; in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust; in the eternal blessedness of the redeemed; and in the judgement and eternal, conscious punishment of the unsaved.
9. The Local Church: We believe that a local church is a company of believers who have voluntarily come together and committed themselves to the ministry of the Word, to the mutual edification of its members, to the propagation of the faith and to the observance of the ordinances. We believe it is a sovereign, independent body, exercising its own divinely awarded gifts, precepts and privileges under the Lordship of Christ, the Head of the Church.
10. Ordinances: We believe that there are only two ordinances for the church regularly observed in the New Testament:
a) Baptism, which is the immersion of the believer in water, whereby the believer obeys Christ's command and identifies with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection;
b) The Lord's Supper, which is the memorial wherein the believer partakes of the two elements, bread and wine, which symbolize the Lord's body and shed blood, proclaiming His death until He comes again.
11. The Church and State: We believe in the entire separation of the church and state. We also believe in religious liberty; that every man has the right to practice and to propagate his beliefs.
12. The Lord's Day: We believe that the first day of the week is the Lord's Day and that, in a special sense, it is the divinely appointed day for worship and spiritual exercise.
