Concerning the Scriptures
We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the verbal and plenary inspired Word of God. The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the complete and final revelation of the will of God to man for this age. The Scriptures are inerrant, infallible and God-breathed, and therefore are the sole authority for faith and conduct.
Concerning the True God
We believe that there is one, and only one, living and true God. He is an infinite, intelligent, perfect Spirit and personal Being, the Creator, Preserver, and Supreme Ruler of the universe. He is inexpressibly glorious in holiness and all other perfections, and worthy of all possible honor, confidence, and love.
Concerning the Godhead
We believe in one Triune God. In the unity of the Godhead, there are three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Each is co-eternal in being, co-identical in essence, co-equal in power and glory, having the same divine attributes and perfections, yet executing distinct functions.
Concerning the Creation of the World
We believe in the Genesis account of creation, and that it is to be understood literally, and not allegorically or figuratively. The act of creation was completed in six literal, twenty-four hour, consecutive days by the direct power and authority of God. Man was created by God, in God’s image and after God’s likeness, and did not evolve from any lower form of life.
Concerning the Devil or Satan
We believe that Satan was once holy and enjoyed heavenly honors, but through pride and ambition to be as the Almighty, fell and drew after him a host of angels. He is now the malignant prince of the power of the air, and the unholy god of this world. We hold him to be man’s great tempter, the enemy of God, the accuser of the saints, the author of all false religions, and the lord of the Antichrist and the False Prophet. Satan is destined to final defeat at the hands of God’s own Son, and to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire, the place prepared for him and his angels.
Concerning the Fall of Man
We believe that man was created in innocence, without sin, by a special act of God as recorded in the Genesis account of creation. Man was created under the law of his Maker, and through an act of voluntary disobedience fell from his innocent state and therefore became a sinner in need of a Savior. In consequence, all mankind is born sinners, spiritually dead, alienated from God, thoroughly inclined to evil, and therefore under just condemnation to eternal punishment without defense or excuse. Therefore, all mankind is in need of a personal redemption that is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Concerning the Son of God, Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ, as the pre-existent eternal Son of God, freely became man, yet without ceasing to be God. Thus He was, and is, the God-man, fully God and fully man. Having been conceived of the Holy Spirit, He was born of a virgin, lived a perfect sinless life in obedience to Divine law and in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy; and after a miraculous ministry, He made full substitutionary atonement for man’s sins by His death on the cross. His bodily resurrection from the dead proves Him to be the Son of God and completes God’s plan for the redemption of mankind. Having ascended into heaven, He is now seated and exalted at the right hand of God, where, as High Priest for His people, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate.
Concerning the Way of Salvation
We believe that salvation is the free gift of God bestowed upon mankind by grace through the substitutionary death and the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. Salvation is offered to all who would accept by faith this free gift by placing their trust in Jesus Christ alone as Lord and Savior. Once a sinner places his faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, he stands justified before God; he has been judicially pardoned from sin and miraculously imputed with the righteousness of God. Once salvation is wrought in the heart of a believer, he is eternally kept by God’s power and secure in Christ forever.
Concerning the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit, as a member of the divine Godhead, is equal with the Father and the Son and the same substance and nature. The Holy Spirit in His ministry restrains the Evil One; convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; indwells the believer bearing witness to the truth; seals the believer unto the day of redemption; bestows spiritual gifts upon the believer; and guides the believer in understanding and appropriating the Scriptures.
Concerning the Local Church
We believe that the local church is the visible expression of the Body of Christ and is a congregation of baptized believers associated together by a covenant for worship, exhortation, evangelism, fellowship and observance of the ordinances of the church. We recognize baptism by immersion and the remembrance of the Lord’s Supper to be the only two scriptural ordinances of the church. We believe the true mission of the church is found in the Great Commission which includes confronting mankind with the gospel, making individual disciples, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded. The local church is autonomous, free from any external authority or control. As such, the will of the church is final on all matters of membership, policy, government, discipline, and benevolence.
Concerning Ecclesiastical Separation
We believe the Word of God teaches total separation from all forms of heresy and ecclesiastical apostasy. We believe that the biblical response to heresy and apostasy is to mark them, rebuke them, separate from them, reject them, have no fellowship with them, and withdraw from them.
Concerning The Civil Government
We believe that God has ordained civil government for the punishment of evil doers and for the protection of the good. We believe it is the responsibility of all Christians to obey and to pray for those in positions of civil authority. However, where obedience to a mandate of civil authority would contradict Scripture, we believe that obedience to the express will of God, as found in Scripture, supersedes obedience to civil authority. No ecclesiastical group or denomination should be preferred above another by civil government, nor should the government impose taxes for the support of any form of religion. A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal.
Concerning the Sanctity of Marriage
We believe that God ordained marriage as a permanent union between one man and one woman.
Concerning the Imminent Return of Christ
We believe in the imminent, personal, pre-tribulation, pre-millennial return of Jesus Christ in the air to rapture all believers. This rapture of the church will be followed by a seven-year period of tribulation in which God pours out His wrath upon mankind and completes His special work with His chosen people, Israel. This time of tribulation will climax with the bodily return of Christ at which time he will reign for a thousand years upon the earth. At the end of this millennial reign, a solemn separation will take place. God will adjudicate the wicked to eternal punishment and the righteous to eternal joy. The wicked will then be cast into the Lake of Fire for eternity, while the redeemed enjoy God’s presence for eternity in the New Heaven and Earth.