our beliefs

The Godhead...We believe that there is only one true God who is at work in the world to accomplish His desired end. He eternally exists as three co-eternal and co-equal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While these are distinct persons performing distinct functions under the headship of the Father, they are of the same essence, one God. Because they are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections, they are also worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience.

God the Father...God is the self-existent Creator and Sustainer of the universe. He is omniscient and possesses exhaustive foreknowledge of all future events. Everything in all of creation exists to glorify Him. He is an infinite, personal spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love. He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of human beings, intentionally intervening in pursuit of humanity in order to enter into a fatherhood relationship with them spiritually through the new birth. He hears and answers prayer, and He saves from sin and death all who come to him through Jesus Christ.

God the Son...God the Son took on flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, being conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary. He is fully God and fully man. Jesus perfectly demonstrates all that it means to be human. He lived a perfect life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for all people by physically dying on a cross and rising bodily from the dead three days later. Having ascended to Heaven, He now sits at God’s right hand as the eternal sacrifice for sin where He, the only Mediator between God and humanity, continually makes intercession for His own as High Priest and Advocate. We believe in His imminent, personal, visible, and bodily return from heaven to rescue His Bride, the Church, and to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

God the Holy Spirit...God the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He was sent to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and to draw sinners to Christ. We believe that, at the moment of conversion, He permanently indwells each believer: making him holy, baptizing him into the Body of Christ, His Church, and giving him spiritual gift(s) with which to serve the Church in accomplishing the mission of God in the world. He provides each believer with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance for making right decisions.

The Bible...The Bible is the record of God’s intent and action in His relationship with His creation. We believe that it was written by men under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit so that they wrote the exact words that God desired. As God’s revelation to us, it is the final authority regarding the faith and practice of believers. Because it was given by the inspiration of God, it is without error in all that it affirms; absolutely true so that there is not even the possibility of teaching anything false. We believe that the central figure in the Bible is Jesus. The Old Testament anticipates His arrival, and the New Testament reflects on His first coming and looks forward to His second coming. We believe that the final guide for the interpretation of Scripture is Scripture itself.

Satan, Angels, and Demons...We believe that God created supernatural spirit-beings to serve Himself and believers. These angelic beings, though not eternal, possess immense power. Some of those beings, because of pride, rebelled under the leadership of Lucifer, or Satan. Although Satan has been ultimately defeated through the cross of Jesus Christ, he is the ruler of this present age; blinding the eyes of those who have not trusted Christ, and attempting to draw the people of God away from devotion to Him. These fallen angels will be judged forever in the Lake of Fire.

Humanity...We believe that men and women exist to glorify God, having been made in His image; and to reflect His image and character to the world as the supreme object of creation. In their original state, they were pure and innocent, free from sin and in right relationship with the Creator and His creation, including fellow human beings and self. Sin, which entered the world through Adam’s disobedience, blemished all humanity and caused separation from God. Since that original act of disobedience, all human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, and stand condemned without excuse before holy God. The rift that sin created cannot be bridged through one’s merit as no human (except Jesus alone) can meet the requirement of holiness that God sets. Thus every person, left to his own devices, will fail to reach God’s holy standard.

Salvation...We believe that salvation is a free gift of God found only through faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. It is only by this act of sovereign grace that fallen people can have their broken relationship with God restored. His shed blood is the sole basis for forgiveness of sins. Salvation occurs only when people turn from trust in merit and good behavior to faith in Jesus as the only sufficient payment for their sin. We believe that at the moment of salvation, the person who has truly believed has the full penalty of his sin forgiven, is credited with the righteousness of Christ, and is declared righteous by God based on the sacrifice of Jesus. Because Jesus can never sin and never die, His sacrifice is eternal. Thus, we believe that all believers are kept eternally secure by the power of God, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the eternal sacrifice and high priestly ministry of Jesus. We believe that God has made full provision for believers to overcome their sinful nature and live for Him by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit working through the knowledge of the Bible. Through yielding to these, every believer should grow in maturity, Christ-likeness, and proper social concern as His ambassadors in the world.

The Church...We believe that the Church is the spiritual body of which Christ is the Head sent to announce the reign of God in the world. The members of this universal and invisible Church are all those who have truly placed their faith in the work of Jesus for salvation, regardless of organizational affiliation. We believe that Jesus ordained the observances of believer’s water baptism by immersion (which symbolizes their identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection) and the Lord’s Supper. The ordinances are not a means of grace or salvation. Rather, in baptism, a believer identifies himself with the universal Church, and the Lord’s Supper calls the Church to remember Jesus’ death on the cross and the promise of His return. It is the mission of the Church to glorify its Head, Jesus, by sharing the message of His death and resurrection for salvation with the whole world. We believe that the local expression of the universal Church is a group of believers voluntarily joined together in mutual love and service to worship God and glorify Jesus through efforts to disciple others by the preaching of the Gospel in all the world and the exercise of spiritual gifts for the building of the church, impacting the world for Christ. We believe that under the headship of Christ each local church should be self-governing and free from interference by any ecclesiastical or political authority. We believe in the offices of elder and deacon. We believe in the priesthood of all believers.

Eternity...We believe that the blessed hope of the Church is the certain, imminent return of Christ to reign as King. We believe that all people will exist forever, believers immediately upon death entering into eternal conscious fellowship with the Lord and unbelievers immediately entering into eternal conscious separation from Him to await final judgment. Those that trust in their own good works will exist forever separated from God in a literal Hell. Those who trust in the perfect life of Jesus and His death and resurrection for salvation will exist forever in the presence of God in a literal Heaven.