Doctrinal Statement

 I. THE SCRIPTURES. We believe that both the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God and are inerrant in the original writings. Through the providence of God, the Scriptures have been preserved and are the supreme and final and adequate authority in faith and life (Ps. 19.7; 2 Tim. 3.16; 2 Pet. 1.21).

 II. GOD. We believe that there is only one true and living God existing in three Persons–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – each a distinct Person, but all of one essence and all having the same nature, perfections, and attributes, and each is worthy of precisely the same worship, confidence, and obedience (Gen. 1.26; Jer. 10.10; Matt. 3.16-17; 28.19).

 III. JESUS CHRIST. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, that He shed His blood on Calvary as a vicarious substitute, was buried, rose again bodily, and ascended to the Father according to the Scriptures (Isa. 7.14; Matt. 1.18-25; 1 Cor. 15.3; Heb. 4.15).

 IV. HOLY SPIRIT. We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, very God, co-existent with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is the chief agent in regeneration, the chief convictor of sin, and the chief comforter of the believer. Also, the new born believer is baptized by the Holy Spirit to receive the power from above and the gifts necessary for proclaiming the full Gospel and edifying the Body of Christ (Matt. 28.19; Acts 1:8; 19:5-6; 1 Cor. 12:1-31; 14:1-4).

 V. CREATION. We believe the triune God created the universe through His Word, apart from pre-existing materials and without any evolutionary process. We believe in the historicity of the first eleven chapters of Genesis (Gen. 1.1; Matt. 19.4; John 1.1-3; Rom. 1.20; Col. 1.16-17; Heb. 11.3).

 VI. MAN. We believe that man is the direct creation of God – body, soul, and spirit – and is not in any sense the result of evolution but is made in the image of God. Adam, the first man, sinned by disobedience. This act resulted in the fall of mankind and incurred both physical and spiritual death for all (Gen. 1.26-27; Rom. 3.10, 23; 5.12).

 VII. SALVATION. We believe that all who, in faith, receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior are born again by the Holy Spirit and thus become the children of God. Salvation involves redemption, regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification (John 1.12; 3.3; 17.17; Rom. 8.29- 30; Eph. 2.8-9; 4.30; Tit 3.5).

 VIII. SECOND COMING. We believe in the literal, in the clouds, personal, pre-millennial, return of Jesus Christ for His Church. At this event the dead in Christ will be resurrected and together with the living believers will be translated to meet Him in the air. At the end of the seven year tribulation, Christ will visibly descend with the saints to establish His earthly millennial kingdom (Acts 1.11; 1 Thes. 4.13-18; Rev. 20.1-6).

 IX. SATAN. We believe that Satan was originally created a perfect being. He rebelled against God. As a result, he became depraved, the Devil, an adversary of God and His people, and leader of a host of angels who fell with him. Satan has been judged and defeated at the cross, will be bound for a thousand years during the millennial kingdom, but after the final rebellion, will be thrown into the everlasting lake of fire (Isa. 14.13-14; Ezek. 28.13- 17; John 16.11; 1 Tim. 3.7; Rev. 20.10).

 X. HEAVEN. We believe in the eternal abode of God and the holy angels, where Jesus intercedes for His people on earth and where the spirits of departed saints await their resurrected, glorified bodies. Heaven is a literal place of conscious bliss to which all saints go upon death and from which the Lord Jesus Christ will come for the rapture of His Church. To depart and be in heaven is to be “present with the Lord” and so is “far better” than to remain alive on earth, but the eternal blessedness of heaven is only for those who possess eternal life through creation of God – body, soul, and spirit – and is not in any sense the result of evolution but is made in the image of God. Adam, the first man, sinned by disobedience. This act resulted in the fall of mankind and incurred both physical and spiritual death for all (Gen. 1.26-27; Rom. 3.10, 23; 5.12).

 XI. HELL. We believe that hell is a literal place of judgment created for the devil and those angels who followed him in his rebellion against God. In the final state, the devil and his demons will spend eternity banished from the presence of God in the Lake of Fire. This same final punishment also awaits all unredeemed people who refuse to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scriptures declare that the torment of all the inhabitants in the Lake of Fire lasts forever. Prior to the final state, the soul of the unjust at death is condemned to Hades in a state of conscious torment until the resurrection of the unjust. At this resurrection, called ”the second death”, the disembodied soul is reunited with the resurrected body and cast into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20.10; Matt. 25.41; Mark 9.43-48; Rev. 14.11; 20.10, 15; Luke 16.19-31; Jn. 5.29; Rev. 20.11-15).

 XII. THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE BELIEVER.
We believe in the priesthood of all believers so that every Christian has direct access to God in prayer through Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, and that there is no mediator between God and man other than Jesus Christ (Heb. 4.16; 1 Tim. 2.5; Rev. 1.6).

 XIII. PROVIDENCE. We believe in the providence of God, but not that He is the author or approver of sin nor the destroyer of the free will and responsibility of man (John 3.16; Rom 8.28-30).

 XIV. THE LORD’S DAY. We believe that Sunday (first day of the week and the day of the Resurrection of our Lord) is the Lord’s Day and is a Christian institution for regular observance of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private (1 Cor. 16.2; Rev. 1.10).

 XV. THE LOCAL CHURCH. We believe that the New Testament church is a local body of baptized believers with Christ as its head and the Holy Spirit as its guide. New Testament churches promote God’s work by cooperating together for missions and many other joint efforts. The local church is to be autonomous, yet mindful of the need for interdependence with churches and/or denominational authorities compatible in faith, voluntarily and mutually accepted (Matt. 28.16- 20; Acts 1.6-8; 6.3; 1 Cor. 12.12 14; Eph. 1.3-6,22-23; 1 Thes. 4.16-18).

 XVI. ORDINANCES. We believe that the local church observes two principal ordinances: water baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe that all who have received Christ as Savior and Lord should be baptized in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; that baptism is by immersion in the likeness of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ; and that the Lord’s Supper should be observed in remembrance of Him to show forth His death for our sins until He comes again (Matt. 26.26-30; 28.19-20; Rom. 6.3-6; 1 Cor. 11.23-26)