Doctrinal Statement

THE SCRIPTURES:

We believe in the plenary and verbal inspiration and authority of all the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments as the divinely inspired Word of God and submit to them as the only infallible authority in all matters of faith and practice, the original documents of which are inerrant as to fact and infallible as to truth.

THE TRINITY:

We believe in one unique, divine essence which is called and is truly God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, identical in nature, equal in power and glory, and having precisely the same divine attributes and perfection. We believe in one creator and preserver of all things visible and invisible.

GOD THE FATHER:

We believe that God the Father is the first person of the Holy Trinity. He creates and preserves all things as an act of grace and pure divine goodness.

THE LORD JESUS CHRIST:

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God and second person of the trinity, became truly and fully man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful humanity.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His true death on the cross as a propitiatory and substitutionary sacrifice, and that our redemption is made available to us by His bodily resurrection from the dead.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven, exalted at the right hand of God the Father where He fulfills the ministry of intercession for all believers.

We believe in the bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ to judge the living and the dead.

THE HOLY SPIRIT:

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the blessed Trinity who dwells in all believers, calls humanity through the Gospel, enlightens with His gifts, sanctifies the whole church on earth, and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. We believe the manifestation of any particular gift is not required as evidence of salvation.

CREATION AND FALL:

We believe that God created ex-nihilo and formed the universe in six days as described in Genesis chapter one. We believe that humanity was created in the image and likeness of God, but through Adam's sin became alienated from God, acquired a sin nature, and came under the Law and the penalty of death. We believe that in addition to humankind, God created intelligent spirits endowed with free will known as angels. Some of those angels rebelled against God and formed an active opposition to God's purposes. The chief of these adversaries of God and the human race is called, variously, Satan, Lucifer, and the devil.

SALVATION:

We believe that salvation is the gift of God offered to man by Grace and received not by works but by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that this faith is manifested in works pleasing to God.

THE SACRAMENTS:

We believe that the Lord has given the church two Sacraments (or Ordinances) to be observed: Water Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

ETERNITY:

We believe that the condition and retribution of the lost and the salvation and blessedness of the saved are conscious and everlasting. Hell is the place of eternal separation from God for the lost and heaven is the place of eternal union with God for the saved.