What we Believe

We believe God authored the Holy Bible, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments as originally written, by choosing, forming and controlling (by the Holy Spirit) men to assure their every word was what God intended so it is true and without error, the Word of God. Therefore, it is and shall remain to the end of the age, the complete and final revelation of the will of God to man; the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds and opinions are to be tried.

We believe the one and only, living and true God is an infinite, intelligent, eternal Spirit, the maker and supreme ruler of heaven and earth. He is inexpressibly glorious in holiness, and worthy of all possible honor, reverence, worship, obedience, confidence and love. In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, equal in every divine perfection and executing distinct but harmonious offices.

We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power and love. We believe that He infallibly foreknows all that shall come to pass, that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.

We believe God the Son is of one essence and co-equal with the Father and the Spirit from all eternity. In His incarnation He was conceived of the Holy Spirit in Mary, a virgin, as no other person was ever or could ever be. He is both the Son of God and God, the Son. He is one person with both human and divine natures, as truly God as if He had never become man and as truly man as if He had not already been God. In His self-emptying, He never ceased to be God but laid aside the independent use of His divine attributes.

We believe the Holy Spirit is a divine person of one essence and co-equal with the Father and the Son. He was active in the creation. In relation to the unbelieving world, He restrains the Evil One until God’s purpose is fulfilled. He convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony. He is the agent in the new birth. He seals, baptizes, empowers, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies and helps every believer.

We believe the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) is the evidence of His indwelling.

We believe that the Holy Spirit gives Spiritual Gifts to each believer for use in the edification of the Body of Christ. We believe that the sign gifts of Tongues, prophecies and healing were foundational gifts for the early church and ceased with the completion of the New Testament and the death of the Apostles.

We believe Satan is a person, an angelic being who was once holy, but sinned and was joined in sin by a host of angels. He is now the evil prince of the power of the air, and the unholy ruler of this world. He is a liar and the father of lies. He holds the souls of the unsaved in his domain. We hold him to be man’s great tempter, the enemy of God, the accuser, opponent and adversary of the saints, and the lord of the Lawless One of the last days. He is the chief power behind religious deceivers. Nevertheless, he disguises himself as an angel of light. It is our duty to resist him. He exercises power over men but is presently held to certain limits by God and even used by God to do good. He is destined to final defeat at the hands of God’s Son and an eternal justice in the Lake of Fire, a place prepared for him and his angels.

We believe the Biblical account of the creation of the physical universe and man. We believe in the literal, six (6), twenty-four (24) hour days of creation described in Genesis. This account is neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of the direct, immediate creative acts of God We believe that God created it perfect, and without sin, that He did so without any evolutionary process. Man was created from dust by a direct work of God and not from previously existing forms of life. All men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve.

We believe God created man in His image, innocent and under His law. By voluntary transgression Adam fell from his sinless and happy state, and all men sinned in him. Consequently, all people have Adam’s fallen nature, and are sinners by nature and by conduct. They are, therefore, justly condemned, without excuse. They are spiritually dead, unable to respond to spiritual truth.

We believe Jesus Christ, by appointment of the Father, voluntarily took upon Himself our nature, yet without sin, and lived a sinless life, thus qualifying to be our Savior. Then He sacrificed Himself in the sinner’s place, the Just dying for the unjust, Christ the Lord bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. By shedding His blood He fully satisfied God’s just demands regarding sin for those who believe on Him. He is the all-sufficient Savior.

We believe God saves sinners on His own initiation and wholly of grace. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition of salvation and is a gift from God. We cannot do anything, by our won works, or have any other part in obtaining, or keeping salvation. Jesus Christ did everything necessary to save the elect. When a man adds anything to grace it is no longer grace. Without grace there is no salvation. We believe that justification is that judicial act of God whereby He declares the believer righteous upon the basis of the imputed righteousness of Christ

We believe the offer of free salvation is made to all through the gospel and it is the duty of all to believe it by obedient faith. All who fail to believe are personally responsible and accountable to God.

We believe everyone who has faith in Jesus Christ is born again. The new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus, instantaneous and not a process. In the new birth the one dead in trespasses and sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God. Our Sovereign God creates us anew in a manner above our comprehension, solely by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We believe God provides for and requires sanctification, the loyalty of the believer to God and purity from the world and sin. While God gives us a judgment of perfect sanctification as part of Christ’s redemptive work, we must cooperate in progressive practical sanctification. Everyone in heaven will be perfectly sanctified in fact as well as judicial standing.
Sanctification includes personal separation, Meaning to not join in God’s work (evangelistic efforts etc) with unbelievers. It also includes separation from true and supposed believers when they persist in wrong doctrine or practice when there have been repeated efforts to correct them.

We believe a local church is a congregation of believers observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws and exercising the gifts, rights and privileges invested in it by His word. Scripture designates the two offices of Pastor (also called elder and bishop or overseer) and Deacon and defines their duties. Pastors and Deacons of the church must be men, and only men are eligible for licensure and ordination by the church.
God assigns the church the mission to make individual disciples by baptizing them, and teaching them to do as He commanded. He has also ordained that local churches be the pillar and ground of the truth. Each local church operates under the authority of its Head, Jesus Christ. Christ is pleased for His churches to work together without compromising truth. In all decisions not preempted by Christ, the will of the local church is final. We believe that the church must separate from and have no part with any church that deny’s the fundamentals of the faith, and/or holds wrong doctrine or practice.
The church is called to care for its own members with special attention given to the widows and orphans.  The church is also called to edify each other and when necessary excersize church discipline on an offending brother or sister for the purpose of restoration and purity. Members as well as frequent attenders fall under the care and discipline of the church.

We believe God established just two ordinances of the local church: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is a solemn emblem of our union with Christ in death, burial and resurrection as accomplished by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In Scriptural order baptism precedes church membership. The Lord’s Supper is a memorial service in which the symbols of bread and cup represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ and remind us of His great love in dying for our sins. This ordinance is to be observed in anticipation of His coming and preceded by solemn self-examination of the believers.

Only those who continue in the faith are authentic believers (saved). Their persevering attachment to Christ distinguishes them from superficial professors. God keeps them eternally secure in Christ. All who are saved will show it by living example of growth in the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

We believe there is radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked. Only those who are justified are righteous; all others are wicked and under the curse. This distinction continues in and after death, in the everlasting joy of the saved and the everlasting, conscious suffering of the lost.

We believe God appointed civil government for the benefit and good order of human society. We are to pray for, honor and pay taxes to civil rulers. We are to obey with the exception of things contrary to God’s commands in His word. “We ought to obey God rather than man.”

We believe Christ bodily rose from the dead. He ascended from earth into heaven, where He is enthroned at the right hand of the Father. He is our High Priest, the only Mediator between God and men. He is our Advocate when we sin. Christ will return to the air above the earth to rapture His church. He will return to the earth in great glory to set up His Kingdom.

We believe in the resurrection of the bodies of all the dead. Believers in the Church will be raised at the rapture. They will be caught up with transformed living saints to meet Christ in the air. Believers outside the church (Abraham and David, for example) will be raised at the glorious return of Christ to set up His Kingdom (at the end of the Tribulation). The wicked will be raised at the end of the Millennium to be judged by Christ at the Great White Throne and cast into Hell.

We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. We believe that God disapproves of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender by surgery, appearance or any other means. In all things we must put obeying God’s written word, the Bible, as priority.

We believe in the premillennial, pretibulational, return of Christ, an event which can occur at any moment, when the dead in Christ shall be raised in glorified bodies, and the living in Christ shall be given glorified bodies without tasting death, and all shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air before the seven years of the Tribulation.

We believe that the Tribulation, which follows the Rapture of the Church, will be culminated by the revelation of Christ in power and great glory . That he will sit upon the throne of David and to establish the millennial kingdom.

We believe that men and women are spiritually equal in position before God but that God has ordained distinct and separate spiritual functions for men and women in the home and the church. Accordingly, the husband is to be the leader of the home.

We believe that God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. The husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church. The wife is to submit herself to the Scriptural leadership of her husband as the church submits to the headship of Christ. Children are a heritage from the Lord. Parents are responsible for teaching their children spiritual and moral values and leading them, through consistent lifestyle example and appropriate discipline.

We believe that God disapproves of and forbids divorce and intends marriage to last until one of the spouses dies. Although divorced and remarried persons or divorced persons may hold positions of service in the church and be greatly used of God for Christian service, they may not be considered for the offices of Pastor or Deacon.

We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life. Abortion is murder. We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, or the physical or mental well being of the mother are acceptable.

We believe that Christians are prohibited from bringing civil lawsuits against other Christians or the church to resolve personal disputes. We believe the church possesses all the resources necessary to resolve personal disputes between members. We do believe, however, that a Christian may seek compensation for injuries from another Christian’s insurance company as long as the claim is pursued without malice or slander.