STATEMENT OF FAITH
The statement of faith does not exhaust the extent of our faith. The Bible (King James 1611) itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe. We do believe, however, that the foregoing statement of faith accurately represents the teaching of the Bible, and therefore is binding upon all members. All literature used in the church shall be in complete agreement with the statement of faith.
THE SCRIPTURES – We believe that the Bible is the Word of God; that it was written by men who were moved by the Holy Spirit so that their writings were supernaturally and verbally inspired and free from error, as no other writings have ever been or ever will be. They are the complete and final revelation of the will of God to man, and so are supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct (II Tim. 3:16-17; II Pet. 1:19-21).
THE TRUE GOD – We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
1. God the Father – We believe in God the Father, perfect in holiness, boundless in love, infinite in wisdom, measureless in power. We believe that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayers, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ, His son.
2. God the Son – We believe in Jesus Christ, God the Son, pre-existent with the Father, begotten by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary, sinless in His nature and life, infallible in His teaching, making atonement for the sins of the world by His substitutionary death on the cross. We believe in His bodily resurrection, His ascension into Heaven, His perpetual intercession for His people and His glorious Second Advent according to promise. We believe that the promise of His second coming includes: first, “The Blessed Hope” of the believer, namely, the personal, premillenial, and pretribulational return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to rapture His church according to I Thessalonians 4:13-18: second, His return later to earth with His saints to set up His millennial reign.
3. God the Holy Spirit – We believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit. We believe that He came from God to convince and convict the world of sin or righteousness and of judgment: and to regenerate, sanctify, indwell, and comfort and empower those who believe in Jesus Christ (John 16:7-11).
MAN – We believe that man was created in the image of God; that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death, but also that spiritual death which is separation from God. We believe that all human beings are born with a sinful nature, and in the case of those who reach moral responsibility, become sinners in thought and deed by choice (Rom. 3:10-23; Rom. 5:12).
SATAN – We believe in the reality and personality of Satan (Luke 10:18).
SALVATION – We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who by faith receive Him as their personal Savior, are justified on the ground of His blood shed on Calvary and His resurrection from the dead and are born again of the Holy Spirit, and thereby become the children of God (I Cor. 15:3-7).
THE CHURCH – We believe in the visible church which is a company of believers in Jesus Christ, baptized on a credible confession of faith, and associated for worship, word, and fellowship. We believe that to these visible churches was committed for perpetual observance, two ordinances - the baptism of believers by immersion and the Lord’s Supper. We believe that God has laid upon these churches the task of preaching the Gospel to every creature, and the edification of the individual members of the Body of Christ (Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:47; I Cor. 11:23-32).
LAST THINGS – We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and unsaved. These take place at different times. Bodily resurrection of the saved before the Tribulation Period at the Rapture (Judgment Seat of Christ) and the bodily resurrection of the unsaved following the millennium at the Great White Throne Judgment. The saved to eternal life and blessedness in Heaven and the unsaved to eternal, conscious suffering and woe in Hell (John 5:29).
