What We Believe
We generally accept the Apostles’ Creed, the Westminster Confession of Faith 1647 and the Baptist Confession of Faith 1689. Our specific beliefs are as follows:
God
We believe that there is one God who exists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three persons of the Triune God are Co-Equal and Co-Eternal. God is the Creator, Sustainer, and Ultimate Authority over all His Creation.
Jesus
We believe that Jesus is the Son of God, was born of a virgin, was wholly God and wholly man, lived a sinless life, died in our place as a once-for-all sacrifice for our sins, was buried, arose bodily from the grave, ascended into Heaven, currently makes intercession for us before the Father, and will literally return to earth.
Holy Spirit
We believe that God the Holy Spirit indwells, empowers, and gifts the believer for service in the Body of Christ. As the divine helper, assistant, counselor and instructor, His work is to reveal Christ, convict of sin, lead to repentance, and to comfort, strengthen, guide and sanctify believers for godly living.
Bible
We believe that the Bible is the Divinely Inspired Word of God, without any error in the original transcripts, and the sole authority for faith and application. The Bible is fully God and fully human in that, while “God-breathed” by the Holy Spirit, it also reflects the words and literary styles of its individual human authors.
Man
We believe that man is created in the Image of God (intellectual, moral, relational and spiritual capabilities), for the purpose of bringing glory to God. As a result of the sin of the first man (Adam - a literal, historical person), this image was distorted and mankind became spiritually separated from God. Due to mankind’s fallen condition, he is incapable of returning to God by his own will or works. The only remedy for man’s condition is redemption by faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Salvation
We believe that salvation is a gift received through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. By the perfect obedient life and substitutionary death of Jesus Christ on the cross, the Father’s just wrath against human sin was satisfied, thus effecting true reconciliation between God and mankind for those who repent and believe. Because the object of our salvation is the work of Christ, every person who is truly saved is eternally secure in the Lord Jesus Christ and will spend eternity in heaven. Those who reject Jesus as Lord and Savior and/or trust in their own “good” works will die in their sins and spend eternity in a literal hell.
Baptism
We believe that water baptism is an act of obedience to the command of Christ. Baptism does not save anyone, but is a very important sacrament in that it follows after salvation, and identifies a person with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
The Church
We believe that the church is the universal body of born-again believers (past, present and future), with the Lord Jesus Christ as the Head. The function of the church is to carry out the Lord’s expressed will through the power of the Holy Spirit. This includes the preaching of the Gospel and the correct administration of the Sacraments (Baptism and Lord’s Supper). Christ has also commissioned His people, the church, to go into all the world to disciple, to baptize, and to teach everyone everywhere to obey His Word. Local assemblies of believers must faithfully carry out these mandates for their particular time.
Prayer
We believe that each individual believer has direct access to God, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Government
We believe in the original intent of the relation between church and state (the federal government should not commission an official state denomination), but not in separation of God and government. Christians have a Cultural Mandate to be salt and light in society. That said, the ultimate catalyst for cultural and social change is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.