Doctrinal Statement
SCRIPTURE
We believe that “all Scripture is breathed out by God”. We believe that the whole Bible (66 books) in the original manuscripts, is therefore without error. The Scriptures are the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men, and the Divine and final authority for Christian faith and living. [Ps 19:7-9; Matt 5:18; Jn. 10:35; 2 Tim 3:15-17; 1 Jn. 4:1]
GOD
There is one God, the maker, preserver, and ruler of all things. He is worthy of our worship, confidence and obedience. [Deut 6:4; Ps 83:18; Rev 4:11]
PROVIDENCE
God, from eternity past, decrees or permits all things to come to pass including the salvation of some whom he sovereignly chose to save; yet in any way He is not the author or approver of sin; nor does this destroy the free agency and responsibility of His intelligent creatures. [Gen 50:20; Eph 1; Acts 2:23; 4:27]
TRINITY
We believe that God eternally exists in three persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes and perfections. [Gen 1; Matt 28:18-19; 1 Cor 13:14]
THE FATHER
We believe that God the Father planned, through Jesus the Son, by the Holy Spirit, He would create the world by his wise and infinite power. This is our Father’s world and He rules it. [Isa. 46:10-11]
THE PERSON AND WORK OF JESUS CHRIST
We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one person with two natures. Jesus, Israel’s promised Messiah, was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law, suffered and died upon the cross. This perfect substitutionary death accomplished eternal salvation for sinners. It is of infinite worth and value, more than sufficient to save all but effectively saves only those who repent and believe in Christ. He was buried, raised from the dead as the ruler of this world. He ascended into heaven where He sits at the Fathers right hand interceding for us. [Jn 1:1,2,14,18; Lk 1:35; Rom 3:24-25; 4:25; 1 Tim 4:10; Heb 4:15; Lk 2:40; Jn 1:29; Heb 10:5-14; Rom 8:34]
THE PERSON AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person; He is God the third person of the Trinity, is co-equal with the Father and the Son, possessing all the divine attributes. We believe He glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ in His work of Creation, inspiration of Scripture, regeneration, indwelling, illuminating, guiding, equipping, empowering, and gifting believers in their service. [(Matthew 3:13-17, 28:18-20; 2 Corinthians 3:18, 13:14; Genesis 1:1-2; John 3:3-8, 16:7-14; Romans 8:11; Ephesians 4:30; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Titus 3:4-6; Hebrews 9:14; 1 Corinthians 12:14; Ephesians 4:4-16; Romans 12:3-8; 2 Peter 1:20-21).
ANGELS, FALLEN AND UNFALLEN
We believe God created an innumerable company of sinless spirits being known as angels. Many of these continue in their holy state and are the ministers of God. The angel, Lucifer (now known as Satan or the devil), and many other angels rebelled against God. These fallen angels, though defeated at the cross of Christ, still continue to oppose God and his purpose. They will ultimately be judged by God and cast in to the lake of fire to suffer everlasting punishment, which is their righteous due. [Ezekiel 28:14-15; John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Jude 6]
THE FALL OF MAN
We believe that man was created in the image of God, that he fell through sin and as a consequence of his sin, lost his spiritual life becoming dead in trespasses and sins. This has been transmitted to all humans, having come from his loins. In Adam, through his fall, all inherit a sin nature and when capable of moral action, become willful transgressors. [Genesis 3; 1 Kings 8:46; Psalm 58:3; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 15:18-19; Romans 3:10-18, 23, 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-4; Colossians 1:21; Hebrews 2:14-15; 1 John 1:8-10]
REGENERATION
We believe that by the grace of God, the new birth (regeneration) of the believer is imparted by the Holy Spirit and is immediately followed by an expression of personal faith in Christ without which, there is no salvation. We believe that when regeneration (new birth) occurs, the new believer passes immediately out of spiritual death into spiritual life and from the old creation into the new. [John 3:3, 6-7; Ezekiel 36:26; Deuteronomy 30-6; Romans 2:28-29, 5:5, 8:90; John 1;13, 3:8, 1:13; James 1:16-18; I Corinthians 1:30; Philippians 2:13; I Peter 1:22-25; Ephesians 3:14-21, 4:20-24, 5:9; Colossians 3:9-11; Galatians 5:16-23; Matthew 3:8-10, 7:20; I John 4:7, 5:1, 4, 18]
FAITH AND REPENTANCE
We believe that faith and repentance are sacred duties and also inseparable evangelical graces. These graces are brought about by the regenerating Spirit of God. Repentance is turning from self-righteousness and sin. Faith is relying on the Lord Jesus Christ alone as the only and all-sufficient savior. [Mark 1:15; Acts 11:18; Ephesians 2:8; I John 5:1; John 16:8; Acts 2:37-38, 3:22-23, 16:30-31; Luke 15:18-21, 18:13; James 4:7-10, 2 Corinthians 7:11, Tim.10:12-13, Psalm 2:6, 51; Romans 10:9-11; Hebrews 1:8, 4:14, 7:25; 2 Timothy 1:12]
JUSTIFICATION
In justification God credits the righteousness of Christ to the believer and grants complete forgiveness of all sin. Not for anything done by them, but wholly on account of the free grace of God won by the obedience and satisfaction of Christ. [Acts 13:39, Isa. 53:11-12, Rom5:1-2, Rom. 5:9, Zech. 13;1, Matt. 9:6, Acts 10:43, Rom. 5:17, Titus 3:5-7, I Peter 3:7, I John 2:25, Rom. 5:21, Rom. 4:4-5, Rom. 6:23, Phil. 3:7-9, Rom.5:19, Rom. 3:24-26, Rom.4:23-25, I John 2:12, Rom. 5:3, Rom. 5:11, 1 Cor. 1:30-31, Matt. 6:33, Gal 2:15-21; 3:10-14]
SANCTIFICATION
All those who are united to Christ are not only regenerated and justified, but also sanctified in Christ. We believe in progressive sanctification. In other words, all those who believe in Christ will experience spiritual growth (conformity to the image of Christ) by the ministry of the Word and Spirit. [ I Thess. 4:3; I Thess. 5:23; 2 Cor. 7:1; Phil. 3:12-16; I John 2:29; Rom. 8:5; Eph. 1:4; Pro. 4:18; 2 Cor. 3:18; Heb. 6:1; Heb 12:14; 2 Peter 1:5-8; John 3:6; Phil. 1:9-11; Eph. 1:13-14; Phil. 2:12-13; Eph. 4:11-12; I Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 3:18; 2 Cor. 13:5; Luke 11:35; Luke 9:23; Matt. 26:41; Eph.6:18; Eph.4:30]
PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
We believe those whom God has justified, and sanctified in His Spirit, will never totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere to the end; and though they may fall, through neglect and temptation, into sin, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their fellowship with Him, bring reproach on the Church, and temporal judgments on themselves, yet they shall be renewed again into repentance, and be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. [1 Pet 1:3-6; Jn 10:28; 1 Jn 5:13; Romans 8:31-39]
THE CHURCH
We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer. [I Cor. 1:1-3; I Cor. 12:13-14; Matt. 16:18; Matt. 18:17; Acts 5:11; Acts 81; Acts 11:21-23; I Cor. 4:17; I Cor. 14:23; III John 9; I Tim. 3:5; Acts 2:41-42; II Cor. 8:5; Acts 2:47; I Cor. 5:12-13; I Cor. 11:2; II Thess. 3:6; Rom. 16:17-20; I Cor.11:23-24; Matt. 18:15-20; I Cor. 5:6; II Cor. 2:17; I Cor. 4:17; Matt. 28:20; John 14:15; John 15:12; I John 14:21; I Thess. 4:2; II John 6; Gal. 6:2; Eph. 4:7; I Cor. 14:12; Phil. 1:1; Acts 14:23; Acts 15:22; Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; Acts 8:12; Acts 16:32-34; Acts 18:8; Acts 10:47-48; Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-20; I Cor.11:28; I Cor. 5:1-8; I Cor. 10:3-32; I Cor. 11:17-32.]
RETURN OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
We believe in the personal, bodily and imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ as reigning King. The timing is known only by God. This should motivate believers to faithful Christian living, service and mission for the glory of God. [Matthew 24-25; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; Titus 2:12-13; Revelation 1:7, 20:1-10]
RESPONSE AND ETERNAL DESTINY
We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12; Jn 14:6). We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead, of the believer to everlasting blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, of the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment. [Acts 17:31; Matt 25:46; Rev 20:11-15]
MARRIAGE, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY
We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as exclusively male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God. Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person. [Gen. 1:26-27]
We believe that the term “marriage” means the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture. We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other. We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. [Gen. 2:18-25; 1 Cor. 6:18; Heb. 13:4]
We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God. [Matt. 15:18-20; 1 Cor. 6:9-10]