Beliefs
As a body of believers, we declare our full affirmation and belief in the following: God
We believe in the only true God (John 17:3), often referred to as “YHWH” (the LORD) in the Old Testament and “God” in the Old and New Testaments. He created all things (Genesis 1 and 2, Revelation 4:11) and upholds all things by the Word of His power (Hebrews 1:3).
In Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). He is a God of truth and without iniquity, He is just and right (Deuteronomy 32:4), He never changes, He is all-knowing, all-powerful, all- sovereign, onmnipresent, and eternal. He is the only true God.
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three persons are one being, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections, and are worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience (Mark 12:29; John 1:1-4; Acts 4:3-4).
Jesus Christ
We believe in the total deity and sinless life of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has always existed as the eternal Son of God. We believe He is the manifestation of God in the flesh. We believe He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. We believe Him to be fully God and fully man (John 1:1, 1:14, 1:18, 14:8-9; 1 Timothy 3:16).
Holy Spirit
We believe in the total deity of the Holy Spirit and that His ministry is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ (John 16:14). The Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit convicts the sinner of unrighteousness, regenerates the sinner upon belief in Christ, and baptizes the believer into one body of which Christ is the head. The Holy Spirit indwells, guides, instructs, fills, comforts, and empowers the believer for godly living (Mark 13:11; John 14:26; John 16:13; Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 6:19). The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of God’s righteousness, and of coming judgment (John 16:8-11).
Scriptures
We believe the Scriptures of the Old Testament and New Testament are verbally inspired, breathed out by God, and inerrant in their original writings. We believe the 66 books of the Old Testament and the New Testament are God’s complete and sufficient revelation and therefore carry God’s authority for the total well-being of mankind and the full message of God’s love in the Gospel. (Psalm 119:97-104, 119:160; Matthew 5:18; John 5:46-47, 10:35; 2 Timothy 3:15-16).
Man
We believe in a literal Adam and Eve from which the whole human race has come. We believe man was created in innocence under the law of his Maker but by voluntarily transgressing fell from his sinless and happy state. Consequently, all mankind is sinful. All people are sinners not only by inheritance but by their own choice and therefore are under just condemnation without defense or excuse. We believe that without exception every man and every woman is a sinner and needs a Savior (Genesis 3:1-6; John 8:24; Romans 1:18-20, 1:32, 3:10-19, 5:12).
Salvation
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin and appeasement of God’s wrath. We believe that the Gospel is genuinely available to all people (John 3:16). We believe that no one comes to Christ unless the Father draws him or her (John 6:44; 6:37-39). We believe that each person who by faith receives Jesus Christ as his or her personal Lord and Savior is justified on the basis of Jesus Christ’s shed blood on Calvary. We believe that salvation is not earned by works, but is by grace alone through faith alone ( Eph. 2:8-10). Each person who receives Christ as personal Lord and Savior is born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby becomes eternally secure as a child of God. A person cannot lose their salvation based on their works, because their salvation is based on Jesus’ works, not their own works. A genuine apostasy indicates the false nature of a person’s initial profession (John 8:31, 1 John 2:19). All true believers will persevere until the end (Phil. 1:6). We believe the Holy Spirit baptizes each believing person into the body of Christ at the moment of salvation and that there is no second baptism of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:37-39, 10:9-10; 1 Corinthians 12:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21). We believe that the gift of tongues was a specific gift of being able to speak actual translatable languages given to the Apostles for the spread of the Gospel in the early church.
Resurrection
We believe in the literal physical resurrection of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, His ascension into heaven, and His present ministry for us as High Priest and Advocate (Acts 1:3, 1:9; Hebrews 7:25-26).
Heaven, Hell and the Return of Christ
We believe in the “blessed hope”: the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ. His return has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost. The saved are raised to eternal, conscious bliss in heaven (Matthew 25:34; John 14:2-3; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Revelation 2:7), and the lost are raised to eternal torment in hell in conscious separation from God (Matthew 8:12, 10:28, 13:49-50; Mark 9:47-48; Luke 12:5; Revelation 21:8).
Church
Upon accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, a believer becomes part of His body, which is the universal church. There is one church universal, composed of all those throughout the world who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The Scriptures also command believers to gather as a local church in order to devote themselves to worship, prayer, teaching of the Word, observance of the ordinances (Believers Baptism and The Lord’s Supper), fellowship, service to the body through the development and use of talents and gifts, and outreach to the world in fulfillment of the command of Christ to make disciples of all nations. (Ephesians 5:23; Romans 12:1; Acts 2:42-47; 1 Corinthians 14:26; Matthew 28:18-20; Hebrews 10:23-25)
Wherever God’s people meet regularly in obedience to this command, there is the local expression of the church – under the oversight of Pastor-teachers and the service of the Deacon Body. The church’s members are to work together in love and unity, intent on the ultimate purpose of glorifying Christ (Ephesians 4:15-16).
A person is admitted to the local church by a profession of personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and following the Lord in Believer’s Baptism by immersion.
We are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.