What we believe really does matter. But where do our beliefs come from? In our generation many well-meaning people determine their belief system by asking, “Well, what’s right for us?” or “What works for us?” or even “What makes the greatest number of people happy?”
Core Beliefs
BIBLE
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, inerrant in the original writings, and of supreme and final authority in faith and life. 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 Thessalonians 2:13
GODHEAD
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God, having precisely the same homage, confidence and obedience. 1 John 5:7; John 1:1,14; Acts 5:3-4
VIRGIN BIRTH
We believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, and is true God and true man. Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:35; Hebrews 4:15
HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity; that His ministry is to convict the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment; to regenerate the unbelieving, and to sanctify, comfort, teach and empower believers by His indwelling fullness. John 16:13-14; John 7:38-39; John 16:8; Acts 1:8; John 14:16-17
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, and that all men are sinful both by nature and by choice. Romans 3:10,23; Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 3:1-6; Romans 5:12
BLOOD ATONEMENT
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice; that all who believe in Him are justified on the basis of His shed blood. Romans 5:6-9; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; 1 John 4:10; 1 Peter 1:18-19
SALVATION
We believe that salvation is by grace through faith, not of works, and that all who repent (turn from sin to God) and receive by faith Jesus Christ, as personal Savior and Lord, are born again of the Holy Spirit, thereby becoming children of God. Ephesians 2:8-9; Acts 20:20-21; John 3:16; John 1:12; 1 John 5:11-12
RESURRECTION
We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, in His ascension into Heaven, and in His present ministry there for us as High Priest and Advocate. Matthew 28:6-7; Acts 1:9-10; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 2:1
SECOND COMING
We believe in the personal, visible, bodily coming of our Lord Jesus Christ for His Church to set up His Kingdom upon earth. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; Acts 1:11; Matthew 24:44; Revelation 20:6
HEAVEN AND HELL
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust; the everlasting conscious blessedness of the saved, and the everlasting conscious punishment of the lost. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Corinthians 5:8; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 20:11-15
SATAN
We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin and the cause of the fall of man; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man; and that he shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire. Job 1:6-7; Isaiah 14:12-17; Matthew 4:2-11; Revelation 20:10
CHURCH
We believe in the Church, a living, spiritual body of which Christ is the Head, and of which all regenerated people are members; and that the local, visible church is a company of believers in Jesus Christ, associated together for worship, work and fellowship. Matthew 16:16-18; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Colossians 1:18; Acts 2:41-42, 47
ORDINANCES
We believe in the observance of the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper in obedience to the commands of Christ; that Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water as the outward expression of an inward experience of salvation and union with Christ; and that the Lord’s Supper is a memorial of Christ’s death, to be observed only by believers and to be preceded always by solemn self-examination. Matthew 28:19; Romans 6:3-5; Acts 8:36-39; Matthew 26:26-30; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29
SEPARATION
We believe that the children of God should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord; and that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations is commanded by God. Romans 12:1-2; Romans 14:13; 1 John 2:15-17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-17; 2 Timothy 3:1-5
MISSIONS
We believe that it is the privilege and obligation of the saved to witness by life and by word to the truths of Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all mankind. Romans 1:14-16; 2 Corinthians 5:19-20; Acts 1:8; Mark 16:15