THE SCRIPTURES
We believe the Holy Scriptures to be written by men, divinely inspired by a Holy God, and it is the divine revelation of this Holy God to mankind. The Bible is the only inspired, inerrant, and infallible written revelation of God’s self-disclosure to mankind. The Bible has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Being given by God the Scriptures are both fully and verbally inspired by God. The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ. The Bible reveals the principals by which God judges mankind and the precepts by which all believers are to live. Believers are exhorted to study the Scriptures diligently. The Scriptures are the authoritative and normative rule and guide of all Christian life, practice, and doctrine. They are totally sufficient and must not be added to, superseded, or changed by later tradition, extra-biblical revelation, or worldly wisdom. Every doctrinal formulation, whether of creed, confession, or theology, must be put to the test of the full counsel of God in Holy Scripture.

GOD
There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being. He is Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is Infinite, Eternal, Almighty, and perfect in Holiness, Truth, and Love. The eternal God reveals Himself to us as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being. God is “triune.” The three persons of the Godhead are co-existent, co-equal, and co-eternal.

A. God the Father

God the Father is both Creator and Sustainer of the universe. By His Word and for His glory, He freely and supernaturally created the world out of nothing. God the Father is all-powerful, all-loving, and all-knowing. He rules over His universe and is the only Sovereign. His plans and purposes cannot be thwarted. He is faithful to every promise. In His unfathomable grace, God the Father gave His Son Jesus Christ for mankind’s redemption. He created mankind for fellowship with Himself and worship of Himself.

B. God the Son

Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation, Jesus is the eternal Word made flesh, supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, the only begotten Son of the Father. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God the Father, taking upon Himself the demands and necessities of human nature and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. Thus, He is fully God and fully man. He has always been and always will be. Through Jesus Christ, all things came into being. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together by the word of His power. He is the image of the invisible God, the preeminent One of all creation. In Him dwells the fullness of the godhead bodily. Jesus Christ is the only Savior for the sins of the world having shed His blood and died a vicarious death on Calvary’s cross. By His death in our place, He revealed the divine love and upheld divine justice, removing our guilt and reconciling us to God. He is not only our perfect sacrifice, He is our perfect substitute, taking upon Himself the sins of the world and dying in our place. Having redeemed us from sin, the third day He rose bodily from the grave, victorious over death and the powers of darkness and for a period of forty days appeared to over five hundred witnesses performing many convincing proofs of His resurrection. He ascended into heaven where, at God’s right hand, He intercedes for His people and rules as Lord over all. He is the Head of His body the Church. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.

C. God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand the truth. The Holy Spirit exalts Christ. The Holy Spirit is the Lord and Giver of life. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. Through the proclamation of the gospel, the Holy Spirit convicts mankind of their sins and persuades mankind to repent of their sins and confess Jesus as Lord. The Holy Spirit unites believers to Jesus Christ in faith, brings about the new birth, and dwells within the regenerate. The Holy Spirit cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which believers serve God through His church. The Holy Spirit seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. The Holy Spirit has come to glorify the Son who in turn came to glorify the Father. He will lead the Church into a right understanding and rich application of the truth of God’s Word. The Holy Spirit enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

MAN
God created man—both male and female He created them—in His own image, as the crowning work of His creation, that man might have fellowship with Him. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by His Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice, when tempted by Satan, man rebelled against God and brought sin into the human race. Being estranged from his Creator, yet responsible to Him, man became subject to divine wrath. Therefore, just as through one man, sin entered into the world, and death through sin, man’s posterity inherited a depraved nature and a propensity to sin. This depravity is radical and pervasive. It extends to man’s mind, will and affections. Unregenerate man lives under the dominion of sin and Satan. He is at enmity with God and hostile toward God. Fallen, sinful man is lost and without hope apart from salvation in Christ. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God.

SALVATION
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who are willing to repent of sin and place their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and the only way of salvation. By His own blood, Jesus Christ saved mankind from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin, and at the consummation of the age, from the presence of sin. Thus, in its broadest sense, salvation involves regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.

A. Regeneration

Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. Regeneration involves an internal change in the life of the believer whereby the believer becomes a new creation in Christ Jesus. This internal change is wrought about as the Holy Spirit of God brings about conviction of sin to which sinful man responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of God’s grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin and turning to Christ. Faith is the outward expression of this internal change evident by a total commitment of the whole person to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Through regeneration, sinful man is justified in the eyes of God. Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal of all sinners who repent of sin and believe in Jesus Christ. Justification declares the sinner to be righteous and brings the believer into a right relationship with a Holy God. Justification gives the believer peace and affords him favor with God.

B. Sanctification

Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within the believer. The process of sanctification should continue throughout the regenerate person’s life as the believer seeks to grow in grace until we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a complete being, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

C. Glorification

Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.

THE CHURCH
The word “church” translates the Greek word ekklesia. In turn, this word is a compound of two other Greek words, ek meaning “out of,” and kalein, meaning “to call.” Hence the meaning is “the called out ones.”

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of regenerate believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ, committed to His teachings, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.

This church is an autonomous body, operating through democratic processes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In such a congregation, members have equal rights, but also equal responsibility. The Scriptural officers of this church consists of Pastor and Deacons.

The New Testament speaks of the church as the body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages. The New Testament also speaks of the church as both the body and the bride of Christ. Jesus Christ is the Head of the body and the Bridegroom of the bride. He both founded the church and purchased it with His blood.

This church believes the New Testament teaches the church is to observe only two ordinances. These are: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

A. Baptism

The word “baptism” comes from the Greek word baptisma which means to “dip,” “plunge,” “submerge,” or “immerse.” Therefore, Christian baptism is the immersion of a regenerate believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Baptism is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior. Baptism also symbolizes the believer’s death to sin, burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. Moreover, baptism is a testimony of one’s faith in the final resurrection from the dead. Being a church ordinance, baptism is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.

B. The Lord’s Supper

The Lord’s Supper is for baptized believers only. Jesus did not say when or how often believers should observe the Lord’s Supper. But Jesus did say that, “as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do proclaim the Lord’s death until He come” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Both the bread and the cup are to be taken “in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24–25). Thus, both baptism and the Lord’s Supper look back to what Jesus has done in salvation and forward to his glorious second coming.

Both Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are sermons in symbol of Jesus’ redeeming work and promised return. Baptism is an initiatory ordinance to be administered to the believer only one time. The Lord’s Supper is a continuing ordinance to be observed at stated intervals throughout the believer’s life until Jesus comes again.

The elements used in the Supper were “unleavened bread” and “the fruit of the vine.” Interestingly, the word “wine” (oinos), is not used. While some interpret “fruit of the vine” as meaning wine that is fermented, this church sees “fruit of the vine” as pure grape juice untainted by fermentation.

Four views have been held historically in regard to the Lord’s Supper. Some believe in transubstantiation. That is, the elements used actually become the body and the blood of Jesus. Others believe in consubstantiation, a modification of the first view. In this view, the body and the blood of Jesus are present with the elements. Still others believe in the Lord’s Supper as a means of grace. Discounting the above views, this third view holds that one receives grace by partaking of the Lord’s Supper. A fourth view espouses that the elements merely symbolize the body and the blood of Jesus, with no salvific effect in partaking of them. It is the contention of this church that this fourth view accords best with New Testament teaching. When Jesus said, “This is my body” and “this is my blood” (Matthew 26:26, 28), He no more meant that they actually became such than by saying, “I am the door” (John 10:9), He meant that He was a hole in the wall or a piece of wood. In all cases, Jesus spoke symbolically.

LAST THINGS
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord. While there are many views and many opinions concerning the consummation of the age that we can not know for sure, this we can know, “When He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).