What We Believe

We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally and plenary inspired Word of God.  The Scriptures are inerrant, infallible, and God-breathed and therefore, are the final authority for faith and life.  The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the complete and divine revelation of God to man.  The Scriptures shall be interpreted according to their normal, grammatical meaning. The Bible is preserved for us without error in the King James Authorized Version of 1611 AD and it is the official and only translation used by the church. (II Tim.3:16-17; II Pet.1:20-21)

We believe that the Scriptures interpreted in their natural, literal sense reveal divinely determined dispensations or rules of life which define man’s responsibility in successive ages. These are divinely ordered stewardships by which God directs man according to His purpose. These dispensations are the subjects of detailed revelation in Scripture (Gen. 1:1-2:8; 12:1-3; 15: 18-21; Ex. 18-19; II Sam. 7:8-16; Matt. 26:28; Rev. 21-22).

We believe in one triune God, eternally existing in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—each co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; II Cor. 13:14; John 14:10-26).

1. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became Man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man (Is. 7:14; 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2, 14; II Cor. 5:19-21; Gal. 4:4-5; Phil. 2:5-8)

2. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice, and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:18-36; Rom. 3:24-25; I Pet. 2:24; Eph. 1:7; I Pet. 1:3-5).

3. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of representative, intercessor, and advocate (Acts 1:9-10; Heb. 7:25 and 9:24; Rom. 8:34; I John 2:1-2).

1. We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Person, who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, and that He is the supernatural agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption (John 16:8-11; Rom. 8:9; I Cor. 12:12-14; II Cor. 3:6; Eph. 1:13-14).

2. We believe that he is the divine Teacher, who enables believers to understand and appropriate the Scriptures, and that it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 1:17-18 and 5:18; I John 2:20, 27).

3. We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of spiritual gifts to every believer. God uniquely uses evangelists and pastors and teachers to equip believers in the assembly in order that they can do the work of the ministry (Rom. 12:3-8; I Cor. 12:4-11, 28; Eph. 4:7-12).

We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the human race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God, and that man is totally depraved and of himself utterly unable to remedy his lost condition (Gen. 1:26-27; Rom. 3:22-23 and 5:12, 23; Eph. 2:1-3 and 4:17-19).

We believe that salvation is the gift of God, brought to man by grace, and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins (John 1:12; Eph. 1:7 and 2:8-10; I Pet. 1:18-19).

1. We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever (John 6:37-40 and 10:27-30; Rom. 8:1, 38-39; I Cor. 1:4-8; I Pet. 1:4-5).

2. We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation, through the testimony of God’s Word, which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh (Rom. 13:13-14; Gal. 5:13; Titus 2:11-15).

1. We believe that the true church, which is the body and the espoused bride of Christ, is solely made up of born-again persons (I Cor. 12:12-14; II Cor. 11:2;Eph. 1:22-23 and 5:25-27).

2. We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures (Acts 14:27 and 20:17, 28-32; I Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11).

3. We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or control (Acts 13:1-4 and 15:19-31; Acts 20:28; Rom. 16:1,4; I Cor. 3:9, 16 and 5:4-7, 13; I Pet. 5:1-4).

4. We recognize water baptism and the Lord’s Supper as the Scriptural ordinances of obedience for the church in this age (Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42 and 18:18; I Cor. 11:23-26).

We believe that all the saved should live in such a way as not to bring reproach upon their Saviour and Lord and that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices, and associations is commanded of God (Rom. 12:1-2 and 14:13; II Cor. 6:14-7:1; II Tim. 3:1-5; I John 2:15-17; II John 9-11).

We believe in that blessed hope, the personal, eminent return of Christ, who will rapture His church prior to the seven-year tribulation period. At the end of the tribulation, Christ will personally and visibly return with His saints to establish His earthly messianic kingdom, which was promised to the nation of Israel (Ps. 89:3-4; Dan. 2:31-45; Zech. 14:4-11; I Thess. 1:10 and 4:13-18; Tutus 2:13; Rev. 3:10 and 19:11-16; Rev. 20:1-6).

1. We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men—the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment (Matt. 25:26; John 5:28-29 and 11:25-26; Rev. 20:5-6, 12-13).

2. We believe that the souls of the redeemed are at death absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection when soul, spirit, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord (Luke 23:43; II Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23 and 3:21; I Thess. 4: 4:16-17; Rev. 20:4-6).

3. We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious punishment and torment until the second resurrection when with soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment and shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer conscious punishment and torment (Matt. 25:41-46; Mark 9:34-48; Luke 16:19-26; II Thess. 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Rev. 20:11-15).

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; Is. 14:12-17; Matt. 4:2-11 and 25:41; Rev. 20:10).

We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should be engaged in outside of marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, beastiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful (Gen. 2:24 and 19:5, 13; Gen. 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom. 1:26-29; I Cor. 5:1 and 6:9; I Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4).

We believe that abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life. Abortion is murder. We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, or the mental well-being of the mother are acceptable (Job 3:16; Ps. 51:5; Ps. 139:14-16; Is. 14:24 and 49:1,5; Jer. 1:5 and 20:15-18; Luke 1:44).

We believe that God has given the church a great commission to proclaim the Gospel to all nations so that there might be a great multitude from every nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language group who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. As ambassadors for Christ, we must use all available means to go to the foreign nations and not wait for them to come to us (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; II Cor. 5:20).

We believe that every Christian, as a steward of that portion of God’s wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to support his local church financially. We believe that God has established the tithe as a basis for giving but that every Christian should give other offerings sacrificially and cheerfully to the support of the church, the relief of those in need, and the spread of the Gospel. We believe that the Christian relinquishes all rights to direct the use of the tithe or offering once the gift has been made (Gen. 14:20; Prov. 3:9-10; Acts 4:34-37; I Cor. 16:2; II Cor. 9:6-7; Gal. 6:6; Eph. 4:28; I Tim. 5:17-18; I John 3:17).