WHAT WE BELIEVE
We believe God is sovereign, loving, just, the creator and supreme ruler of heaven and earth. He is eternal, infinite, unchanging, all-powerful, all-knowing, holy and righteous, merciful and gracious, existing in three persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe Jesus is the only Son of God. Jesus is God in the flesh, our living Lord and our Savior. He became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit, was born of the Virgin Mary, and lived a perfect and sinless life. He voluntarily died on the cross for our sins, arose from the dead, is our Redeemer, and he is coming again. Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.
We believe the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity; He lives within each believer’s heart from the moment of spiritual birth. He is our comforter, our guide, and our communicator with God. He convicts us of sin. He equips and empowers us as believers to live holy and obedient lives.
We believe the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God, including sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments. The Bible is the only infallible guide for faith and practice. It is the final written authority and the absolute trustworthy guide necessary for living out the Christian life.
We believe in baptism by immersion of persons professing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, in obedience to God’s word. It is the authentic symbol expressing obedience to the Lord Jesus and demonstrates a public profession of faith in God through His Son. (This church asks that Christians coming from other denominations who have not been baptized by immersion be baptized in this way.)
We believe the Lord’s Supper should be open to all believers, thus being obedient to our Lord who commanded us to remember His sacrifice until His return. The bread represents His body that was broken for us, and the cup represents His blood that was shed for us and established His new covenant. Before partaking of these elements each person should examine himself, confess his sins, and reflect upon what Christ has done for us.
We believe Jesus Christ is the head of the church and as a community of believers we must communicate God’s message to the lost and be an on-going witness to Christ for the purpose of advancing the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, making disciples throughout the world to the glory of God. We believe in today’s society the church should provide opportunities for Christian growth and fellowship. The church should strive to meet our physical, spiritual and emotional needs. We believe we are to assemble regularly in obedience and as an essential component to living a Christ-centered life, through worship, prayer, mutual encouragement and study.
We believe in local church autonomy and the importance and responsibility of every church and each individual believer before God. The local church is the fundamental unit of mission in denominational life; members are associated by a covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We believe, as believers, we are a chosen people and are all a royal priesthood belonging to God. Each of us is to declare His praises, proclaim the power of the Holy Spirit, and use whatever individual gifts and talents He has given us to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. Each of us has been commissioned to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything He has commanded.
We believe the teaching of Scripture that God’s design for sexual intimacy places it within the context of marriage between one biological man and one biological woman, and acknowledge that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Biblical teaching.