THE BIBLE

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

GOD

We worship the one Triune God, who is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal being–the Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, and Ruler of the universe.  God is all powerful and all knowing; and his perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future. To God we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. God reveals himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with distinct personal attributes, but without division of essence, nature, or being.

God the Father

God as Father reigns with providential care over his universe, his creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purpose of his grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in attitude toward all humanity.

God the Son

Christ is the eternal Son of God. In his incarnation as Jesus Christ he was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and fulfilled the will of God, taking upon himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying himself completely with humanity yet without sin. He honored the divine law by his personal obedience, and in his substitutionary death on the cross he made provision for the redemption of people from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to his disciples as the person who was with them before his crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where he is the one Mediator, fully God, fully human, in whose person is effected the reconciliation between God and human beings. 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.

God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination he enables people to understand truth. He exalts Christ Jesus. He convicts people of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls people to the Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration he baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through his church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer in to the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

HUMANITY

Humanity is uniquely created in the image of God, applying to both male and female persons and stretching across all racial and socioeconomic demarcations. Every person is worthy of dignity, respect, and love.

Through the temptation of Satan, human beings transgressed God’s command, and fell from sacred fellowship with God. They then inherited a sin-stricken nature and environment. Although sin distorts the image of God in all persons, it does not destroy the image of God in any person.

Only God’s grace in the person and work of Christ can liberate fallen humanity from the penalty, presence, and power of sin, and restore humanity to sacred fellowship with God once again and once for all.

THE CHURCH

The New Testament speaks of the Church as the Body of Christ, which is the company of the redeemed consisting of believers from all historical and cultural contexts. The Church is represented locally by autonomous congregations of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel. We observe the two ordinances of Christ (Baptism and Holy Communion) and are governed by his Word, and seek to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each local church operates under the Lordship of Christ. In such a church each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord.

BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER

We practice Christian baptism as the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to and an outward expression of their faith in the final resurrection of the dead. The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby followers of Christ through partaking of the bread and the cup, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate his second coming.

SALVATION

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole person, and is offered freely to all

who confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by his life, death, and resurrection obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

Regeneration

Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.

Repenance and Faith 

Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the confession of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire person to him as Lord and Savior.

Justification

Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of his righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer into a relationship of peace and favor with God.

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 indwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person’s life.

Glorification

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

GOD'S PURPOSE AND GRACE

Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which he regenerates, justifies,

sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of persons, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility. All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ and sanctified by his Spirit will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The Kingdom of God includes both his general sovereignty over the universe and his particular Kingship of people who acknowledge him as King. Particularly the Kingdom is the realm of salvation into which people enter by trustful, childlike commitment to Jesus Christ. Christians ought to pray and to labor that the Kingdom may come and God’s will be done on earth. The full consummation of the Kingdom awaits the return of Jesus Christ and the end of this age.

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY

God ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman, in marriage, the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression, and the means for procreation of the human race.