What We Believe

This Church accepts the scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the inspired record of God's revelatory actions in human history and as the authoritative basis for its doctrine and practice.

We believe in:

The Trinity

The virgin birth of Christ

The deity of Christ

The vicarious atonement for sin through the shedding of Christ's blood

The bodily resurrection of Christ

The literal, bodily, visible second coming of Christ

The inerrancy of the Scriptures

The indwelling of all believers by the Holy Spirit from the time of their Conversion

The sole basis of our belief is God's revelation to mankind, the Bible (the sixty six canonical books of the Old and New Testaments), which is uniquely God-inspired, without error and the final authority on all matters on which it bears. As the Bible teaches, there is one God, eternally existing in three persons. These three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are of one substance and equal in every Divine perfection.

God created humans to have fellowship with Him, but they defied God by sinfully going their own way attempting to be God and usurp His authority over their lives. As a result, we need God's saving grace to end our alienation from Him. Salvation comes only through God's saving grace - wholly apart from any human merit or works - and must be received personally by faith. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, was born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life on earth and voluntarily paid for the sin of all who would believe on Him by dying on the cross as our substitute. This accomplishes salvation for all who receive grace by trusting in him alone. He overcame death by bodily returning to life and ascended into heaven to be the only mediator between God and mankind. In the last days He will return personally and visibly to consummate the Kingdom.

The Holy Spirit draws sinners to Christ; for humans are totally depraved and incapable of coming to Christ on their own. The Holy Spirit permanently indwells and equips believers for personal growth and service to the church. The church's role is to glorify God, share the Gospel of Christ with the world and serve those in need. At the end of all things, all mankind will experience bodily resurrection and the final judgment. Those forgiven through Christ will enjoy eternal life and fellowship with God; all others will suffer separation from God for all eternity.

The Specifics Are As Follows:

The Trinity:

There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, the same in substance, eternally equal in power and glory. (Matt.3:16,17; John 20:28, Acts 5:3,4, Gen.1:1&26, Matt. 28:19, 2 Cor.13:14)

God The Father: There is but one living and true God, immanent, transcendent, infinite in being and perfection, pure spirit, invisible, immutable, eternal, creator, almighty, all wise, most holy, most free, most loving, most gracious, most merciful, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving wickedness rebellion and sin, and withal most just and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin ( Isa. 45:5,6; John 4:24; Malachi 3:6a; Rom. 11:33,34; Exodus 34:6,7).

God The Son: Jesus Christ is eternally pre-existent, the only Son of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He is fully Divine and fully human; both natures wholly, completely and perfectly being in one Person. He lived an obedient, perfect and sinless life, performed many miracles, and taught many things according to the Scriptures. He died on the cross in the sinner's stead as the substitutionary atonement for sins. On the third day He was raised back to life in the body that had been laid in the tomb. He appeared physically to the disciples and many other witnesses. He ascended into heaven where He sits on the right hand of God, perpetually interceding for His people, the one true Mediator between God and mankind. (John 1:1-3,14; Col.1: 15-20; Matt. 1: 22,23; Heb.1: 1-4; Phil.2: 5-11; Heb.9: 14; Rom.5: 10; Heb.4: 14,15)

The second coming of Jesus Christ is the personal, visible, bodily return of our Lord to this earth for the final and perfect establishment of His Kingdom. The bodies of the dead will be raised and Christ will carry out the final judgment. The righteous will be eternally glorified with Him; the unrighteous will be eternally punished. (John 14:2,3; Acts 1:11; 1 John 3:2; 1 Cor. 15:51,52; 1 Thes. 4:13-18; Rom. 11:25b,26a; Mat. 24:21; Rev. 20:6)

God The Holy Spirit: The eternal Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son is of the same substance and equal in power and glory with the Father and the Son. By Him the prophets were moved to speak the Word of God, and all writers of the Holy Scriptures were inspired to record infallibly the mind and will of God. The Holy Spirit illuminates the readers of the scriptures to understand the truth. He applies the work of Christ to Humanity. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He calls, regenerates, sanctifies and empowers all who will believe in Jesus Christ (Heb.9:14b; John 14:16,26; 2 Peter 1:21; John 16:7-11; John 3:5).

 The Holy Spirit indwells all true believers, baptizing them into one body, of which Christ is the head. He, the divine Comforter, Intercessor, and Advocate, empowers the believer for service. (1 Cor.12:13; Acts 1:8)

Mankind: God by a special, instantaneous act, created mankind in His image — responsible moral agents created to mirror the Holiness of God for His greater glory. By yielding to the subtlety and deception of the devil our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed and transgressed the command of God the Creator. Their actions incurred on themselves and their posterity the sentence of spiritual and physical death. The guilt and consequences of Adam's sin are imputed to the whole human race, so that all men are alienated from God, guilty, inherently corrupt, totally depraved, and subjects of the wrath of God. (Gen. 1:27; Col. 3:10; Gen. 3:1-6; Rom. 5:12-18; Rom. 3:11-18; Eph. 2:3)

The Church: The Church Universal is the Body of Christ of which Christ Himself is the head. Regenerated persons of all the ages are members. This body manifests itself in local congregations of believers, baptized on their confession of faith, and coming together for the fulfillment of the Great Commission (Matt. 28: 19-20) and the Great Commandment ( Matt. 22:37-40 ). Fulfillment is through worship, prayer, fellowship, service, Spiritual growth and biblical witness. The Church is the incarnation of Christ to a lost world.