What We Believe

Our Statement of Faith details what our church believes and teaches. For more detailed information, please view the links at the bottom of the page.

The Bible, consisting of 39 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books, is the only infallible rule of faith and practice. The Bible is “God-breathed”. God inspired human authors to write his Word. He did this by working through the authors’ personalities and circumstances. God inspired every word of the Bible. The Bible is inerrant in the original manuscripts. It is completely truthful since God is the ultimate author of the Bible and He is truthful. The Bible is clear in its message. Although some passages are hard to understand, the teaching of the Bible, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is understandable to those who desire to know and obey God. Disagreements over biblical passages are not due to problems with the Bible but due to problems with the interpreters. The Bible reveals all we need to in order to know, trust, and obey God. Nothing is to be added or taken away from the Bible. God does not lead or teach his people contrary to Scripture.

There is one true God who is self-existent, self-sufficient, unchangeable, all knowing (omniscient), all powerful (omnipotent), fully sovereign, has no beginning and no end (eternal), and his whole being is present everywhere (omnipresent).

The only true God eternally exists in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – the Trinity. Each person of the Trinity is fully and completely God with the same divine nature, but the persons of the Trinity are not identical. Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, is fully divine. The Holy Spirit is fully God and not an impersonal force.

Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, being fully divine became man without ceasing to be God. The divine and human natures of Jesus Christ are distinct but united in one person. Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He was tempted as we are but lived a sinless life. Jesus was crucified for our sin, buried, and raised from the dead. He ascended to the Father and now rules over all and makes intercession to the Father for his people. Jesus is the head of the body, the church, and He will return in glory to judge the living and the dead and usher in the final glorious state.

God created the world in six days out of nothing by the power of his word. The creation demonstrates God’s eternal power, divine nature, and glory, and is in no respect compatible with any theory of macro evolution. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit participated in creation. The crown of his creation was man, who was created in God’s image. God created man male and female.

God created man, male and female, in his image. Adam was the first human and the first male created by God, and the first female was Eve, created by God from Adam. A person’s gender, male or female, is determined by God and is not determined by desire, feeling, or a decision of the will. A biological male is referred to as a man, and a biological female is referred to as a woman. Marriage was created by God for men and women and is an exclusive relationship in which one man and one woman commit themselves to each other in covenant for life. Husband and wife become “one flesh”. Marriage is for believers and non-believers, but a believer should only marry another believer. Christ’s relationship to the church explains Christian marriage. The husband is to love, lead, and protect his wife, and the wife is to respect and submit to her husband. The differing roles do not mean that the wife is inferior to the husband since both are made in God’s image and Christ died for both. God made provisions for divorce because of sin, but these provisions for divorce are just that, provisions, and not commands. Reconciliation is always preferable. God made man, male and female, as sexual beings for the purpose of mutual enjoyment and procreation. However, sexual activity should only occur between a man and a woman and only within marriage. A sexual relationship between a man and a man or a woman and a woman is sinful. Also, in God’s sight there is no such thing as marriage between a man and a man or a woman and a woman. Children result from the sexual activity of a man and a woman and are gifts from the Lord. While children are sinful from the moment of conception, they also have God’s image from conception and should be protected from harm. Abortion at any stage of pregnancy is the killing of a human being created in God’s image.

At creation God established a covenant with Adam and his posterity. The Covenant of Works (or Creation) required complete obedience. When tempted by Satan Adam and Eve disobeyed and rebelled against God. Because Adam represented all mankind, the results of his sin are passed on to all his descendants. Being estranged from his Creator, yet responsible to him, man became subject to divine wrath, inwardly depraved and, apart from a special work of grace, incapable of returning to God. This depravity is radical and pervasive. It extends to his mind, will and affections. Unregenerate man lives under the dominion of sin and Satan. He is at enmity with God, hostile toward God, and hateful of God. Fallen, sinful people, whatever their character or attainments, are lost and without hope apart from salvation in Christ alone. After Adam transgressed the Covenant of Works God established the Covenant of Grace. The Covenant of Grace is demonstrated by God’s care for his creatures, even though they are in rebellion against him, and his provision of salvation through the last Adam, Jesus Christ.

Before the creation of the world in eternity past, The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit covenanted to accomplish salvation. This covenant is called the Covenant of Redemption. Salvation, which is sovereignly administered by God, is being rescued from God’s wrath and being given eternal life in Christ. The Father from all eternity chose people for eternal life. This choice was not due to any foreseen faith or merit in the chosen (elect), but only due to his mercy and good pleasure. The Father gave the elect to the Son, who accomplished redemption on their behalf. The Holy Spirit applies this redemption to the elect by regenerating unbelievers and sealing them for eternity guaranteeing their complete salvation. All who are foreknown by the Father are chosen, called, justified, and glorified. All aspects of salvation, including our faith in Christ, are gifts from God so that he receives all the glory.

God’s justice requires the penalty of death for sin. God’s grace provides the satisfaction of that penalty for all who place their trust in Christ alone. Jesus alone can satisfy God’s wrath so he once and for all satisfied (or propitiated) God’s wrath by his death on the cross. Jesus’ death was a substitutionary atonement in that he took our sin on himself and died on our behalf.  Our sin was imputed (or credited) to Christ and his righteousness is imputed to those who by faith come to Jesus. His resurrection demonstrated that his sacrifice appeased God’s holy wrath. Jesus ascended to the Father and is the only mediator between God and man. Therefore, salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to be reconciled to God. All this is good news (the gospel). The gospel demonstrates God’s great love and amazing grace.

The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He glorifies Jesus Christ and applies the work of Christ to believers. He regenerates believers in Christ, baptizes believers into the Church, indwells believers permanently, and seals believers for the day of redemption. The Holy Spirit is the active agent in our sanctification who intercedes for us when we don’t know how we ought to pray and produces His fruit in us and, through the Word of God, renews our minds, thereby conforming us to the image of Christ. Since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit empowers believers to proclaim the gospel and imparts His gifts for the edification of the Church.

Because of our flesh sin remains a reality; however, as we grow in the Word and are led by the Spirit, we grow in the knowledge of the Lord, keeping His commandments and endeavoring to so live in the world that all people may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. All believers are exhorted to persevere in the faith knowing they will have to give an account to God for their every thought, word and deed. The spiritual disciplines, especially Bible study, prayer, worship and confession, are a vital means of grace in this regard. Nevertheless, the believer’s ultimate confidence to persevere is based in the sure promise of God to preserve His people until the end, which is most certain.

God by His Word and Spirit creates the Church, calling sinful men out of the whole human race into the fellowship of Christ. The Church universal is made up of those who have become genuine followers of Jesus Christ, and all members of the Church universal are to be a vital and committed part of a local church. The local church is a community of regenerated believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. In obedience to Scripture they organize under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, observe the biblical sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, are unified by the Spirit, are disciplined for holiness, and scatter to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission as missionaries to the world for God’s glory and their joy. Upon conversion, newly redeemed men and women are added to a local church in which they devote themselves to teaching, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper and prayer. In the context of the local church, God’s people receive pastoral care and leadership and the opportunity to employ their God-given gifts in His service in relation to one another and to the world. The church is the building, body, bride, and family of Christ and the true Israel of God.

Water baptism is for the individual who has received the saving benefits of Christ’s atoning work and become his disciple. Therefore, in obedience to Christ’s command a believer should be baptized in water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Water baptism is a visual and symbolic demonstration of a person’s union with Christ in the likeness of His death and resurrection. It signifies that his former way of life has been put to death and depicts a person’s release from the mastery of sin. As with water baptism, the Lord’s Supper is to be observed only by those who have become genuine followers of Christ. The Lord’s Supper portrays the giving of Christ’s body and the shedding of His blood on our behalf, and is to be observed repeatedly throughout the Christian life as a sign of continued participation in the atoning benefits of Christ’s death. As we partake of the Lord’s Supper with an attitude of faith and self-examination, we receive spiritual nourishment for our souls and signify our unity with other members of Christ’s body.

The consummation of all things includes the future, physical, visible, personal and glorious return of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the dead and the translation of those alive in Christ, the judgment of the just and the unjust, and the fulfillment of Christ’s kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth. In the consummation, Satan with his hosts and all those outside Christ are finally separated from the benevolent presence of God, enduring eternal punishment in Hell, but the righteous, in glorious bodies, shall live and reign with Him forever, serving Him and giving Him unending praise and glory. Then shall the eager expectation of creation be fulfilled, and the whole earth shall proclaim the glory of God who makes all things new.