OUR BELIEFS
- The Bible, consisting of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, is the inspired Word of God, inerrant in the original documents, and the only final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
- There is one God, the Creator of all things, infinitely holy and eternally existent in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- The Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and fully Man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and sinlessly perfect. His sacrificial death on the cross is substitutionary and representative. He rose bodily from the dead and ascended to his Father’s right hand, where he now ministers as our Great High Priest. He will come again to receive his own unto himself and to reign in power and glory for all eternity.
- Every man, woman, and child is created by God in God’s image, as either male or female. Therefore, each person, from conception to death—whether male or female (Genesis 1:27), of every race, ethnicity, age, and ability—has intrinsic dignity and value, and should not be subject to discrimination or exploitation. Each member of the human race is fallen, sinful and lost, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential for salvation. Redemption is wholly by the blood of Christ, and salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in our Lord Jesus Christ.
- The Holy Spirit indwells the believer, who is sealed until the day of redemption and empowered to live a godly life, through the ongoing sanctification of the Holy Spirit.
- The church is composed of all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. All believers are united to him and one another by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Thus, the church is a living body, the Body of Christ.
- There are two main Christian ordinances after conversion, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism signifies that the believer is buried with Christ and is risen with him to walk in newness of life. The Lord’s Supper is instituted by the Lord himself exclusively for his own. In the observance of the Lord’s Supper, believers remember him, they show his death until he comes, and they profess their union with Christ and ongoing faith in him as their only Savior.
- Every true child of God possesses eternal life and—being justified, sanctified, and sealed with the Holy Spirit—is safe and secure for all eternity. However, a Christian can, through sin, lose his fellowship, joy, power, testimony, and reward; and can incur the Father’s discipline. The believer’s relationship with God is eternal, being established by new birth; daily fellowship, however, is dependent upon obedience.
- There will be a bodily resurrection of the saved and of the lost—of the saved, unto eternal life, and of the lost, unto eternal and conscious judgment in hell.
- When Christ returns at the end of the age, all true believers will see his face and be with him forever, reigning with him in splendor and great glory, through all eternity, in the new heavens and new earth.
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