The Scriptures

We believe in the verbal and plenary inspiration of Scripture, inerrant and infallible in the original writings; that God forever preserves His Word; and that the Scriptures are the complete and all-sufficient doctrinal basis for faith and practice.

We believe that the Scriptures are to be understood in a normal, literal method of interpretation with allowances given for the literary use of figurative language.

We believe that the Scriptures record a progression of God's revelation to humanity; that this revelation has been dispensed to certain individuals/groups at differing times in accordance with His will; and that the grand purpose of God's revelation to humanity is the glorification of His character and name.

The Trinity

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Sprit, co-equal in nature and attributes.

The Person and Work of the Father

We believe that God is the creator and supreme ruler over all things; that He is self-existent, infinite, immutable and perfectly holy; that in His sovereign providence He is directing all the affairs of this world to accomplish His glorious purposes without Himself ever becoming the author of sin and without removing human accountability; that He is just and righteous in condemning fallen humanity and that He is just and righteous in choosing to save the objects of His divine grace.

The Person and Work of Jesus Christ

We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God; that in the incarnation He was born by the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit through the virgin Mary and is true God and true Man; that He came as the living Word to reveal God, as Israel's Messiah to inaugurate the New Covenant by His blood, and as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.

We believe that He died for our sins as a representative, substitutionary sacrifice and that all who believe in Him are justified through His blood; that He rose bodily from the dead on the third day and ascended to Heaven where, now exalted at God's right hand, He fulfills the ministry of High Priest and Advocate for His people; that Jesus will come again literally and bodily a second time to establish His literal kingdom on the earth.

The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit of God and Jesus Christ convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment; that He bears witness to Jesus Christ; that, through interpreting the truth of Scripture, He enlightens, awakens and regenerates the sinner; that He baptizes believers into the body of Christ and indwells, seals and sanctifies them; and that He bestows spiritual gifts on believers empowering them for service and holy living.

The Total Depravity of Mankind

We believe that man was created in the image of God, but that in Adam's sin the entire human race fell, inherited guilt and a sinful nature and incurred the condemnation of God; that all are sinners alienated from God and in active rebellion against God; that, being totally depraved in condition, they are unwilling to seek God and unable to remedy their sinful state; and that all are accountable to God for their sin and are responsible with their free will to repent and seek God.

Salvation

We believe that salvation is a gift of God bestowed on those individuals whom He has chosen by sovereign grace in eternity past; that He effectually calls them by the means of grace, influencing their free, but depraved, human will so that they come to Him in repentance and faith seeking His salvation.

We believe that through faith in Christ alone, without trusting in the merit of themselves or any other, they are freely justified from all sin; that the Holy Spirit establishes their union with Christ and regenerates them so that they are passed from death to life; that they are sealed by the Spirit, preserved in Jesus Christ, and kept by God's power so that they will persevere in faith until they see Christ.

Sanctification and Separation

We believe that all who believe in Christ are now the children of God and through their spiritual (Holy Spirit) union with Christ are complete in Christ and positionally sanctified; and that they are being progressively sanctified by the influence of the indwelling Spirit and by their own responsibility to walk by faith, walk in the Spirit, and to obey the instructions and commands of the Scriptures.

We believe that the saved children of God are not to use their liberty in Christ to continue in sin, but that they are to separate from all forms of sin and ungodliness and to be holy in all manner of life; that no believer is perfected in this life, and that when believers sin they are instructed to humbly acknowledge their sin and to turn from it.

Israel

We believe that God established an everlasting covenant with Abraham and his descendants, promising to make of them a nation and to give them the land of Israel as a heritage forever; that God gave them His laws and sent them prophets to teach and warn and prophesy of a coming Messiah, God's Son, to be both Redeemer and King; that Jesus Christ, in His first coming, was born a descendant of David, declared Himself to be the eternal Son of God and inaugurated the New Covenant with His own redeeming blood; that in His second coming He will establish His kingdom in Israel, reigning as King from the throne of David in Jerusalem.

The Church

We believe that the church is the universal body of Christ, a spiritual organism comprised of all those, both Jew and Gentile, who have been made one in Christ; that the Church began after the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ when His people, through the baptism of the Holy Spirit began to be brought into union with Him.

We believe that the Church does not replace Israel in any sense, though there are obvious intimate connections with Israel's Scriptures, Messiah/Redeemer and the New Covenant.

We believe that the universal Church is instructed to organize into autonomous local churches, with the right of self-government under the direction of self-appointed Elders who oversee and teach the assembly; that the members of the local church are to be faithful in attendance and participation; and that they are to be faithful and good stewards of the spiritual gifts which God has, according to His will and purpose, granted to the members.

We believe that the hope of the Church is the imminent return of Christ who will gather His Bride from the earth to be with Him forever.

The Ordinances of the Church

We believe that two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper, neither of which is essential to salvation, are to be observed by all believers in obedience to our Lord until His return.

We believe that water baptism is for those who have already made a conscious decision to trust Christ for salvation and that it serves to publicly and symbolically testify of a believer's regeneration.

We believe that the Lord's Supper is a symbolic memorial of Christ's redemptive death and is to be observed by believers on a regular basis until Christ comes.

The Second Coming of Christ

We believe in the blessed hope of the Church, the pre-millennial and pre-tribulational return of Christ to gather His church from the earth; that He will subsequently return bodily to the earth with His saints at the end of the Tribulation to rescue Israel from Armageddon and establish the millennial kingdom.

Future State

We believe in the bodily resurrection of all people, the redeemed to eternal life, and the unsaved to eternal judgment; that the souls of the redeemed at death are absent from the body but present with the Lord where they await the first resurrection at Christ's coming when soul and body will be reunited and glorified; that the souls of unbelievers at death are absent from the body and remain in conscious misery in Hades where they await the second resurrection when soul and body will be reunited to appear at the Great White Throne Judgment to be judged according to their works and then cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting punishment.

Satan

We believe that Satan is a created angelic being who rebelled against the authority of God and is the author of sin in the world; that he is the declared enemy of God and, as the god of this age, seeks to disrupt the will of God with the use of many demons (fallen angels) under his control; and that Satan and his angels will be eternally punished in the lake of fire.