1. The Scripture We believe that the books of the Old and New Testament, comprising the Holy Bible, are the inspired Word of God. We believe that the Holy Spirit supervised the writers of the Scriptures in what they wrote so that, using their own peculiar personalities, the very words recorded in the original manuscripts are the true revelation of God. We believe the Bible not only contains the Word of God but actually is God’s Word and, therefore, is the complete and final authority for belief and conduct. We believe that this inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of Scripture. (II Tim. 3:16; II Peter 1:21; I Cor. 2:13; John 17:17)
2. The Nature of God There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each of whom possesses all of the attributes of deity and personhood, without division of nature, essence, or being. (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; John. 1:1-3; 4:24; Acts 5:3-4)
3. Mankind Man was created by the special act of God, in His own image, and is the crowning work of His creation. In the beginning, man was innocent of sin. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin, death, and God’s righteous condemnation onto the human race. (Gen. 2:4-7; Acts 17:26 31; Rom. 1:1932; 3:1018, 23; Eph. 2:122)
4. Sin, and Death Man’s nature has been corrupted, and he is thus totally unable to please God. Every man is in need of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Only the grace of God can bring man back into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. At physical death, the believer enters immediately into eternal, conscious fellowship with the Lord, awaiting the resurrection of his body to glory and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord. The unbeliever at death enters into eternal, conscious separation from the Lord awaiting the resurrection of his body to everlasting judgment, consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment.
5. Salvation The salvation of man is wholly a work of God’s free grace and is not the result, in whole or in part, of human works or goodness or religious devotion. God imputes His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, and, thereby, justifies them in His sight. Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man. It is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, sanctification, and glorification. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. 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 perfection through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed. (John. 1:1114; 3:321, 36; Acts 4:12, 16:3031; Rom. 6:1-14; Phil.2:1213; Rev. 21:1 to 22:5)
6. The Church Jesus Christ is the head of the Church, His Body, which is composed of everyone, living or dead, who have been joined to Him through saving faith. A church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, assembling together regularly for worship, observing the two ordinances given by Christ, committed to His teachings and the authority of the Scriptures, encouraging one another, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. (Matt. 16:1519; 18:1520; Eph. 1:2223; 2:1922; 3:811, 21; 5:2232; 1 Pet. 5:14)
7. The Ordinances We believe that Water Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances given by Jesus Christ to be observed by the Church until His second coming. Baptism in its strictest sense is the immersion of a repentant believer in water. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in the 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. In its broadest sense, baptism is the introduction of each new believer into the Church, and into an eternal commitment to the person and ways of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as found in the Scriptures. The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming. (Mark 14:2226; Matt. 28:1920; Acts 2:4142; Rom. 6:35; 1 Cor. 10:16, 21; 11:2329)
8. Last Things God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally, visibly, and bodily in glory to the earth to establish His kingdom. The dead will he raised and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. Each will receive judgment according to their relationship with or without Christ. (Mark 8:38, 9:42-49; John 14:1-4; Acts 1:11; 1 Thess. 4:1418; 5:1 ff.; Rev. 20:11-22:17)
9. Evangelism and Missions It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations, remembering the day of judgment that will come to all mankind, and the love which God has proven for each through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Rom. 10:13-15)
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