About Our Ministry
Statement of Faith
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible, and God-breathed. (II Timothy 3:16-1; II Peter 1:20-21; Matthew 5:18; John 14:25; John 16:12-13).
We believe that the Scriptures interpreted in their natural, literal sense reveal divinely determined dispensations or rules of life which define man’s responsibilities in successive ages. These dispensations are not ways of salvation, but rather divinely ordered stewardships by which God directs man according to His purpose.
Three of these – the ages of law, the age of the church, and the age of the Kingdom – are the subjects of detailed revelation in Scripture. (John 1:17; I Corinthians 9:17; II Corinthians 3:9-18; Galatians 3:13-25; Ephesians 1:10; Ephesians 3:2-10; Colossians 1:24-25; Hebrews 7:19; Revelation 20:2-6).
We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. (Deuteronomy 6:4; II Corinthians 13:14).
(a) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men. (John 1:1-2; John 1:14; Luke 1:35; Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6; Philippians 2:5-8; Galatians 4:4-5).
(b) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice, and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead. (Romans 3:24-25; I Peter 1:3-5; I Peter 2:24; Ephesians 1:7).
(c) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate. (Acts 1:9-10; Hebrews 9:24; Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34; I John 2:1-2).
(a) We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and that He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them into the day of redemption. (John 16:8-11; Romans 8:9; II Corinthians 3:6; I Corinthians 12:12-14; Ephesians 1:13-14).
(b) We believe He is the Divine Teacher who assists believers to understand and appropriate the Scriptures, and that it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit. (I John 2:20,27; Ephesians 5:18).
(c) We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of spiritual gifts to every believer. God uniquely uses the evangelists and pastor-teachers to equip believers in the assembly in order that they can do the work of the ministry. (I Corinthians 12:4-11; I Corinthians 12:28-20; Ephesians 4:7-12; Romans 12:3-8).
(d) We believe that the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and the gifts of healing, were temporary. We believe that speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism or filling of the Holy Spirit, and that ultimate deliverance of the body from sickness or death awaits the consummation of our salvation in the resurrection, though God frequently chooses to answer the prayer of believers for physical healing. (II Corinthians 12:12; I Corinthians 1:22; I Corinthians 13:8; I Corinthians 14:21-22; Hebrews 2:3-4; Mark 16:17-20).
(a) We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. (John 6:37-40; John 10: 27-30; Romans 8:1; Romans 8:38-39; I Corinthians 1:4-8; I Peter 1:4-5; Jude 1,2).
(b) We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word; however, God’s word clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh. (Romans 13:13-14; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:11-15; Hebrews 13:5).
(a) We believe that the Church, which is the body and the espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons of this present age which started at Pentecost and will end at the Rapture. (Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 5:25-27; I Corinthians 12:12-14; II Corinthians 11:2).
(b) We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament scriptures. (Acts 14:27; Acts 20:17, 28-32: I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11).
(c) We believe in the autonomy of the local church, free of any external authority or control. (Acts 13:1-4; Acts 15: 19-31; Acts 20:28; Romans 16:1,4: I Corinthians 3:9,16; I Corinthians 5:4-7, 13; I Peter 5:1-4).
(d) We recognize the ordinances of water baptism (single immersion), and the Lord’s Supper as a scriptural means of testimony for the Church in this age. (Matthew 29:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; Acts 18:18; I Corinthians 11:23-26).
(a) We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. (Matthew 15:46; John 5:28-29; John 11;25-26; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-23).
(b) We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord. (Luke 23:43; Revelation 20:4-6; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 3:21; I Thessalonians 4:16-17).
(c) We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when the soul and body reunited, they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment. (Luke 16:19-26; Matthew 25:41-46; Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Mark 9:43-48; Revelation 20:11-15).
We believe that Satan is a person, the author in sin and the cause of the fall; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man; and that he shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire. (Job 1:6-7; Isaiah 14:12-17; Matthew 4:2-11; Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10).
(b) We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament scriptures. (Acts 14:27; Acts 20:17, 28-32: I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11).
(c) We believe in the autonomy of the local church, free of any external authority or control. (Acts 13:1-4; Acts 15: 19-31; Acts 20:28; Romans 16:1,4: I Corinthians 3:9,16; I Corinthians 5:4-7, 13; I Peter 5:1-4).
(d) We recognize the ordinances of water baptism (single immersion), and the Lord’s Supper as a scriptural means of testimony for the Church in this age. (Matthew 29:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; Acts 18:18; I Corinthians 11:23-26).
We believe that God created the universe in six literal, successive 24-hour periods. (Genesis 1-2; Exodus 20:11). We reject evolution, the Gap Theory, the Day-Age Theory, and Theistic Evolution as unscriptural theories of origin.
We believe that God has ordained all authority consisting of three basic institutions: 1) the home; 2) the Church; and 3) the state. Every person is subject to these authorities, but all (including the authorities themselves) must answer to God. God has given each institution specific responsibility and balanced that grant of authority with the understanding that no institution has the right to infringe upon the other. The home, the Church, and the state are equal and sovereign in their respective assigned spheres of responsibility under God. (Ephesians 5:22-24; Hebrews 13:17; I Peter 2:13-14; Romans 13:1-7).
We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should be engaged in outside a marriage between a man and a woman. We reject homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, incest, fornication, and adultery as sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. (Genesis 2:24; Genesis 19:5; Genesis 26:8-9; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; I Corinthians 5:1, 6:9; Hebrews 13:4; I Thessalonians 4:1-8).
We believe that God intends marriage to last until one of the spouses die. Divorced and remarried persons or divorced persons may hold positions of service in the Church. Pastors and Deacons shall not have been divorced or married to a divorced woman with exception of the sole biblical justification for divorce as found in Matthew 19:9. (Malachi 2:14-17; Matthew 19:3-12; Romans 7:1-3; I Timothy 3:2,12; Titus 1:6).
The foregoing Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our faith. The Bible itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe.
We do believe, however, that the foregoing Statement of Faith provides a true representation of the teachings of the Bible.