I . Doctrine Of The Scriptures

We believe the Holy Scriptures, consisting of the Old and New Testaments only to be the plenary, verbally inspired Word of God; inerrant in the original manuscripts, authoritative, infallible and God-breathed; and that they are the authority for faith and practice (II Timothy 3:16,17; II Peter 1:20,21; Matthew 5:18; I Corinthians 2:10-13). Plenary- Adjective meaning: full; complete; as-plenary authority. Verbal- Adjective meaning: incapable of failing; unerring; not capable of making a mistake; absolutely trustworthy.

II. Doctrine Of God

We believe in one triune God, existing in three persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, eternal in being, identical in essence, equal in power and glory and having the same divine attributes and perfections; yet exercising them in varied offices (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; John 14:7-12,16-17; II Corinthians13:14). Essence- Noun meaning: That which is the real character of a thing.

III. Doctrine Of The Son

We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, whose humiliation in the days of His flesh did not include laying aside His deity (Matthew 1:18-20; John 1:1,2).

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a substitute sacrifice, and that all who receive Him are justified on the grounds of His shed blood. (I Corinthians5:3, 4; I Corinthians 5:21; Romans 2:21-26).

We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord Jesus Christ; in His bodily ascension into heaven, in His present life there for us as a High Priest and intercessor (Matthew 28:5, 6; Acts 1:9-11; Hebrews 7: 25, 26).

We believe in “the blessed hope”-the personal, visible, pretribulation, premillennial and imminent return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (I John 3:2, 3; I Thessalonians 4:14-17; I Corinthians 15:51-53; Titus 2:13).

IV. Doctirne Of The Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is eternally on of the Godhead; equal with God the Father and God the Son, and has the same nature; that He was active in creation (Psalm 104:30); that in His relation to the unbelieving world, He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled (II Thessalonians 2:7) that He convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement to come (John 16:8-11);that He bears witness of the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony(Acts5:30-32); that He indwells the believer (I Corinthians 3:16&17, 6:19); that He baptizes into the body of Christ ( I Corinthians 12:13); that He seals the believer “until the redemption of the purchased possession”(Ephesians 1:13-14); that He confers gifts and graces upon the body of Christ ( I Corinthians 12:7-11); that He empowers for service (Acts 1:8); that He bears witness to the believer’s son ship ( Romans 8:16); and that He sanctifies and helps the believer (Romans 8:26,27).

We believe that some gifts of the Holy Spirit were temporary. We believe that speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the fulfilling or baptism of the Spirit. We believe that God, in accord with His own will, does hear and answer prayer for the sick and the afflicted (I Corinthians 12:1, 11, 30; James 5:14-16).

V. Doctrine Of Man

We believe that man was created by an immediate act of God in His own image, as given in the Genesis account, and not by process of evolution; that through disobedience to God, lost his first estate and thereby became a sinner in need of a Savior; and that since that time all men are born sinners, spiritually dead, alienated from God, and stand in need of personal redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone (Genesis 1:26-27; 3:1-24; Romans 5:12; 3:23-24; Psalm 51:5; Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13; Ephesians 4:18; Colossians 1:21; Hebrews 9:11-14; Colossians 1:14).

VI. Doctrine Of Salvation

We believe that in order to be saved, all men being sinners, must be born again. We believe that all who receive, by faith, the Lord Jesus Christ are born again by the Holy Spirit. We believe that this new birth is instantaneous, not a process; and that it is brought about in a manner above our comprehension; solely by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. We believe that in the new birth God justifies the believer and writes his name in the Lamb’s Book of Life and that the Holy Spirit indwells the believer with power for holy service. We further believe that every believer stands as a priest before God (Romans 3:10, 23; John 1:12, 13; Revelation 3:20; I Corinthians 6:19, 20; II Corinthians 5:17; Acts 16:30-34; John 16:7, 8; I Peter 2:5; and Revelation 1:6).

Justification We believe that justification is a judicial act of God by which He imparts to the born again believer complete pardon of sins; the gift of eternal life, and imputes to the believer His own righteousness. We believe that justification is bestowed not in consideration of any works of righteousness which the believer has done, but solely because of his faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:6-8; Acts 13:38,39; John 5:24; Romans 3:25-28, 5:1 & 9). Judicial- Adjective meaning: fair, unbiased

Sanctification We believe that immediate, positional sanctification is that act of God whereby believers are, at the time of regeneration, eternally set apart as belonging to Him by redemption, thereby being placed in the family of God as children, joint heirs with Jesus Christ (I John 3:1; Romans 8:14-17; I Corinthians 1:2; Hebrews 10:10-14).

We believe that progressive sanctification is the process by which, according to God’s will, we are made partakers of His holiness; that it is progressive; that it is begun in regeneration; that is progresses if the believer is yielded to the Holy Spirit’s control; that it is carried on in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, self-examination, watchfulness and prayer (I Thessalonians 4:3; 5:23; Proverbs 4:18; I John 2:29; Philippians 2:12,13; Ephesians 6:18; John 17:17).

We believe that the ultimate sanctification will be the portion of every believer when finally in the presence of the Lord, complete and entire, with soul and spirit united in the resurrection body, free from every trace or effect of sin and rebellion (I John 3:2; I Corinthians 15:51-54; Ephesians 4:30, 5:27).

The Eternal State We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming when soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in glory; but, that the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious torment (Luke 16:23) unto the final judgement of the Great White Throne at the close of the millennium, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the lake of fire from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power (Luke 16:26; 23:43; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:21-23; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 20:11-15; and I Thessalonians 4:13-18).

VII. Doctrine Of The Local Church

We believe that a local church is a congregation of immersed believers (Acts 2:41, 42) who are associated by a covenant of faith and fellowship in the Gospel; that to the church has been committed two ordinances; baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 28:19; I Corinthians 11:2, 23-26). We believe the true mission of the church is two-fold; being a faithful witness of Christ to all men as we have opportunity, and to edify the body of believers (Acts1:8; Ephesians 4:11,12); that the local church as the absolute right of self-government, free from all the mandates of any hierarchy, or individuals or organizations (Acts 20:28-32); that it is Scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and the furtherance of the Gospel; that in all matters of membership, or polity, of government, of discipline, and of benevolence, the will of the local church is final (I Corinthians 5:1-5; Matthew 18:15-17). We believe that the local church is the center of God’s program for this age, and that every Christian is bound by Scripture to give his unhindered cooperation to the program of his local church (Acts 2:41-47; 14:27; 20:17; I Timothy 3:1-16; Titus 1:5-11; I Corinthians 3:10-17; 5:1-5; 11:2).

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has commissioned the church to take the Gospel to the world, and that evangelism at home and abroad should be primary in the program of the local church (Matthew 28:19,20; Acts 1:8).
We believe that there are two church ordinances; baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water, and is the only mode of baptism revealed and commanded in the Scriptures and is properly called “believer’s baptism”. This baptism sets forth in a beautiful and solemn way our faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior. The believer’s immersion in water symbolizes death, burial and resurrection to a new life in Christ (Romans 6:2-5; II Corinthians 5:17), and is the visible credential for membership in the local church which corresponds to Holy Spirit baptism,(I Corinthians 12:13), the credential to membership in Christ’s body. Believer’s baptism is a scriptural pre-requisite to church membership (Acts 2:38-41, 8:36-39; Romans 6:2-11).

The Lord’s Supper is a church ordinance in commemoration of the Lord’s death until He comes, and signifies the continual fellowship of baptized believers with Him and each other in Him. Each believer should exercise careful self-examination before participation in this ordinance (I Corinthians 11:23-32). We believe that obligation for proper and Scriptural administration of the ordinances is the responsibility of the church.

IX. Attitude Toward Civil Government

We believe that civil government is ordained of God for the punishment of evil doers and for the protection of the good (Romans 13:1-7). We therefore consider it our duty to pray for rulers and magistrates except in things opposed to the will of God (Titus3:1; I Peter 2:13, 14; 5:29; Matthew 23:10). We believe in the separation of church and state (Matthew 22:21).

X. Doctrine Of Creation

We believe in the Genesis account of creation, and that it is to be accepted literally and not figuratively; that the six days of creation in Genesis chapter one are solar; that is twenty-four hour days; that all animal and vegetable life was made directly and God’s established law is that they bring forth only “after their kind”, that man was created directly in God’s own image and after His own likeness and did not evolve from any lower form of life; and that all men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve, first parents of the entire human race (Genesis 1:1,2,25; Hebrews 11:3; Colossians 1:16,17, Psalm 33:6-9; Nehemiah 9:6; Hebrews 4:11; Exodus 20:11; 31:17; Genesis 1:11,12,21,25,26).

XI. Doctrine Of Last Things

We believe in the imminent return of Christ to raise the bodies of departed saints and to translate His church, followed by a seven year period of tribulation upon all the earth, after which He shall reign for a thousand years; peace and righteousness shall cover the earth; Satan shall be bound, and Israel shall be established in her own land; following which Satan shall be loosed to again deceive the nation against Christ, only to be forever banished to the lake of fire. The wicked dead shall be raised for the Great White Throne judgement, and condemned to everlasting conscious punishment in hell. The righteous shall enjoy conscious blessedness with the Lord (John 14:3; Matthew 24:21; Revelation 19:11-16; 20:1-15; Ezekiel 39:25-29; I Thessalonians 4:15).

Banished- Verb meaning: to drive our; condemn; to exile; to expel. Revelation 20:10- “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.”