What We Believe

What We Believe

Our Mission

Our mission is to be a loving church dedicated to bringing people to Jesus Christ, helping them to find and use their God given talents and gifts to glorify God, and raising them up in a Christ-like maturity to further God’s kingdom.

We believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, being in its entirety a revelation given to man under divine inspiration and providence; that its historic statements are correct, and that it is the only divine and infallible standard of faith and practice.

What We Believe, As Revealed In The Bible

  • In One God, our Father, eternal, and infinite in his wisdom, love and power, the Creator of all things, “in whom we live, and move, and have our being.”
  • And in Jesus Christ, our Lord, the only begotten Son of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; who came into our world to seek and to save that which was lost; who died for our sins; who was raised bodily from the dead for our justification; who ascended in heaven as our High Priest and Mediator, and who will come again in the end of this age, to judge the living and the dead, and to reign forever and ever. 
  • And in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, sent from God to convince the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, whereby we are sanctified and sealed unto the day of redemption.
  • We believe that man was created for immortality, but that through sin he forfeited his divine birthright; that because of sin, death entered into the world, and passed upon all men; and that only through faith in Jesus Christ, the divinely ordained Life-giver, can men become “partakers of the divine nature,” and live forever.

The Scriptures Inspired

The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are verbally inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct. 

  • 2 Timothy 3:15-17 
  • Thessalonians 2:13 
  • Peter 1:21 

The Fall Of Man

Man was created good and upright; for God said, “Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness.” However, man by voluntary transgression fell and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God.

  • Genesis 1:26,27 
  • Genesis 2:17 
  • Genesis 3:6 
  • Romans 5:12-19 

The Salvation Of Man

Man’s only hope of redemption is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Conditions To Salvation

Salvation is received through repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, being justified by grace through faith, man becomes an heir of God, according to the hope of eternal life.

  • Luke 24:47 
  • John 3:3 
  • Romans 10:13-15 
  • Ephesians 2:8 
  • Titus 2:11 
  • Titus 3:5-7 

The Evidence Of Salvation

The inward evidence of salvation is the direct witness of the Spirit.

  • Romans 8:16 

The outward evidence to all men is a life of righteousness and true holiness.

  • Ephesians 4:22-24 
  • Titus 2:11-12 

The Ordinances Of The Church

BAPTISM IN WATER

The ordinance of baptism by immersion is commanded by the Scriptures. All who repent and believe on Christ as Savior and Lord are to be baptized. Thus, they declare to the world that they have died with Christ and that they also have been raised with Him to walk in newness of life.

  • Matthew 28:19 
  • Mark 16:16 
  • Acts 10:47,48 
  • Romans 6:4 

HOLY COMMUNION

The Lord’s Supper, consisting of the elements –bread and the fruit of the vine– is the symbol expressing our sharing the divine nature of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:4 ), a memorial of his suffering and death (1 Corinthians 11:26 ), and a prophecy of His second coming (1 Corinthians 11:26 ), and is enjoined on all believers “till He come!”

THE BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

All believers are entitled to and should ardently expect and earnestly seek the promise of the Father, the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire, according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the normal experience of all in the early Christian Church. With it comes the enduement of power for life and service, the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry.

  • Luke 24:49 
  • Acts 1:4 
  • Acts 1:8 
  • 1 Corinthians 12:1-31 

This experience is distinct from and subsequent to the experience of the new birth.

  • Acts 8:12-17 
  • Acts 10:44-46 
  • Acts 11:14-16 
  • Acts 15:7-9 

With the baptism in the Holy Spirit come such experiences as:

  • an overflowing fullness of the Spirit, John 7:37-39, Acts 4:8
  • a deepened reverence for God, Acts 2:43, Hebrews 12:28 
  • an intensified consecration to God and dedication to His work, Acts 2:42 
  • and a more active love for Christ, for His Word and for the lost, Mark 16:20 

SANCTIFICATION

Sanctification is an act of separation from that which is evil, and of dedication unto God.

  • Romans 12:1,2 
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:23 
  • Hebrews 13:12 

The Scriptures teach a life of “holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.”

  • Hebrews 12:14 

By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are able to obey the command: “Be ye holy, for I am holy.”

  • 1 Peter 1:15,16 

Sanctification is realized in the believer by recognizing his identification with Christ in His death and resurrection, and by the faith reckoning daily upon the fact of that union, and by offering every faculty continually to the dominion of the Holy Spirit.

  • Romans 6:1-11 
  • Romans 6:13 
  • Romans 8:1,2 
  • Romans 8:13 
  • Galatians 2:20 
  • Philippians 2:12,13 
  • 1 Peter 1:5 

The Church And Its Mission

The Church is the Body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit, with divine appointments for the fulfillment of her great commission. Each believer, born of the Spirit, is an integral part of the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven.

  • Ephesians 1:22,23 
  • Ephesians 2:22 
  • Hebrews 12:23 

Since God’s purpose concerning man is to seek and to save that which is lost, to be worshipped by man, to build a body of believers in the image of His Son, and to demonstrate His love and compassion for all the world, the priority reason for being part of the Church is:

  • To be an agency of God for evangelizing the world.
    • Acts 1:8
    • Matthew 28:19,20
    • Mark 16:15,16 
  • To be a corporate body in which man may worship God.  
    • 1 Corinthians 12:13 
  • To be a channel of God’s purpose to build a body of saints being perfected in the image of His Son.
    • Ephesians 4:11-16
    • 1 Corinthians 12:28
    • 1 Corinthians 14:12 
  • To be a people who demonstrate God’s love and compassion for all the world.
    • Psalms 112:9
    • Galatians 2:10; 6:10
    • James 1:27 

THE MINISTRY

A divinely called and scripturally ordained ministry has been provided by our Lord for the fourfold purpose of leading the Church in:

  • Evangelization of the world.
    • Mark 16:15-20 
  • Worship of God.
    • John 4:23,24 
  • Building a body of saints being perfected in the image of His Son.
    • Ephesians 4:11-16 
  • Meeting human need with ministries of love and compassion.
    • Psalms 112:9 
  • Galatians 2:10; 6:10 
    • James 1:27 

DIVINE HEALING

Divine healing is an integral part of the gospel. Deliverance from sickness is provided for in the atonement and is the privilege of all believers.

  • Isaiah 53:4,5 
  • Matthew 8:16,17 
  • James 5:14-16 

THE BLESSED HOPE

The resurrection of those who have fallen asleep in Christ and their translation together with those who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord is the imminent and blessed hope of the church.

  • 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 
  • Romans 8:23 
  • Titus 2:13 
  • 1 Corinthians 15:51,52 

THE FINAL JUDGMENT

There will be a final judgment in which the wicked dead will be raised and judged according to their works. Whosoever is not found written in the Book of Life, together with the devil and his angels, the beast and the false prophet, will be consigned to the everlasting punishment in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

  • Matthew 25:46 
  • Mark 9:43-48 
  • Revelation 19:20 
  • Revelation 20:11-15 
  • Revelation 21:8 

In Addition…

  • We believe that salvation is free to all those who, in this life and in this age, accept it on the conditions imposed, which conditions are simple and inflexible, namely, turning from sin, repentance toward God, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a life of consecration to the service of God; thus excluding all hope of a future probation, or of universal salvation.
  • We believe that Jesus Christ, according to his promise, will come again to this earth, even “in like manner” as he went into heaven – personally, visibly and gloriously – to reign here forever; and that this coming is the hope of the church, inasmuch as upon that coming depend the resurrection and reward of the righteous, the abolition of sin and its consequences, and the renewal of the earth – now marred by sin – to become the eternal home of the redeemed, after which event the earth will be forever free from sin and death.
  • We believe that Bible prophecy has indicated the approximate time of Christ’s return; and comparing its testimony with the signs of our times, we are confident that He is near, “even at the doors,” and we believe that the great duty of the hour is the proclamation of this soon-coming redemption, the defense of Bible authority, inspiration and truth, and the salvation of lost men.
  • We believe the church of Christ is an institution of divine origin, which includes all true Christians, of whatever name; but that local church organizations should be independent of outside control, congregational in government, and subject to no dictation of priest, bishop or pope – although true fellowship and unity of action should exist between all such organizations.
  • We believe that the only ordinances of the church of Christ are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper; immersion being the only true baptism.
  • We believe that the first day of the week, as the day set apart by the early church in commemoration of Christ’s resurrection and used as a day of rest and spiritual worship.