Doctrinal Statement

The Scriptures We believe the Old and New Testament to be verbally inspired by God, inerrant in the original writings, and that they are of supreme and final authority in faith and life (II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:19-21).

The Godhead We believe the Godhead eternally exists in three persons; the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections (Genesis 1:1; Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19-20; John 10:30; II Corinthians 13:14; Romans 8:9).

The Lord Jesus Christ We believe in (1) His eternal existence as God (Hebrews 1:8); (2) His incarnation by means f the virgin birth (Luke 1:35; Isaiah 7:14); (3) His death on the cross as the subsititutionary atonement for sin (Romans 3:25; Hebrews 9:14); (4) His literal bodily resurrection from the dead (Luke 24:36-43; Acts 10:40-41); (5) His present ministry of intercession in Heaven (Acts 1:9; I John 2:1; Hebrews 8:1-2); and (6) His personal return to earth (Acts 1:11; I Thessalonians 4:16; Colossians 2:9; Matthew 26:64).

The Holy Spirit We believe the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, convicts men of sin (John 16:8; Ephesians 1:13-14); regenerates, indwells, and seals (I Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 1:13-14); and sets believers apart unto a holy life; that He keeps and empowers believers day by day; that He is the teacher of the Word of God, and guide for our daily lives. Anyone who does not have the Spirit living in him is not a child of God (Romans 8:9).

Man We believe that (1) salvation is solely by grace through faith in the blood sacrifice, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of god; (2) all who receive Him are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and become children of God; (3) all who are truly saved are kept forever; (4) however, God cannot overlook sin in His children and will chasten and correct them in love.

The Church We believe that (1) the local Church is composed of regenerated, baptized believers, voluntarily united together for the purpose of worship, edification, fellowship of believers, spirtual growth and service; (2) it has been commissioned by Christ to propagate the Gospel unto the uttermost parts of the earth; (3) that the local church has absolute right of self-government, free from the interferences of any hierarchy or individuals or oganizations; and that the one and only Superintendent is Christ, through the Holy Spirit; (4) in all matters of membership, of policy of Church government, of benevolence, the will of the Church is final.

The Ordinances We believe that Christ gave only two ordinances to the Church to be ovserved “til He come.”

(1) The Lord’s Supper It was left us as an ordinance by the Lord Himself (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; Corinthians 11:23-25) for a memorial of His death until He comes, and should not be taken unadvisably, but with the examination of one’s life.

(2) Believer’s Baptism We practice baptism because of the example of our Lord Jesus Christ while He was here on earth (Matthew 3:13) and because of the command given by our Lord to baptize (Matthew 28:19). We accept immersion as the Scriptural mode of baptism.

The Second Coming We believe in the personal, premillennial return of Jesus Christ. He will come (1) for His saints to gather them unto Himself; (2) with His saints to judge the nations and establish His Messianic Kindom. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just to eternally dwell in the glory of His presence. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the unjust unto judgment and everlasting conscience punishment in the lake of fire.

Separation We believe it seems good to call the attention of believers to the Scriptural teaching which requires of them separation from all worldly practices and a wholehearted devotion unto His service and ministry.

Missions Because all men everywhere without Christ are lost and bound for eternal punishment (Romans 1:18-20), and because men cannot believe in Him of whom they have not heard (Romans 10:14), we believe that we are debtors to all men and have the responsibility of giving them the Gospel. Jesus left us the command that we should all be witnesses for Him (Acts 1:8), and should take the Good News of the Gospel to every place where men are to be found (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21). We believe that to carry out this command we must ourselves be witnesses by life and word to all lost men about us, and we must support by prayer and financial aid those who go out under sound missionary agencies to represent us in other parts of the world.