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Statement of Faith

We believe the Bible to be the fully inspired and completely authoritative written Word of God to mankind. The words of the Bible, both Old and New Testament, constitute God’s special revelation given by a process in which the Holy Spirit so guided the human authors that, through their individual personalities and different styles of writing, they composed and recorded God’s Word to mankind without error. These 66 books of Scripture constitute the believer’s only infallible standard of faith and practice.

We believe that there is but one living and true God. He is the almighty, eternal, unchanging creator of all that is. He is absolutely separate from the world as its creator—perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, justice, goodness and truth—yet He is everywhere present in the world as the upholder of all things. We believe that God is one in essence, but eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We believe in God the Father, the first person of the Trinity. It is He who orders and brings to pass all things according to His own purpose and grace. As the absolute and highest Ruler in the universe He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption.

We believe that Jesus Christ is God, the second person of the trinity. He is the eternal Son of God and the virgin-born Son of Man. Jesus Christ was God incarnate, who fulfilled the purpose of revealing God and redeeming men and women. It is He who rules over God’s kingdom. Although He was fully man, He was also fully God and so was without sin in nature and lived a sinless life.

We believe that Jesus Christ, by virtue of his sinless life, miraculous ministry, and substitutionary death, satisfied divine justice concerning sin and thereby accomplished fully the work of redemption.

We believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave, by which God confirmed both the deity of Christ and his acceptance of the atoning work of Christ on the cross. His resurrection is the beginning of a new creation and the guarantee of the future resurrection to life of all believers.

We believe that Christ is the only Mediator between God and man, the Head of His body, the Church. He is the coming universal King who will reign on the throne of David. He is the all sufficient savior of all who place their trust in Him for salvation.

We believe that the Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the trinity. We affirm His sovereign activity in creation, the incarnation, the written revelation of scripture, and the work of salvation. The work of the Holy Spirit in the believer involves that of regeneration, baptism into the body of Christ, indwelling, sanctifying, instructing, and empowering for witness and service. The Holy Spirit administers spiritual gifts to the members of the church to glorify Christ and to implement His work of redeeming the lost and building up believers in the faith.

We believe that man and woman were created by God, made in the image of God, and created as the crowning highlight of all that God created. Man and woman were created by God free from sin, wholly good and morally responsible to God. They were created with the divine intention that they should glorify God, enjoy fellowship with God, and fulfill God’s will and purposes on the earth.

We believe that marriage finds its origin, design, and meaning in the wisdom and decree of God. This is an aspect of his intended order for creation (Genesis 1 and 2). By God’s good design, marriage is an exclusive union between one man and one woman (Gen. 2:24-25; Matt. 19:4-5). God intended marriage to be a life-long covenant (Proverbs 2:16-17; Malachi 2:14; Matthew 19:6). We believe that marriage is a profound and mysterious relationship that reflects God’s relationship with His church through Jesus Christ (Eph. 5:31-32). God designed sexual relations to be exclusively reserved for this marriage relationship.

We believe that man and woman, though created wholly good, in God’s image, fell into sin by a voluntary act of personal disobedience to the revealed will of God. As a consequence, man and woman experienced God’s judgment in spiritual and physical death. The impact of this fall into sin has extended through Adam to all of subsequent humanity, to whom is imputed both the guilt and the penalty of the sin of Adam. Men and woman are therefore hopelessly lost apart from the salvation which is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe that the provision for salvation has been accomplished by Jesus Christ alone, through His death on the cross and His resurrection. This salvation consists in the satisfaction of divine justice, the forgiveness of sins, the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, the gift of eternal life, as well as every spiritual resource needed for life and godliness. This salvation is received by grace through faith, apart from any virtue or work of the individual. This salvation produces in the life of the believer the fruit of a transformed character (in the image of Christ) and righteous living as well as good works. The believer will experience these realities of salvation in life as he or she develops a life of fellowship with Christ, submitting to the control of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that all who have placed their faith in Christ are united together by the Holy Spirit in one spiritual body, the Church, of which Christ is the head. We believe that the interaction of the members of Christ’s body together in loving community is the greatest validation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is therefore imperative that the believers in Christ break through common social barriers and establish real and tangible fellowship of mutual ministry to one another. We believe that through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, God gifts each believer and thus enables them to minister within the Body of Christ for the strengthening of the entire Body. The ministry of each member of the Body is essential to the effective growth of the Church.

We believe in the physical return of Jesus Christ for which all believers are instructed to actively watch and pray. We believe in the resurrection of the dead—the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to the judgment of God.

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