Statement of Faith
(What we Believe)
The Scriptures
We
believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the
Bible, as it is in truth, the Word of God... (I Thessalonians 2:13). We
believe in verbal, plenary inspiration in the original writings, and
God's preservation of His pure words to every generation (II Timothy
3:16, Psalms 12:6-8). The Masoretic Text of the Old Testament and the
Received Text of the New Testament (Textus Receptus) are those texts of
the original languages we accept and use; the King James Version of the
Bible is the only English version we accept and use. The Bible is our
sole authority for faith and practice.
The Godhead
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).

The Person and Work of Christ
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, 14; Luke 1:35; Isaiah 9:6; 7:14; Philippians
2:5-8; Galatians 4:4-5).
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ
accomplished our redemption through His finished work 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 2:24; Ephesians 1:7; I Peter 1:3-5).
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, 7:25; Romans 8:34; I John 2:1-2).

The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
We
believe that the Holy Spirit is the Person who reproves 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 unto the day of redemption (John 16:8-11;
II Corinthians 3:6; I Corinthians 12:12-14; Romans 8:9; Ephesians
1:13-14).
We believe that the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit,
such as speaking in tongues and the gift 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 13:8; Hebrews 2:3-4; Mark 16:17-20; I Corinthians
1:22, 14:21-22).

Man
We believe that man was
created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam's sin the
race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God;
and that man is totally depraved, and, of himself, utterly unable to
remedy his lost condition (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:22-23; Ephesians
2:1-3, 12).
The sacredness of human personality is evident in
that God created man in His own image and is mindful of him, and in
that Christ died for man; therefore every individual possesses dignity
and is worthy of respect and Christian love. (Psalm 8:4-9; Colossians
3:9-11).

The Way of Salvation
We believe
that the clear message of salvation is “repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). We believe that salvation
is "by grace" plus nothing minus nothing. We believe that men are
justified by faith alone and are accounted righteous before God only
through the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (Ephesians
2:8-10; John 1:12; I Peter 1:18-19)
We believe that all the
redeemed, once saved are kept by God's power and are thus secure in
Christ forever. We believe that eternal life is the present possession
of every believer (John 6:37-40, 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38-39; I
Corinthians 1:4-8; I Peter 1:4-5; Jude 1, 2).

The Church
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 began with Christ and the Apostles, was
empowered at Pentecost, and will be caught up to be with Christ at the
Rapture (Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:25-27; I Corinthians 12:12-14; II
Corinthians 11:2).
We believe that the establishment and
continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New
Testament Scriptures (Acts 14:27; 20:17, 28-32; I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus
1:5-11).
We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any
external authority or control (Acts 13:1-4, 15:19-31, 20:28; Romans
16:1, 4; I Corinthians 3:9, 16, 5:4-7, 13; I Peter 5:1-4).

The Ordinances of the Church
We
recognize the ordinances of baptism by immersion in water and the
Lord's Supper as a Scriptural means of testimony for the Church in this
age (Matthew. 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42, 18:18; I Corinthians 11:23-26).

Biblical Separation
We
believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring
reproach upon their Savior and Lord; and, that separation from all
religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and
associations is commanded of God (II Timothy 3:1-5; Romans 12:1, 2,
14:13; I John 2:15-17; II John 9-11; II Corinthians 6:14-7:1).

The Return of Christ
We
believe the "Blessed Hope" of our Lord's return is literal, personal,
visible, imminent, premillennial, and pretribulational. He will rapture
His Church prior to the seven years of tribulation, and at the end of
the tribulation Christ will return with His saints to establish His
thousand-year reign on the earth. (I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus 2:13;
I Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 3:10; Zechariah 14:4-11; Revelation
19:11-16, 20:1-6; Psalm 89:3-4)

Our Eternal State
We
believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal
life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment (Matthew
25:46; John 5:28, 29, 11:25-26; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-13).
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).
We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with 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; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Mark 9:43-48; Revelation 20:11-15).