Our Beliefs
These are the essential doctrines that we believe. We pray that this statement of faith is helpful to you. This statement is not designed to be exhaustive, but clarifying, so we can walk in unity and love as Christ prayed in John 17.
Statement of Faith
The Bible
We believe that the Bible is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:15-17) in its entirety, and is without error in the original autographs, and is the complete and final written revelation from God. (2 Peter 1:21)
God
We believe that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4), who is eternal and immutable, and manifests Himself in three distinct Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Genesis 1:1; Matthew 28:19; John 10:30)
The person of Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah (John 1:36-42), born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:34-35), completely sinless (Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 7:26), God in human flesh (John 1:1 & 14; John 20:28), the One who died on the cross for the sins of the world (1 Corinthians 15:3; Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 2:9), was buried (John 19:40-42), rose again from the dead on the third day (John 2:19; 1 Corinthians 15:4), and ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven, where He now intercedes (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25) for us who believe in Him. (Mark 16:19; Acts 7:56; 1 Timothy 2:5)
Christ's
Return
We believe that Jesus Christ will return in the clouds to rapture His church before the tribulation that is coming upon the whole earth (John 14:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), and that He will return to the earth in the Second Coming with His saints and all His holy angels to the earth at the end of the tribulation to set up His kingdom. (Matthew 24:29-31; Revelation 20:1-6)
Human
Nature
We believe that all humanity is lost and born with a sinful nature, and can only be saved by a personal faith in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and not by any human merit or performance. (John 3:16-19; John 5:24; Romans 3:10; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:8-9; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:5)
Human Design
We believe that all human beings are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and are therefore image-bearers, loved by God, possessing inherent value and worth, and God seeks to enjoy them and to have them enjoy Him in eternity. (John 3:16)
Salvation
We believe that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15) and that by faith in Him alone (Eph 2:8-9; Acts 4:12), man can be reconciled to God through His sacrifice. He calls all, no matter the severity of their sins, to repent of those sins (Luke 13:3; Acts 17:30-31) (1 John 1:9), and to turn to Him in faith by believing and confessing Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9) by which He grants them forgiveness and eternal life.
Powers of Darkness
We believe in a real and literal devil, called Satan, who, along with all his fallen angels, demons, and evil spirits, are destined to spend eternity in hell, and now seek to deceive the world, defeat the believers, and destroy the work of God, but can be resisted by believers, who are protected by God, the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Jesus Christ our Lord (Genesis 3:1; Job 1:6-12; Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 22:31-32; 1 John 4:4; Revelation 20:10)
Eternity
We believe that heaven is a real and literal place where the saved will dwell forever, and that hell is a literal place of torment where unbelievers will reside forever. (John 14:1-3; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:5)
Baptism
We believe that after salvation, believers are to be baptized by water (Matthew 28:18-20) as a testimony to God, the Church and the spiritual and physical worlds that their identity is now in Christ through his death, burial and resurrection. Water baptism is not a requirement for salvation by grace through faith, but is a pledge of a good conscience to God. (1 Peter 3:21)
The Lord's Supper
We believe that believers (1 Corinthians 11:23-28; 2 Corinthians 13:5) are to partake in the Lord’s Supper, also known as communion. This symbolic meal is to be shared only by believers as a remembrance of the body and blood of Christ which ratified the New Covenant between God and man through Jesus. (Matthew 26:26-30)
Assurance of Salvation
We believe that genuine believers are born again by the Holy Spirit of God, and are indwelt, baptized into the body of Christ, the true Church, and sealed by the Holy Spirit, and thus, unable to be separated from the love of Jesus Christ. (John 3:1-6; Acts 1:4-5; Romans 8:35-39; Ephesians 1:13-14)
The Power of the Spirit
We believe that all believers need to be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live a godly life and to be bold in our witness for the Lord. (Romans 8:13-14; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Ephesians 4:30; Ephesians 5:18)
The Fruit and Gifts of the Spirit
We believe in the spiritual unity of all genuine believers in the Lord Jesus Christ which is manifested by the use of spiritual gifts and evidenced by the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s presence through His love. (1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 4:8-12)
Israel
We believe that Israel has a special place in God’s plan-past, present and future, and that all of the promises of God to Israel will be fulfilled both now and at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to establish His millennial reign. (Genesis 12:1-3; Romans 11:1-36)
Sex and Procreation
We believe that the human race was created as male and female by a direct act of God to fully reveal His image and so that both male and female united produce life. (Genesis 1:26-28)
God's Design of Covenant Marriage
We believe marriage was and is an institution ordained by God as a sacred covenantal union between a man and a woman, and that a marriage covenant is a reflection of the covenant between Christ and His Church (Ephesians 5:22-33). Scripture therefore limits sexual relations to monogamous, heterosexual marriage only. (Genesis 2:24)
Marriage Vows and Sanctity
We believe that the vows of a marriage covenant shall be entered into only where the proposed covenantal union is in compliance with the Word of God. As a result, any proposed marriage between men and women of the same sex is in violation of God’s Word and His sovereign design for marriage and is therefore sin. (Genesis 4:1; Matthew 19:4-6; Romans 1:21-27)
Children- both born and not yet born.
We believe that all children, including the unborn, are God’s image bearers, because Scripture designates unborn babies as children from the moment of conception by using the same terms for children, both when in the womb and after the moment of birth. Therefore unborn children possess inherent value and worth, and abortion in all its forms is morally unjustified and is the indefensible taking of human life; in short, abortion is murder. (Psalm 139:15-16; Jeremiah 1:5)