“Our Purpose is People”

By Exhibiting Christ-likeness

By Equipping through Discipleship

By Engaging in Acts of Service

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s completed, written revelation of Himself to man. It is the eternal Word of God, preserved for all generations and is the perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

Ex. 24:4; Deut. 4:1-2; Ps. 19:7-10, 119:89; Prov. 30:5-6; Is. 40:8; Mat. 5:17-18; Jn. 12:44-48; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:19-21

There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being—the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing. His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, ever co-existing, equal in power and unity without division of nature, essence, or being, but with distinct, harmonious functions. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience.

Deut. 6:4; Jn. 1:1; Col. 1:16

A. God the Father

God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Deut. 32:6; Ps. 47:8, 103:13; Is. 40:28; Jer. 10:10; Mat. 5:45; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 1:3, 4:6

B. God the Son

The Lord Jesus is truly and eternally God. He has always been and never was created. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, the Son of God was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored and fulfilled the divine law by His personal obedience; and in His substitutionary death on the cross, He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is the only means of reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world in righteousness and to consummate His redemptive mission. As the Head of His church, He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.

Is. 7:14; 53:1-12; Mat. 5:17, 28:18; Jn. 1:1, 3:16-17, 10:30; Acts 4:12; Php. 2:5-11; Col. 1:13-22; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 22:7

C. God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the eternal Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration, He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

Gen. 1:2; Jn. 14:16-26, 15:2, 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 5:3-4; Rom. 12:6-8; Eph. 3:5; Titus 3:5; Heb. 9:14; 2 Pet. 1:21

Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image, subordinate and accountable to God the Creator. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. In the beginning, man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice, man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan, man transgressed the command of God and fell from his original innocence, whereby succeeding generations inherit a sin nature. All are transgressors under condemnation to eternal ruin, without defense or excuse. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.

Gen. 1:26-30, 2:5, 7, 18-22, 3:1-24, 9:6; Ps. 1:1-6, 8:1-9, 119:1-176; Dan. 12:2; Rom. 1:19-32; Eph. 2:1-22, 4:23-24; 2 Thess. 1:9

Salvation involves the redemption of sinful man, is offered freely to all, and is effectual in those who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.

Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire person to Him as Lord and Savior.

B. Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal, imputing Christ’s righteousness to all sinners who repent and believe in Him. Justification brings the believer into a relationship of peace and favor with God.

C. Sanctification is the process, beginning with regeneration, by which God sets apart the believer to His purposes, and enables the believer to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the believer’s life.

D. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final and eternal state of the redeemed.

Jn. 3:16-18, 5:24, 10:28-29; Acts 4:12, 16:30-31, 22:21; Rom. 1:16-18, 3:23-25, 5:8-10; Tit. 2:11-14

Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility.

All true believers endure in Christ to the end. That is, those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impede God’s favor, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

Mat. 21:28-45; Jn. 1:12-14, 3:16, 5:24, 6:44-45, 10:27-29, 15:16; Acts 20:32; Rom. 5:9-10, 8:28-39, 11:26-36; Eph. 1:4-21, 2:8-9; Col. 1:12-14; 2 Thess. 2:13-14; I Pet. 1:3-5

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation submits and operates under the Lordship of Christ. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are Elders (also called pastors) and Deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the offices of Elder and Deacon are limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.

Mat. 16:15-19; Acts 2:41-42, 6:3-6, 14:23, 20:28; I Cor. 7:17; Eph. 1:22-23, 2:19-22; Col. 1:18; I Tim. 3:1-15; I Pet. 5:1-4

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorializes the death of the Redeemer and anticipates His second coming.

Mat. 3:13-17, 26:26-30, 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42, 8:35-38; I Cor. 11:23-29

The first day of the week is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord’s Day should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Mat. 28:1-20; Mk. 2:27-28; Jn. 4:21-24; Acts 20:7; Rom. 14:5-10; I Cor. 16:1-2; Col. 2:16, 3:16; Heb. 10:25-26

Civil government exists by divine appointment for the benefit and good order of human society. Government officials are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored, and obeyed.  The principle exception is for matters contrary to the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Deut. 16:18; Dan. 3:15-18, 6:7-10; Ps. 2:1-12; Mat. 22:21; Acts 5:29; Rom. 13:1-7; I Tim. 2:1-4; Tit. 3:1; I Pet. 2:13; Rev. 19:16

God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.

Is. 2:4; Mat. 16:27, 19:28, 24:1-31, 25:31-46; I Cor. 15:24-58; I Thess. 4:14-18; Rev. 1:18, 3:11, 20:1-22:13

It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. The new birth of man’s spirit by God’s Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. Missionary effort on the part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.

Mat. 9:37-38, 24:14; Mk. 16:15; Jn. 17:20-21; Acts 1:8, 10:42-48, 13:2-3; Rom. 10:13-15; I Pet. 2:4-10; Rev. 22:17

God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. Christians have a spiritual debtorship to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel, and a binding stewardship of their possessions. They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time, talents, and material possessions; and should recognize all these as entrusted to them to use for the glory of God and for helping others. According to the Scriptures, Christians should contribute of their means cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately, and liberally for the advancement of the Redeemer’s cause on earth.

Deut. 8:18; Mal. 3:8-12; Mat. 6:1-4, 19-21, 23:23, 25:14-29; Lk. 12:16-21, 16:10-13; Acts 2:44-47, 20:35; Rom. 12:1-2; I Cor. 4:2, 12:1-31, 16:1-2; 2 Cor. 8:1-9:15; Php. 4:10-19

God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to picture the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

Men and women are spiritually equal in position before God, but God has ordained distinct and separate roles for men and women in marriage. Husbands are to lovingly and sacrificially lead their home, while wives are to graciously submit to the leadership of their husbands under the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.

Gen. 1:26-28, 2:15-25, 3:1-20; Josh. 24:15; Ps. 51:5, 127:1-5, 139:13-16; Prov. 18:22, 22:6, 23:13-14; I Cor. 7:1-16; Eph. 5:21-33, 6:1-4; Col. 3:18-21; I Tim. 5:8; Heb. 13:4; I Pet. 3:1-7

We believe that marriage is the exclusive, covenant relationship between one man and one woman and that God intends sexual intimacy to only occur between a man and a woman joined in marriage. We believe that marriage is symbolic of the mysterious union between Christ and the church. We also believe that God creates each person with an immutable biological sex—male or female—that reflects the image and nature of God. 

Gen.1:26-27, 2:24, 19:5, 13, 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom. 1:26-29; I Cor. 5:1; 6:9; Eph. 5:23-32; 1 Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4

We believe that God endows all human life with inherent dignity at every stage of development and that human life should be respected from conception to natural death. Further, because we are created in the image of God, we believe that every person must be afforded compassion, kindness and respect. We also believe that the greatest commandments are (1) to love God and (2) to love our neighbors as ourselves. Therefore, we believe that we should demonstrate love toward all people.

Job 3:16; Ps. 51:5, 139:14-16; Mat. 22:36-40; Mk. 12:28-31; Luke 1:44, 6:31