Our Beliefs

Quality

We believe that the Bible, in its 66 books, is God’s written revelation to man, verbally inspired in every word, absolutely inerrant in the original documents, infallible, God-breathed, and the totally sufficient final authority in life.

Interpretation and Preaching

We believe that the Word of God is an objective, propositional revelation and that each passage has many applications but only one true interpretation. The proper meaning of Scripture is to be found as one diligently applies the literal grammatical-historical method of interpretation under the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit by considering, in proper historical and grammatical context, what the original author would have intended and what the original hearers would have understood.

Sovereignty of God

We believe in the absolute sovereignty of the Triune God.

God as the Trinity

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Person of Jesus Christ

We believe in the essential deity of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His crucifixion, His death, His physical resurrection, His ascension into heaven, and His present life there as our High Priest and Advocate.

Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person indwelling all believers. His baptism is the sovereign work of God that occurs at the moment of conversion whereby the Holy Spirit places believers permanently in the body of Christ.

Creation

We believe that the universe was created by God in six literal, 24-hour days.

Condition of Mankind

We believe in the total depravity of all mankind and the necessity of regeneration through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.

The Atonement

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins and that, with His shed blood, He obtained for us an eternal redemption.

Faith

We believe that salvation is the free gift of God received entirely apart from works and possessed permanently by all who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

Justification

We believe that justification is an act of God in which a sinner, who repents of his sins through faith in Christ, is declared righteous before God by a dual exchange in which his sins are imputed to Christ and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to him.

Election

We believe that election is the act of God by which, before the foundation of the world, He chose in Christ those whom He graciously regenerates, saves, and sanctifies. The unmerited favor that God grants to totally depraved sinners is not related to any initiative on their own parts or to God’s anticipation of what they might do by their own wills, but is solely of His sovereign grace and mercy. This does not contradict or negate the responsibility of man to repent and trust Christ as Savior and Lord.

Security

We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever.

Sanctification

We believe that salvation is by faith alone, entirely apart from works, but that all true saving faith will gradually bear the fruit of progressive holiness, separating the believer from sin and making him more like Jesus Christ.

Christ’s Return

We believe in the personal, futuristic premillennial, and imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Resurrection and Judgment

We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the just and the unjust: the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment in hell.

Identity and Practice

We believe that the church is comprised solely of repentant sinners who confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and submit to His rule and authority as set forth in the Scriptures. We believe that the purpose of the church is to glorify God by building itself up in the faith, by instruction of the Word, by fellowship, by keeping the ordinances, and by advancing and communicating the gospel to the entire world. We believe that every believer is called to the work of service and is uniquely empowered by the Holy Spirit to do so.

Spiritual Gifts

We believe that God the Holy Spirit is sovereign in bestowing all His gifts for the perfecting of the saints and that speaking in tongues, the interpretation of tongues, gifts of miracles, and gifts of healings were given in the beginning days of the church to point to the judgment of the unbelieving nation of Israel, to signal the inclusion of Gentiles in the gospel offer, and to authenticate the apostles as revealers of divine truth. These gifts fulfilled their purpose and are no longer in operation today. The only gifts in operation today are those whose purposes have not yet been fulfilled: prophecy (non-revelatory, i.e. preaching), teaching, exhortation, helps/ministering, mercy, leading/administration/rule, faith, giving, discernment, word of knowledge, and word of wisdom.

Ordinances

We believe that water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances to be observed by the Church during the present age. They are, however, not to be regarded as means or necessary components of salvation.

Baptism

We believe that baptism by immersion is to take place for every believer after salvation and that it is the solemn and beautiful testimony of a believer showing forth his faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior. In baptism, the believer confesses union with Christ in death to sin and resurrection to a new life.