We are a community united by our love for Scripture, our commitment to one another, and our passion for sharing the gospel. Below we explain why these characteristics are core to our identity as a church family, and then describe the doctrinal positions we hold to from God’s Word.
Our Core Values
Three characteristics that set us apart and define our mission
Understanding God’s Word
We center our worship on the clear, verse-by-verse, expository preaching of Scripture. We believe the job of the preacher is to explain the Bible clearly and faithfully — not to set it aside in favor of shallow stories or man’s opinions, and not to twist it to fit our preferences. The Word of God taught in a deep and accurate way and then obeyed results in salvation, spiritual growth, changed lives, and true worship (2 Timothy 2:15).
Unity in Purpose
As the body of Christ, we need each other. No one sits on the sidelines—we all are called by God to serve one another in love, pursue deep relationships, use our spiritual gifts to build one another up, and walk through life together, even beyond Sunday mornings (Romans 12:4-5).
Unleashing the Gospel
We see ourselves as missionaries to Central Jersey. Because God sovereignly uses His church to bring people to faith, we pursue evangelism through formal outreach, global missions partnerships, and intentional hospitality in our daily lives (Romans 10:14-17).
Our Core Beliefs
An easy-to-read and concise summary of what we believe
The Bible
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.
God
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.
Salvation
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.
The Church
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.
Our Full Statement of Faith
Read our complete 14-page Statement of Faith for a more complete description of our doctrinal positions.
Want to Learn More?
Join us on Sunday to experience what we believe in practice.