Our Beliefs

• There is only one God (the God of the Bible) and He manifests Himself in three ways; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14). He is revealed generally in creation (Psalm 19:1) and specifically in the Bible. He created the world out of no preexisting substance (Hebrews 11:3). God is unchanging (Malachi 3:6), omnipotent/all powerful (Psalm 115:3; Revelation 1:8, 19:6), omniscient/all-knowing (Psalm 139:1-4; Isaiah 40:13; 1 Corinthians 4:5), omnipresent/ever-present (Psalms 139:7-11). God is Holy (Isaiah 6:3) and love (1 John 4:8). He is good to all (Psalms 145:9; Matthew 5:45).

• He is the eternal, Son of God (John1:1; Philippians 2:5-8) who left heaven to be born of a virgin (Matthew 1:22-25; Luke 1:26-35). He was fully God (Colossians 2:9) and fully human (Hebrews 2:17). He lived a sinless life (Hebrews 4:15) and died on a cross (1 Peter 2:24) as a sacrifice for the sins of every person who ever lived (Romans 5:6-10; 1 John 2:2). He arose physically from the dead (Matthew 28:6; Acts 1:3, 10:41). He ascended into heaven 40 days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3, 9). He now reigns in heaven over His kingdom the church (Matt. 16:18-19; Acts 2:34-35; 1 Corinthians 15:25-26). He is coming again as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to claim His church (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

• He is the third Person of the Trinity—a divine Person (Hebrews 9:14) who convicts people of their sins (John 16:8). He comes to reside/indwell (John 14:16-18; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20) a person at their baptism (Acts 2:38). His ministry to the Christian is one of comfort (John 14:16) and conviction of sin or sanctification (Romans 6:19-22, 8:11-13). He produces 9 fruit or character qualities in every Christian (Galatians 5:22-23). He gifts believers for ministry (Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:7).

• We believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16). It was written by men under the direction of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21). It is the first and last authority in the church for doctrine and life.

• Forgiveness/salvation is a gift of God’s grace (Romans 3:25, 6:23) and cannot be obtained by works (Romans 3:20). Grace is God treating Jesus as people deserved to be treated so He could treat people in the way Jesus deserved to be treated (2 Corinthians 5:21). Grace is kindness or favor bestowed by God toward people when wrath is owed for sins. Works of law do not save (Romans 3:28), but obeying the gospel does save (Romans 10:16; Hebrews 5:9; 1 Peter 4:17). God our SAVIOR give us GOSPEL COMMANDS in His word to instruct us as SINNERS what we must do to be saved by Him. These commands are CONDITIONS OF SALVATION and they ARE NOT works of law which CANNOT save.

• We must place our FAITH in Jesus. Faith in Jesus is how we receive God's grace gift of salvation as opposed to works of law (Galatians 3:9-26). Faith includes assent (James 2:19) and trust (2 Corinthians 5:7). Faith in Jesus is choosing to believe what God's word says about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done on our behalf.

•After we place our Faith in Jesus, we then have to REPENT of our sins. Repentance of sin is a requisite to forgiveness and is a condition for salvation (Luke 13:3,5; Acts 17:30). Repentance is a change of mind from acceptance to rejection of sin. It is literally to know after or to rethink a past belief or action. 

• Once we have placed our FAITH in Jesus, REPENTED of our sins, we then are commanded by God to make a public CONFESSION of Jesus.  Confession of Jesus as the Christ (Acts 8:37) and Lord (Romans 10:9-10). 

• The final step in your decision to follow Jesus is to be BAPTIZED, immersed into Christ in the waters of baptism. Baptism is the time/occasion of forgiveness of sins. It is not a work of law, but a work of God (Colossians 2:12). Baptism is also the place where the Holy Spirit is received (John 3:5; Acts 2:38, 5:32; Titus 3:5). There is one baptism (Ephesians 4:5) that has two aspects—a physical aspect of being buried in water (Acts 8:38; Romans 6:3) and a spiritual aspect of being forgiven by God (John 3:5, Hebrews 10:22, 1 Peter 3:21) and added to the body of Christ—the church (1 Corinthians 12:13).

• The Church is the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23) having been purchased with Jesus’ blood (Acts 20:28). The church exists to preach Christ (Matt. 28:19-20) to every person so that they may be saved from their sins and matured in Christ (Colossians 1:28-29). The church is not governed by a synod or hierarchy but is free and autonomous, being governed by the leadership in each congregation (Ephesians 4:11-13).

• Marriage is male/female only (Genesis 2:20-24; Matthew 19:4-6). A person’s gender is the sex they were born. Living together does not constitute marriage (John 4:18). A man and a woman are married when they enter into the marriage covenant as recognized by the state in the sight of God.

• Every person is created by God in His image (Genesis 1:26-27; Psalms 139:13-16). Every person of an accountable age (Romans 4:15, 7:9-11) has sinned against God. Sin makes a person guilty (James 2:10) before God and in need of Christ’s forgiveness. There are three conditions before God; innocent, guilty, or forgiven. Children are not born with inherited guilt; they are not lost or saved but are innocent/safe. Once they reach the knowledge of understanding right/wrong, and they willfully chose to disobey the law of God, they become guilty of sin and lost in the eyes of God. The Bible does not give a specific age for accountability.

• The creation of the world was accomplished in six 24-hour days. Genesis 1 indicates the creation days had a morning and an evening and the light was called “day” and the dark “night” (Genesis 1:5). Exodus 20:8-11 compares Israel’s work week to the creation week. The Sabbath day was 24-hours long just as the creation days. If the creation days were millions of years in length the following words of Jesus make no sense, “But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female” (Mark 10:6).