God

We believe...

that there is one God. He is infinite in power, knowledge and wisdom. He is personal; He has thoughts and plans, emotions, and will (the making and carrying out of decisions). He is not an impersonal “force”. He is knowable, and in fact, desires for us to know Him in a personal relationship. He loves us, inclusively and individually. He created everything that exists. He made everything visible and physical, along with the invisible world (our spirits and hearts as well as angels).

God is only one, but in a way that is beyond our understanding. This one God exists in three persons, who are equally and eternally God, yet distinct one from the other. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have always lived together in a relationship of love – an eternal relationship that had no beginning, but has always been. Each of the three persons of the one true God, had a special part in making it possible for humans to enter into a relationship with this relational, knowable God.

We believe...

that God the Father chose all who believe in Jesus, to be members of His family. He is the Father of all who believe in Jesus, though He is not the Father of all people. Some are not in His family. Those who belong to Him can know that He controls, decides, and orchestrates all events and circumstances, both good and bad, pleasurable and difficult, in such a way that the final outcome is only good and to the accomplishment of His purposes. This purpose is that we should be made more and more in moral development, character, and spiritual growth, like His Son, our Savior Jesus.

Jesus Christ

We believe...

that Jesus Christ is God the Son; “God was revealed in the flesh” in Him. “Jesus” is the name given to God the Son, when in a moment in time, born of a virgin, He took a fully human nature. He was from that moment, and will be forever, fully God and at the same time fully human. He existed from all eternity; He created the world. He came to earth and became the “God-man” to show us what God is like. He came to teach us about life. He came to be compassionate. However, His primary purpose was to give Himself in a moment in history as a sacrificial offering for the sins of men. When Jesus gave Himself to die for us on the cross, He died a sacrificial death that was a bearing of a punishment due us (penal). His death was in our place; He died in our stead so we would not have to suffer this penalty (substitutionary). He died to satisfy the holy demands of a righteous God that required a payment for sins (propitiatory), having paid the debt of wrath due us (redemptive). He made possible peace and relationship with God (reconciliation). He rose bodily from the tomb on the third day. He ascended to heaven where He is exalted today at the Father’s right hand. He is coming again to the earth where He will reign as King of Kings.

Holy Spirit

We believe...

that the Holy Spirit is with the Father and with the Son, God. He is a person, not a force. We speak of “Him” not “It.” He is the One who gives new spiritual life to spiritual dead and indifferent hearts. He is the One who made those who believe in Jesus as Savior, first feel a need for Him and for the forgiveness He offers. He is the One who encourages and enables us to believe in Christ. He lives in the inner person of all who are believers in Christ. He encourages us to love the Father and the Son and to trust the promises of the Bible. His presence guarantees that all who have received new life through faith in Jesus, will remain forever believers and members of God’s family, and that we have been sealed until the day of redemption.

He gives power to live a life in accordance with God’s will, to live a life of holiness. He gives to each believer the capability to do one or more of the many different tasks that there are to do in God’s kingdom (i.e. teaching others God’s word, encouraging the weary, organizing the unfolding of activities, praying, sharing with generosity, etc.) God does not give people today the ability to do some things that He enabled people to do long ago (such as be an apostle, or write inspired scripture) but every Christian has the ability to do something- an ability the Holy Spirit gives.

All believers in Christ – those who have received the gift of eternal life – have been “baptized” by the Spirit. This term means that the Holy Spirit has given us a new life that is nothing less than being “raised from the dead” spiritually, just as Jesus was physically. His permanent and indwelling presence has rendered our “old life’ (life-style, values, thinking that expressed independence from God) obsolete or “dead”, to use biblical language. He has also by this baptism, linked us in a vital, spiritual union and relationship with all other true Christians, who also share this new life and power; together we are now like parts of a body, or members of a family. This baptism, this identification and linkage, is true of all Christians from the moment one receives the gift of salvation.

The Bible

We believe...

that the Bible is unique among all books or writings in existence. It is unique in remarkable ways. All the words found in the Bible are written by many different people across many centuries are the very words God intended to have written. It is God’s written revelation to us. It contains no mistakes or errors in all it declares. It is how we know what we know about God, life, ourselves, the past, and the future. God has not told us all we might like to know, but all He has revealed in the Bible is true. And He has told us all we need to know to live a full and holy life of trust in what He has written. Those who wrote the Bible (expressing as they wrote, with their own unique personalities and thoughts) were guided by God to write the very words that God wanted written. When all of the Bible was written, there was, and is, no longer any need for God to add inspired messages. It has all been written. The Bible is our final authority for all we believe, and how we live and make choices.

The Human Race

We believe...

that human beings are not the latest developments of billions of years of evolutionary struggle. Humans were created (along with everything else) directly by God and have a physical as well as an immaterial, spiritual component. Humans were created uniquely in the “image of God.” Human beings have a need for meaning and significance and were created to find this ultimately in God.

“Sin” is a term that refers to the state of independence from God, of rebellion against God, and of moral incapacitation as well as specific expressions of this state, in thought, word, or action. All men and women are born in this state of spiritual independence from God. The Bible says that all are born into the world physically alive, but spiritually dead. “Dead” means separated from God. Because of this, all people are “sinners.” This term means that all are incapable of meeting, not to mention, maintaining the standard of God’s righteousness. We don’t perfectly do what is right, and we regularly think, say, or do what is wrong, because there is something spiritually wrong with us. Because of our moral failure we are also guilty before God. Unless this state is altered during one’s lifetime, he will die and be separated from God forever in pain and darkness.

We believe...

that because of Jesus’ death on the cross as payment for our sin, God offers to all freely the gift of “salvation.” This gift of salvation includes a free and total forgiveness for all sin, past, present, and yet uncommitted. It includes reconciliation with the holy God and an end to and independent life from God. It includes the presence of the Holy Spirit to encourage, strengthen, and guide in life’s choices. It includes membership into the family of God. It includes the guarantee of entering heaven one day. All of these things are included in the gift, and the gift is totally free. It cannot be obtained by doing good deeds, being morally good, or performing religious acts of ceremonies. It can only be received by faith. Faith is understanding the gift, feeling the need for this gift and receiving it as it is offered – freely. All who receive this gift immediately receive the benefits listed. The moment the gift is received by faith, he who receives it is “born again” (spiritually renewed and made alive) and “justified” (forgiven, exonerated, seen as judiciously not guilty, and as righteous). They are also secured by the Holy Spirit in such a way that he can never loose those benefits, but rather, he is certain to one day be present with all God’s family in His glorious presence. Those who receive this indescribably precious gift of salivation will not be able to remain the same as before; having forgiveness and God’s power within, they will change and begin to be more and more what God desires.

We believe...

that Jesus has provided those who belong to Him with two “helps”, aids in confirming to our minds, our souls, and to others, what has taken place in our lives and what we have in Jesus. These two aids are baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is a ceremony in which the believer is placed under water and helped up again to depict and confirm that his old life had died, been buried, and that he is risen, a new creation in Christ. The Lord’s Supper is a ceremony for believers to remember, reflect and affirm that we have forgiveness and new life because Jesus died and rose again. It is only symbolic, but it is also an expression of obedience to Jesus. To observe it is an essential element in a walk of faith.

We believe...

that all those who have accepted Jesus as Savior – all who are “reborn” by the Holy Spirit –are related to each in significant ways. They are together like members of a family, like parts of a body, like bricks in a building, like soldiers in and army. Together, all believers in Jesus around the world and through the centuries, since the day of Pentecost until the second coming, make up the Church. It is called in its totality the “Body of Christ” or the “Bride of Christ”.

The Church

We believe...

the purpose of the individual churches are for the praise and worship of God in Jesus, teaching and preaching the scripture, building up others in their faith, caring for one another, and helping others come to faith in Jesus.

Each individual church may decide its own course and govern its own operation under God, with Christ as its head, through the consent of its members under the guidance of its leaders.

The pattern in the Bible is for each church to be led by elders – a group of mature, trained men responsible for the direction, nurturing and discipline of the members. These elders are equal in authority and servants in attitude and practice.

God’s Plan for the Future

We believe...

Jesus Christ is coming back to earth. Our world is heading toward a time of global calamity and suffering. But Jesus is coming to take His own to be with Him. On earth He will establish a kingdom of righteousness and peace for 1000 years. After the judgment of those who will be forever lost He will bring a new heaven and new earth. We live and work in constant light of this expectation and hope.