The Bible
We believe in the verbal-plenary inspiration by God of the original manuscripts of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, and that they are inerrant and infallible in all matters.
The Trinity
We believe that the one true and living God is One in essence, possessing three eternal, personal distinctions which are revealed to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in every divine perfection, yet executing distinct but harmonious offices.
Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary; that He is One Person possessing two natures and thus is true God and true man; that He lived a sinless life and gave Himself as a perfect substitutionary Sacrifice for the sins of all men; that He arose bodily from the grave, ascended into heaven where He is seated on the right hand of God, interceding for His people, and will return to earth in keeping with His promises.
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Triune Godhead; that He has been and will continue to be active throughout eternity; that, in gracious dealing with mankind, He has inspired the writing of the Scriptures; that He is in the world today convincing men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; that He is calling out a people for God among the Jews and Gentiles; that He regenerates those who believe, places them into the Body of Christ, indwells them, and produces in them the fruit of the Spirit; and that He calls individuals to Christian service and empowers and directs them in that service.
Creation
We accept the Genesis account as being a historical record of Creation and believe that the universe with all that is in it was created by God, not produced by some process of evolution.
The Spirit Realm
We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless beings known as angels; that many of these continue in their holy state and are the ministers of God; that Lucifer (now known as Satan or the Devil) and many others rebelled against God; that these fallen angels, though defeated in the cross of Christ, still continue to oppose God and His work; and that they will ultimately be judged by God and cast into the Lake of Fire to suffer everlasting punishment, which is their righteous due.
Man
We believe that man was originally created in the image and after the likeness of God; that through uncoerced disobedience Adam fell from his original state, became totally depraved in nature, was separated from God, and came under condemnation and the sentence of death; and that, because of the unity of the human race and the natural headship of Adam, all men (Jesus Christ is the only exception) are born with sin natures and have come under the same consequence of sin.
Salvation
We believe that salvation is all of grace through the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ Who paid the full redemptive price, fully satisfied God’s righteous demands by suffering the death penalty for man’s guilt, and imputed to man His righteousness, reconciling him to God; and that salvation is made effective to man only upon his exercise of personal faith in Jesus Christ, which is not a meritorious work but is possible only by the grace of God.
We believe that salvation includes justification, regeneration, adoption into the family of God, sanctification (positional, progressive, and final), and glorification; and that one who is truly born again will, by the grace of God, persevere and be kept saved forever.
Sanctification
We believe that every saved person is positionally in Christ, completely set apart for God; that in experience the saved person retains his sin nature, which is not eradicated in this life, and thus that his present state is no more perfect than his daily experience; that there is a progressive sanctification wherein the saved person is to grow in grace and into Christlikeness by the unhindered power of the Holy Spirit; that when Christ appears, the saved person will be fully sanctified so that his state will conform to his standing. We believe that progressive sanctification involves separation not only from ungodly living but also from ungodly teaching; that though we love all men and seek their salvation, there are areas in which we cannot have fellowship with unbelievers; that, in areas of ecclesiastical fellowship, it may be necessary to separate even from our brethren in Christ, if they in turn maintain fellowship with unbelievers.
Dispensations
We believe that the dispensations are not ways of salvation, which has always been by grace through faith, but stewardships by which God administers His purpose on earth through man under varying responsibilities; that change in dispensational dealings depends upon changed situations in which man is found in relation to God due to man’s failures and God’s judgments; that, though several dispensations cover the entire history of mankind, only three of these are subjects of extended revelation in Scripture; that these three (Mosaic law, grace, and the millennial kingdom) are distinct and are not to be intermingled or confused.
The Church
We believe that the church, which is Christ’s body, is composed of all true believers (those who have been born again through a personal acceptance of Christ as Savior) from Pentecost to the Rapture; that this church was brought into being on the day of Pentecost by the Holy Spirit’s baptizing into one body all who were believers at that time; that on the day of Pentecost and since that time others have been and are being added to Christ as Savior; that at the Rapture this church will be complete and will be caught up to be united with Christ as His bride, never to be separated from Him.
We believe that local churches are gatherings of professing believers in given communities, organized for the purposes of united worship, fellowship, administration of the ordinances (baptism and the Lord’s Supper), edification, discipline, and effective promotion of the work of Christ throughout the world; that such local churches should be limited in the membership to those who are born again, who desire to follow Christ in obedience, and who have been immersed; that Christ is the Supreme Head and that every member has direct access to Him and is responsible to seek His will; that the only offices recognized in such New Testament churches are those of pastor (bishop, presbyter, elder) and deacon; that government is democratic with each member responsible to vote in keeping with his understanding of the will of Christ; that each local church is responsible directly to Christ and not to some other local church or organization; that there is value in fellowship and cooperation with other local churches of like convictions.
Civil Government
We believe that civil government was instituted by God and is still His means of maintaining peace and order among men; that believers here on earth are responsible in the area of civil government and should participate in it to promote and preserve good order in human society; that civil government and churches (and fellowships of churches) are distinct from each other, must be organizationally separated from each other, and must not seek to control each other.
Things to Come
We believe that the Scriptures foretell certain future events, among which are the following:
Rapture of the Church
We believe that Jesus Christ will return to the atmosphere of this earth; that the dead in Christ will rise first, then believers who are still living will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air and to ever be with Him; that the Rapture is the next event on the revealed calendar; and that no prophecy need be fulfilled before the Rapture occurs.
Tribulation
We believe that the rapture of the church will be followed on earth by Israel’s seventieth week; that, though there will be salvation, this will be a time of great judgments, the latter part being known as the Great Tribulation.
Second Coming
We believe that following the Tribulation, Christ will return to the earth with His glorified saints to establish the millennial kingdom; that during the 1,000 years of peace and prosperity, Satan will be bound and Christ will reign with a rod of iron; that at the end of the millennium, Satan will be released for a short time, deceive many, lead them in final rebellion, but be destroyed with his armies.
Eternal State
We believe that the unsaved men of all ages will be resurrected and, together with the evil angels, will be finally judged and condemned to everlasting conscious punishment in hell; that all saved of all ages in glorified bodies will enjoy everlasting blessing in the presence of God.
