(1) The Scriptures
We believe that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” by which we understand the whole Bible is inspired in the sense that holy men of God “were moved by the Holy Spirit” to write the very words of Scripture. We believe that this divine inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of the writings—historical, poetical, doctrinal, and prophetical—as appeared in the original manuscripts. We believe that the whole Bible in the originals is therefore without error. We believe that all the Scriptures center about the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and work in His first and second coming, and hence that no portion, even of the Old Testament, is properly read, or understood, until it leads to Him. We also believe that all the Scriptures were designed for our practical instruction.(2) God
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three parts—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—and that these three pieces make up our one God, having a similar nature, attributes, and perfections, and worthy of approximately the same homage, confidence, and obedience.
(3) Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ became the Son of God, created at the time of his first advent. Jesus Christ is subordinate to God the Father, who created--and is therefore different in essence from--the Son. He made Jesus to be the substitutional atonement for sins of the world. Jesus was born of a virgin and lived a sinless life so as to offer the atonement for all the sins of humanity for all of time. We believe that by dying a human death on a cross and being raised form the grave in three days satisfied God’s wrath and conquered death for eternity. Jesus Christ, Son of God is the only way to the Father, to eternal life. He came to earth, fully man and fully God, followed and fulfilled the will of His Father, and after making purification for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.(4) The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the blessed Trinity, though omnipresent from all eternity, took up His abode in the world in a special sense on the day of Pentecost according to the divine promise, dwells in every believer, and by His baptism unites all to Christ in one body. We also believe its primary role and importance in the Christian life has to do with the dissemination of miraculous sign gifts that each and every believer should possess and seek to implement in worship and ministry.(5) Angels, Fallen and Unfallen
We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless, spiritual beings, known as angels; that one, “Lucifer, son of the morning”—the highest in rank—sinned through pride, thereby becoming Satan; that a great company of the angels followed him in his moral fall, some of whom became demons and are active as his agents and associates in the prosecution of his unholy purposes, while others who fell are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”We believe that Satan is the originator of sin, and that, under the permission of God, he, through subtlety, led our first parents into transgression, thereby accomplishing their moral fall and subjecting them and their posterity to his own power; that he is the enemy of God and the people of God, opposing and exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped; and that he who in the beginning said, “I will be like the most High,” in his warfare appears as an angel of light, even counterfeiting the works of God by fostering religious movements and systems of doctrine, which systems in every case are characterized by a denial of the efficacy of the blood of Christ and of salvation by grace alone. We believe that Satan was judged at the Cross, though not then executed, and that he, a usurper, now rules as the “god of this world.”We believe that a great company of angels kept their holy estate and are before the throne of God, from whence they are sent forth as ministering spirits to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. We believe that man was made lower than the angels; and that, in His incarnation, Christ took for a little time this lower place that He might lift the believer to His own sphere above the angels.
We believe that each of us has a guardian angel with whom we should attempt to communicate for our personal spiritual edification. For this reason, we should be diligent to pray for loved ones who have passed as they have likely become "angels unawares" who may be assigned as territorial agents of God's mercy and love in our midst.
(6) Man, Created and Fallen
We believe that man was originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, and that he fell through sin, and, as a consequence of his sin, lost his spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, and that he became subject to the power of the devil. We also believe that this spiritual death, or total depravity of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire human race of man, the Man Christ Jesus alone being excepted; and hence that every child of Adam is born into the world with a nature which not only possesses no spark of divine life, but is essentially and unchangeably bad apart from divine grace.(7) Salvation: Regeneration, Repentance, and Faith
Repentance is an evangelical grace, wherein a person being, by the Holy Spirit, made sensible of the manifold evil of his sin, humbleth himself for it, with godly sorrow, detestation of it and self-abhorrence, with a purpose and endeavor to walk before God so as to please Him in all things.
Saving faith is the belief, on God's authority, of whatsoever is revealed in His Word concerning Christ; accepting and resting upon Him alone for justification and eternal life. It is wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit and is accompanied by all other saving graces and leads to a life of holiness.
(8) Salvation: Justification, Sanctification, Glorification
Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal of sinners, who believe in Christ, from all sin, through the satisfaction that Christ has made; not for anything wrought in them or done by them; but on account of the obedience and satisfaction of Christ, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith.Those who have been regenerated are also sanctified by God's Word and Spirit dwelling in them. This sanctification is progressive through the supply of divine strength, which all saints seek to obtain, pressing after a heavenly life in cordial obedience to all Christ's commands.
Those whom God hath accepted in the Beloved and sanctified by His Spirit will never totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace but shall certainly persevere to final glorification; and though they may fall, through neglect and temptation, into sin, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, bring reproach on the Church and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be renewed again unto repentance and be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
(9) The Church, A Unity of Believers
We believe that all who are united to the risen and ascended Son of God are members of the church which is the body and bride of Christ, which began at Pentecost. The Lord Jesus is the Head of the Church, which is composed of all His true disciples, and in Him is invested supremely all power for its government. According to his commandment, Christians are to associate themselves into particular societies or churches, and to each of these churches He hath given needful authority for administering that order, discipline and worship which he hath appointed. The regular officers of a Church are qualified men and women who serve as elders and deacons.(10) The Sacrament or Ordinances
We believe that water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the only sacraments and ordinances of the church and that they are a scriptural means of testimony for the church in this age.Baptism is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus, obligatory upon every believer, wherein he is immersed in water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, as a sign of his fellowship with the death and resurrection of Christ, of remission of sins and of his giving himself up to God to live and walk in newness of life. It is a prerequisite to church fellowship and to participation in the Lord's Supper.
The Lord's Supper is an ordinance of Jesus Christ, to be administered with the elements of bread and wine and to be observed by his churches till the end of the world. It is a supernatural experience whereby the elements of bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus as his followers obediently participate in this holy moment.
(11) The End Times
We believe in the personal, glorious, and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ with his holy angels,when he will exercise his role as final Judge, and his kingdom will be consummated. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust—and that God's love and mercy will the prevailing theme at that moment in history. Love and compassion will win the day and there will be eternal blessedness in the presence of him who sits on the throne and of the Lamb, in the new heaven and the new earth, the home of righteousness. On that day the church will be presented faultless before God by the obedience, suffering, and triumph of Christ, all sin purged and its wretched effects forever banished. God will be all in all and his people will be enthralled by the immediacy of his ineffable holiness, and everything will be to the praise of his glorious grace. May we live in this world now in peace and grace with a similar love of our Heavenly Father that is fair, non-judgmental, and not focused on drawing hard-and-fast lines of inclusion and exclusion.
