Beliefs
About
God
We believe in one God who has eternally existed as three distinct Persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The members of the Trinity exist in perfect harmony and relationship with one another, and each possesses distinct attributes while maintaining fullness of deity and without separation of essence. God is above all, and He alone is to be worshiped, honored, and served.
Father
God the Father is fully God and is the Supreme Ruler of all things. He bestows His grace upon all creation as the loving Creator, and He has established the course of history in order to show the purpose of His grace. Because He is a loving Father who seeks a restored relationship with those made in His image, He acted out of love to send His One and Only Son as a gift of reconciliation to make eternal life available to all.
Jesus
God the Son was present and involved in the Creation of all things. God had promised his covenant people, Israel, that He would send a Messiah to rescue them from their oppression and sin and who would make them holy. Through the miraculous conception of Jesus, who was born of a virgin, God the Son entered into human history, lived a sinless life, died on a cross, was buried, and rose again from the grave on the third day. The death of Jesus was in place of sinful humanity, the just One for unjust ones, and it satisfied the wrath of God against sin.
Holy Spirit
God the Holy Spirit was instrumental in Creation and inspired the writers of Scripture to produce God's Words. He convicts believers of sin, and He works in the world to draw sinners to salvation. The Holy Spirit is the One who works regeneration in believers, moving them from spiritual death to life, and He is the indwelling presence of God for all who believe. At salvation, He enters into believers to equip them to live godly lives and to bestow spiritual gifts according to His good pleasure for the building up of the Church. He is the seal of promise for eternal redemption, and His work makes the believer holy unto the Lord.
Scripture
We view the Bible as God's love letter to humanity in which He reveals His character, the expectations for holy and right living, and His desire for relationship with people. While God's Word contains our story, it is primarily God's story. The Bible remains relevant in every age because God inspired the Scriptures, thus making them living and active. We believe the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament are inerrant in the original documents, and they are the final authority for matters of faith, practice, and living.
Humanity
People are the special creation of God, the focus of His divine love and affection. Adam and Eve were made in the image and likeness of God, a truth that distinguished them from the rest of the created order. They possessed intellect and the moral responsibility to obey God, and they possessed the knowledge of God and had a perfect relationship with Him. Adam rebelled against God's command not to eat fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which resulted in sin and death entering the world. This has marred the image of God and rendered people incapable of knowing and pleasing God. Because people remain morally responsible to obey God, they are hopelessly enslaved to a new master, sin, which has affected the entire creation and separated humanity from the Creator. God's holiness and justice demands that His wrath be poured out upon those who continue in sinful rebellion
Salvation
In spite of man's rebellion, God determined in eternity past to redeem for Himself men and women from every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. This redemption would provide the means for salvation to anyone who believes. No one is capable of saving themselves through good works; therefore, the writers of Scripture call the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus the gospel, or good news. God initiated salvation because of His undeserved grace, and the finished work of Jesus is only applied in a saving way to those who accept the gospel through repentant faith. Upon receiving this gift of God by faith, we enter into an eternal relationship with God as a child and friend. All who enter into this relationship are kept by the power of God, made holy by work of the Holy Spirit, and presented by Christ to the Father. Salvation is wholly a work of God alone, through Christ alone, and received by faith alone.
The Church
The church has both a universal and local component. The Universal Church, also called the invisible church, is made up of all true believers in Jesus, past, present, and future, who have been called out from the world and placed into the Body of Christ to provide an incarnational presence of Christ within the world. The Local Church is a visible representation of the Body of Christ, and consists of baptized believers who are called to preach the good news, make disciples, baptize new believers, and teach them to obey all that Jesus has commanded.
The church should be characterized by its love for God and love for people, and is alternately referred to as the Bride of Christ, the family of God, and the Body of Christ. The relationship of each Person of the Godhead should be the model for unity within Christ's church.
Ordinances
There are two ordinances that a biblical church must practice: baptism and communion. The biblical model for baptism is it must follow salvation (believer's baptism) and be by immersion as a public identification with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. Communion, or the Lord's Supper, is a solemn event that is practiced regularly as a commemoration and contemplation of the work of Christ on the cross through remembering His broken body and shed blood.
Church Leadership
The church is to be led by qualified individuals who are referred to as elders and pastors in the Bible. God also gifts His church with deacons, a collection of qualified individuals who are called to fulfill the biblical role of servant to the pastors and the church. As spiritual leaders of the church, pastors should model the gentle example of the Good Shepherd, Jesus, as they lead the church according to God's Word and direction. The pastors have an obligation to protect the sheep from error and to teach godly living in word and deed. As servants of the church, deacons should be upheld as examples for all believers to follow.
The Final State and Last Things
Because people were made to exist forever, we believe that saved and unsaved people will leave this life and enter into continued existence. Those who have trusted Christ for salvation will spend eternity with God in blessing. Those who die without having their sins forgiven through the work of Jesus will spend eternity consciously separated from Him.
At the consummation of time, Jesus Christ will return to the Earth and God's victory over evil will be accomplished through the word of His mouth. He will create a new heaven and a new earth, where God will reign with His children, who will live in perfect relationship with Him forever.
About
God
We believe in one God who has eternally existed as three distinct Persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The members of the Trinity exist in perfect harmony and relationship with one another, and each possesses distinct attributes while maintaining fullness of deity and without separation of essence. God is above all, and He alone is to be worshiped, honored, and served.
Father
God the Father is fully God and is the Supreme Ruler of all things. He bestows His grace upon all creation as the loving Creator, and He has established the course of history in order to show the purpose of His grace. Because He is a loving Father who seeks a restored relationship with those made in His image, He acted out of love to send His One and Only Son as a gift of reconciliation to make eternal life available to all.
Jesus
God the Son was present and involved in the Creation of all things. God had promised his covenant people, Israel, that He would send a Messiah to rescue them from their oppression and sin and who would make them holy. Through the miraculous conception of Jesus, who was born of a virgin, God the Son entered into human history, lived a sinless life, died on a cross, was buried, and rose again from the grave on the third day. The death of Jesus was in place of sinful humanity, the just One for unjust ones, and it satisfied the wrath of God against sin.
Holy Spirit
God the Holy Spirit was instrumental in Creation and inspired the writers of Scripture to produce God's Words. He convicts believers of sin, and He works in the world to draw sinners to salvation. The Holy Spirit is the One who works regeneration in believers, moving them from spiritual death to life, and He is the indwelling presence of God for all who believe. At salvation, He enters into believers to equip them to live godly lives and to bestow spiritual gifts according to His good pleasure for the building up of the Church. He is the seal of promise for eternal redemption, and His work makes the believer holy unto the Lord.
Scripture
We view the Bible as God's love letter to humanity in which He reveals His character, the expectations for holy and right living, and His desire for relationship with people. While God's Word contains our story, it is primarily God's story. The Bible remains relevant in every age because God inspired the Scriptures, thus making them living and active. We believe the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament are inerrant in the original documents, and they are the final authority for matters of faith, practice, and living.
Humanity
People are the special creation of God, the focus of His divine love and affection. Adam and Eve were made in the image and likeness of God, a truth that distinguished them from the rest of the created order. They possessed intellect and the moral responsibility to obey God, and they possessed the knowledge of God and had a perfect relationship with Him. Adam rebelled against God's command not to eat fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which resulted in sin and death entering the world. This has marred the image of God and rendered people incapable of knowing and pleasing God. Because people remain morally responsible to obey God, they are hopelessly enslaved to a new master, sin, which has affected the entire creation and separated humanity from the Creator. God's holiness and justice demands that His wrath be poured out upon those who continue in sinful rebellion
Salvation
In spite of man's rebellion, God determined in eternity past to redeem for Himself men and women from every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. This redemption would provide the means for salvation to anyone who believes. No one is capable of saving themselves through good works; therefore, the writers of Scripture call the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus the gospel, or good news. God initiated salvation because of His undeserved grace, and the finished work of Jesus is only applied in a saving way to those who accept the gospel through repentant faith. Upon receiving this gift of God by faith, we enter into an eternal relationship with God as a child and friend. All who enter into this relationship are kept by the power of God, made holy by work of the Holy Spirit, and presented by Christ to the Father. Salvation is wholly a work of God alone, through Christ alone, and received by faith alone.
The Church
The church has both a universal and local component. The Universal Church, also called the invisible church, is made up of all true believers in Jesus, past, present, and future, who have been called out from the world and placed into the Body of Christ to provide an incarnational presence of Christ within the world. The Local Church is a visible representation of the Body of Christ, and consists of baptized believers who are called to preach the good news, make disciples, baptize new believers, and teach them to obey all that Jesus has commanded.
The church should be characterized by its love for God and love for people, and is alternately referred to as the Bride of Christ, the family of God, and the Body of Christ. The relationship of each Person of the Godhead should be the model for unity within Christ's church.
Ordinances
There are two ordinances that a biblical church must practice: baptism and communion. The biblical model for baptism is it must follow salvation (believer's baptism) and be by immersion as a public identification with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. Communion, or the Lord's Supper, is a solemn event that is practiced regularly as a commemoration and contemplation of the work of Christ on the cross through remembering His broken body and shed blood.
Church Leadership
The church is to be led by qualified individuals who are referred to as elders and pastors in the Bible. God also gifts His church with deacons, a collection of qualified individuals who are called to fulfill the biblical role of servant to the pastors and the church. As spiritual leaders of the church, pastors should model the gentle example of the Good Shepherd, Jesus, as they lead the church according to God's Word and direction. The pastors have an obligation to protect the sheep from error and to teach godly living in word and deed. As servants of the church, deacons should be upheld as examples for all believers to follow.
The Final State and Last Things
Because people were made to exist forever, we believe that saved and unsaved people will leave this life and enter into continued existence. Those who have trusted Christ for salvation will spend eternity with God in blessing. Those who die without having their sins forgiven through the work of Jesus will spend eternity consciously separated from Him.
At the consummation of time, Jesus Christ will return to the Earth and God's victory over evil will be accomplished through the word of His mouth. He will create a new heaven and a new earth, where God will reign with His children, who will live in perfect relationship with Him forever.