What We Believe

We believe there is only one living and true God, who has always existed as the just and loving Creator, Sustainer and Ruler over all that exists. He has the power and authority to accomplish His purposes and will. He is one God who exists as three distinctive persons, Father, Jesus the Son, and Holy Spirit, functioning relationally in absolute oneness, humility, and harmony.
(Isaiah 46:9-10, Matthew 28:19)

We believe all 66 books of the Bible originated from God. He revealed His words to mankind through human authors, using their unique personalities to express exactly what He desired to tell mankind. As a result, the Bible is God’s absolute, timeless truth about who God is, what He has done, and how we ought to view and live life. There are no other words or writings inspired by God.
(2 Timothy 3:16, Luke 24:25-27)

We believe God desired to be in relationship with the people He created. But, at the beginning of human history, Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God. This sin fractured the relationship between God and mankind, infecting the very nature of all humanity with sin, and totally alienating humanity from God. Because of sin, no one could ever rescue himself or herself from Gods righteous judgment. But, God, in unmerited grace, and for the praise of His Great Name, had a plan to rescue a people so that they could love Him and enjoy Him forever. Gods plan was to send Jesus into the world.
(Genesis 3, Romans 5:12-14, Ephesians 2:1-7)

We believe Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to live among mankind. He was miraculously born through the Virgin Mary. He has always existed and is fully God and fully human. He lived a righteous life of perfect obedience to the Father. Jesus voluntarily died on the cross, even though He had no personal sin to die for Himself. He physically rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will one day return. All who, by the Holy Spirit, repent and trust in Jesus’ finished work are united with Jesus. In this union, sinners are credited with the perfect righteousness of Jesus (that God requires) and are freed from the just penalty of sin (which Jesus bore for them on the cross).
(2 Corinthians 5:17-21, 1 Peter 3:18)

We believe the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit brings about conviction of sins, repentance, and belief in Jesus. The Holy Spirit permanently indwells Christians and gives spiritual gifts to help them accomplish His purpose in the church and in the world. As believers progressively learn to see, know, and trust God in their life, under the guiding influence of the Holy Spirit, their actions and attitudes will increasingly be like those of Jesus. God uses many varied means, including prayer, relationships, the Scriptures, and suffering to accomplish this progressive change in a believer’s life.
(John 3:1-10, John 6:63, John 16:4-15, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Ephesians 1:13-14, Titus 2:11-14, 1 John 5:1)

We believe all humans begin life at conception but will live from that point onward eternally. Believers, at death, will be received into the presence of God to live out that perfect relationship with God they were designed to enjoy for all eternity. All who have rejected Jesus will remain in their sins, permanently separated from God in judgment.
(Psalm 139:13, John 3:16-17, John 3:36, Philippians 1:21-23)

We believe the Bible is the source of ultimate truth and the final authority in all matters that pertain to what Christians should believe and how they should live. In matters where the Bible is silent or not specific, Christians should seek timeless principles found in the Bible for their guidance, resisting the temptation to make the Bible say what they want it to say.
(Psalm 119:105, Proverbs 14:12)

We believe all Christians are members of Gods family, which is called the Church. The Bible tells all believers, as part of His church, to come together in local gatherings, or local churches…

1. to focus on and honor God,
2. to call upon God directly, by faith, to make a difference in and through them,
3. to spend time together helping and encouraging each other in their faith,
4. to be taught in a way that helps them understand what God has said in the Bible,
5. to make a public declaration of their faith in Jesus by being baptized,
6. to remember what Jesus has done for them on the Cross through communion,
7. to serve other believers in the church by using their spiritual gifts,
8. to be sacrificially generous to accomplish Gods work in and through the church, and
9. to reach out with words and actions of love to all who have not yet put their faith in Jesus.

We believe baptism is one of the two ordinances to be practiced by the church. Water baptism is an act of obedience by a believer. The Greek word ‘baptizo’ literally means to immerse to change the identity. In the first century clothiers would ‘baptize’ the raw off-white thread in vats of color to create the red, purple, green, etc., threads that would be woven into garments of the corresponding colors. The Holy Spirit baptizes the believer at the moment of faith changing the believer’s identity to Jesus’. The Holy Spirit is woven throughout the believer’s life giving him the appearance of Christlikeness. When we baptize a believer we immerse in water as a symbol of what the Holy Spirit has already done on the inside and as a public declaration of faith by the believer.
(Matthew 3:13-17; 28:18-20; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; 2 Corinthians 5:17; )

We believe communion is the second ordinance to be practiced by the church. Communion is a powerful act of remembrance and looking ahead. The night Jesus was betrayed he was leading the disciples through the Passover meal. At the appropriate time in the Seder, He passed the matzo, literally, the unleavened bread of slaves. The ‘Bread of Life’ passed the ‘bread of slaves’ to the disciples telling them to remember Him as the Passover Lamb Who saved them. There are four cups in the Seder. The communion cup is the third. It is the cup of redemption. Jesus passed the cup telling the disciples to remember His act on the cross (that was about to happen the next day) that redeemed them from slavery in sin. Jesus didn’t pass the fourth cup that night. It was the cup of the re-gathering. For Israel it represented their celebration in the Promised Land. For the Church, Jesus will pass that cup at the marriage feast of the Lamb when we are all gathered in Heaven. Today, the church practices communion as Jesus instructed to look back at the work He has done and look forward to when He gathers together in Heaven.
(Exodus 12, Matthew 26:17-30, Luke 22:7-23, Mark 14:22-25)

We believe marriage was intended from the very beginning of creation to be the covenant union of one man and one woman in a permanent and exclusive relationship. God’s design for this relationship was for the purposes of procreation, personal pleasure, and the fulfillment of the purposes of reflecting the image of the Creator and His desired relationship with His people.

(Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-9; Mark 10:5-9; Genesis 1:27-29; 2:18-24; Ephesians 5:31-33)

We also believe God has expressly reserved sexual intimacy and intercourse for heterosexual marriage. It is God’s expectation that the married live in faithfulness to their spouse and unmarried should live pure and celibate lives, refraining from sexual intimacy.
(Ephesians 5:3; Colossians 3:5; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:3)