Statement of Faith

The sole basis of our beliefs is the Bible, God’s infallible written Word, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. We believe that it was uniquely, verbally and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit and that it was written without error (inerrant) in the original manuscripts. It is the supreme and final authority in all matters on which it speaks.

We accept those areas of doctrinal teaching on which, historically, there has been general agreement among all true Christians. Because of the specialized calling of our church, we desire to allow for freedom of conviction on other doctrinal matters, provided that any interpretation is based upon the Bible alone, and that no such interpretation shall become an issue which hinders the ministry to which God has called us.

• There is one true God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – each of whom possesses equally all the attributes of Deity and the characteristics of personality.
• Jesus Christ is God, the living Word, who became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. Hence, He is perfect Deity and true humanity united in one person forever.
• He lived a sinless life and voluntarily atoned for the sins of men by dying on the cross as their substitute, thus satisfying divine justice and accomplishing salvation for all who trust in Him alone.
• He rose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He lived and died.
• He ascended bodily into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father, where He, the only mediator between God and man, continually makes intercession for His own.
• Man was originally created in the image of God. He sinned by disobeying God; thus, he was alienated from his Creator. That historic fall brought all mankind under divine condemnation.
• Man’s nature is corrupted, and he is thus totally unable to please God. Every man is in need of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
• The salvation of man is wholly a work of God’s free grace and is not the work, in whole or in part, of human works or goodness or religious ceremony. God imputes His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, and thereby justified them in His sight.
• It is the privilege of all who are born again of the Spirit to be assured of their salvation from the very moment in which they trust Christ as their Savior. This assurance is not based upon any kind of human merit, but is produced by the witness of the Holy Spirit, who confirms in the believer the testimony of God in His written word.
• Jesus submitted to water baptism for our example to do likewise. Water baptism is by immersion in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is something Jesus personally commanded all believers to do to testify to the world that the old life of sin had been forsaken and that one was now living for God. It is the outward symbol of an inward experience — the believer’s identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. (See Matthew 3:13-17; 28:19, Luke 3:21,22, Acts 10:47,48, Romans 6:4, Hebrews 10:22.)
• The Holy Communion is not a mere ritual but an integral part of our relationship with Jesus whereby our needs can be met. There are three definite things we are to do to properly receive the Holy Communion: Remember Jesus Christ, the living, triumphant Son of God; commemorate His death and resurrection; and discern His strong, healthy body so that as the elements enter our mouths, we take His health into our bodies. In the Communion we have access instantly to everything that Christ is in time and in eternity. (See Matthew 26:26-28, Luke 22:17-20, I Corinthians 11:23-26.)
• The Holy Spirit has come into the world to reveal and glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to men. He convicts and draws sinners to Christ, imparts new life to them, continually indwells them from the moment of spiritual birth and seals them until the day of redemption. His fullness, power and control are appropriated in the believer’s life by faith.
• The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
• Speaking in Tongues—the Prayer Language: Every believer is called to live so in the power of the indwelling Spirit that he will not fulfill the lust of the flesh but will bear fruit to the glory of God.
• Healing for the Whole Person: Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, His Body, which is composed of all men, living and dead, who have been joined to Him through saving faith. God admonishes His people to assemble together regularly for worship, for participation in ordinances, for edification through the Scriptures and for mutual encouragement.
• Miracles: God approved His own Son’s ministry by signs and wonders and miracles. If you take the signs and wonders and miracles from Jesus, you don’t have the real Jesus. For it is the signs and wonders ministry of Jesus that makes Him what He is. When John the Baptist sent messengers to Jesus, questioning His deity, Jesus told them to go back and tell John about the miracles they had seen Him perform. Miracles settled the issue of Christ’s deity. (See Matthew 11:2-5; Luke 4:14-21; 7:20-22; Acts 2:22.)
• At physical death the believer enters immediately into eternal, conscious fellowship with the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his body to everlasting glory and blessing.
• At physical death the unbeliever enters immediately into eternal, conscious separation from the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his body to everlasting judgment and condemnation.
• Jesus Christ will come again to the earth – personally, visibly and bodily – to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded all believers to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and to disciple men of every nation. The fulfillment of that Great Commission requires that all worldly and personal ambitions be subordinated to a total commitment to “Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.”
• The Second Coming of Christ: The Rapture: There are two stages of Christ’s return to the earth. The first stage is called the Rapture. In this stage the Lord does not descend to the earth. He appears in the air and “in the twinkling of an eye,” the Bible says, the dead in Christ shall rise to meet Him in the air. They will be followed by those saints who are alive at that time. In other words, He gathers up the saints in one miraculous moment of time to meet Him in the air and remain with Him forever. (See Luke 17:34-37; John 14:3; I Corinthians 15:51-54; I Thessalonians 4:15-18; Revelation 3:3.)
• The Revelation: The second stage of Christ’s coming is called the Revelation. Jesus Christ and all His saints will return to the earth to begin His reign upon the earth, and every eye will see Him coming. This will be the grand climax to the end-time. (See Revelation 20:1-6.)
• The Millennium: Jesus will establish a millennial reign upon the earth. During this thousand-year period, the devil will be bound in the bottomless pit. This is the first resurrection, and all the people of God who have lived and died are raised from the dead to be priests of God to reign with Him a thousand years. (See Revelation 20:1-6.)
• The Final Judgment: All humanity will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. People who die without Christ will experience their first death. They remain in hell until the end of Christ’s thousand-year reign and then are brought forth to the judgment seat of Christ. After the judgment they are cast into the lake of fire and brimstone with the Antichrist, the false prophet, and the devil. This is the second death. (See Revelation 20.)
• A New Heaven and a New Earth: The day of the Lord is coming when Christ will release fires from the elements to renovate and renew the heavens and the earth, where the saints will rule and reign with Him forever. Only righteousness will dwell in the new heavens and new earth. (See II Peter 3:7-13; Revelation 20:11; Revelation 21: 22:1-6.)