Question 1

Scripture

Accepted Answer

We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments alone are the Word of God. The Bible is God’s written revelation of Himself to humanity divinely given through human authors whom the Holy Spirit inspired, inerrant in the original writings, infallible, and God-breathed. Because God is the ultimate author of the Bible, its contents are free from error and are totally true and trustworthy. The central theme of the Bible is to reveal God’s saving purposes in Jesus Christ. God’s Word has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. The Bible alone is the infallible rule of faith for the church. For a local church to stray from the Bible in belief or practice is disloyal to Jesus to whom the church belongs. Its purpose is to teach us how to have a relationship with him, worship him, and bring him glory.

Psalm 19:7-11; 119:105-106; Matthew 4:4; 5:18; Mark 13:31; John 8:31-32; 17:17; 20:31; Acts 20:32; Romans 10:16-17; Hebrews 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:14-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21

Question 2

The Triune God

Accepted Answer

We believe that there is one living and true God, the Creator, Preserver, and Ruler of all things, having all perfections in and of himself, including holiness, wisdom, power, and love and being infinite in them all. All creatures owe him the highest love, reverence, trust, and obedience. God eternally exists in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three persons contain the very nature of God and are equal in every divine perfection. They each execute distinct but harmonious roles in the work of creation, providence, and redemption. The triune God is self-existent and self-sufficient, perfect and immutable in His steadfast love, infinite and all-knowing, purposeful and all-powerful, sovereign and worthy of our praise, loyalty, and love.

Genesis 1:1, 26; Exodus 34:6-7; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:3-4; Psalm 48:10; 145:3; Isaiah 43:10-13; 64:8; Malachi 3:6; Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19; John 1:1-5; 4:24; 16:7-15; Romans 1:19-20; 11:36; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6; 10:31; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 4:4-6; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 1:2–3

God the Father: We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal spirit who is good, righteous, and just. He is perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love. He is jealous for worship, opposed to idolatry, and wrathful in response to sin and rebellion. He reigns with providential care over His creation and foreknows all that shall come to pass according to His sovereign will. He deals mercifully in the affairs of people. He hears and answers the prayers of His children. He saves from sin and death all who come to him through faith Jesus Christ.
Exodus 3:14; Psalm 19:1; Matthew 23:9; Luke 10:21-22; John 1:12; 3:16, 36; 6:27; Romans 1:7; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 1 Peter 1:3; Revelation 1:6

God the Son, Jesus Christ: We believe in Jesus Christ; God’s only begotten Son, who exists having two natures-fully human and fully divine—which are without confusion, change, division, or separation. We believe in His virgin conception by the Holy Spirit, sinless life, miracles, and teachings. We believe in His substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people, and personal, visible return to earth. We believe that He is the divinely appointed and only Mediator between God and man, the Prophet, Priest, and King of the Church, and Sovereign of the universe. He is the head of the church, having purchased it with His own shed blood. All who claim allegiance to Christ are to obey His commands, imitate His life, and promote His gospel.
Isaiah 53:3-12; Matthew 20:28; 28:18-20; Luke 1:26-38; John 1:1-5, 14; 20:28-31; Acts 1:9-11; Romans 3:21-26; 5:6-8; 6:9-10; 8:34; 9:5; 1 Corinthians 15; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 1:4-16; Colossians 1:15-20; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Hebrews 1:1-3; 7:25; 9:27-28; 12:2; 1 Peter 2:21-23

God The Holy Spirit: We believe the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He graciously works to call, regenerate, sanctify, and empower all who profess saving faith in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to each of them to build up the body of Christ, empowering them to serve the local church and promote the gospel. We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ. He is the Spirit of Adoption, the Seal of our Salvation, the Guarantor of our inheritance in Christ, and an abiding helper, teacher, and guide. He constitutes the church as God’s family and promotes its unity and maturity.
John 3:5-8; 4:24; 6:63; 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4; Romans 8:9-11, 14-17; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; Galatians 5: 22-26; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:3-6; 2 Timothy 1:14; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John 4:13; 5:6-7

Question 3

Salvation

Accepted Answer

We believe salvation is offered to all people and comes by grace alone through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation comes only through a faith relationship with Jesus Christ, the Savior, as a person repents of sin and receives Christ’s forgiveness and eternal life. Salvation continues in sanctification and will culminate in the perseverance and glorification of all saints when Christ returns. There is no salvation apart from personal repentance of sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who repent of sin and trust Jesus Christ as Savior are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and become new creatures, delivered from condemnation to receive eternal life. This salvation is wholly of God by grace based on Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, not based on human works. All the redeemed are secured in Christ forever.

Genesis 3:19; Ecclesiastes. 2:11; John 1:12-13; 5:30; 8:12; Romans 3:23–24; 8:28-39; 10:8-10; 2 Corinthians 5:17–20; Ephesians 2:4–10; 1 John 3:2

Question 4

Humanity

Accepted Answer

As both male and female, we believe God creates humanity to bear His image to worship him and give him glory. Humanity bearing God’s image is the crowning work of God’s creation, promoting the dignity and sanctity of all human life. Therefore, every person possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love regardless of matters like age, race, gender, or class. Because of the Fall, the image of God in people is distorted but not lost. All people have disobeyed God willfully through sin, thus inheriting both physical and spiritual death and the need for redemption. All human beings are born with a sinful nature and into an environment inclined toward sin. Only by the grace of God through Jesus Christ can they experience salvation.

Genesis 1:26-27; 2:17; 3:1-7, 19; 6:5, 12; 8:21; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:9-20; 5:12-19; 6:21, 23; 8:6-7; Ephesians 2:1-10; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; James 1:14-15; 1 John 3:14; Revelation 21:8

Question 5

The Church

Accepted Answer

We believe that the church is the body of Christ on earth and a movement of disciple-making disciples. Every believer should be identified with a local church for mutual encouragement, spiritual growth, and accountability. We believe in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all born-again persons are members. We believe local churches are the visible expression of the universal church on earth. The local church is an autonomous congregation of baptized believers operating under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The congregation is to gather regularly for God-centered worship, be committed to the teachings of Scripture, exercise gifts for the work of service, and enjoy joint fellowship and unity in Christ. We believe that God has laid upon the members of the local church the primary task of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world. Every church member is responsible for giving faithfully of their time, talents, and material possessions to support the church's mission and ministries. The church is to obey the Lord’s Great Commission to make disciples of all the nations through local evangelism and global missions.

Matthew 18:15–17; 28:16-20; John 20:21–23; Acts 1:8; 2:42; 1 Corinthians 12:12–31; 2 Corinthians 8–9; Galatians 6:1–2; Ephesians 1:22; 2:19-22; 4:11-16; 5:19-21, 23; Philippians 4:10–19; Colossians 1:18-20; 3:12-17; 1 Timothy 3:1–12; Hebrews 3:13; 10:24-25; 1 Peter 2:9

Ordinances: There are two ordinances instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ for the local church to regularly celebrate—Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Baptism is the immersion of a confessing believer in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, signifying a believer’s death to sin and resurrection to new life in Christ. Water baptism serves as an act of obedience for the person who has placed faith in Jesus Christ for salvation as a sign of a person's fellowship with the death and resurrection of Christ and remission of sins. It also confesses a willingness to obey Christ’s teachings, imitate His life, and live under His Lordship.

The Lord’s Supper is a congregational act of worship, instituted by Jesus Christ to take a portion of bread and receive the cup as symbols of the Lord’s sacrificial death for His people on the cross. The Lord’s Supper allows the local church to confirm the faith and other graces of Christians, and to be a pledge and renewal of their communion with Him and with each other in anticipation of the Lord’s glorious return. Self-discipline is encouraged during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
Matthew 26:26-29; 28:18-20; Mark 14:22-25; Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 11:23-34; 12:13

Offices: We believe that Jesus ordained two distinct offices within the local church deacons and pastors. 
Deacons are a group of qualified men who serve the church in practical ways, often by caring for church members with physical needs. Deacons are chosen from the congregation and are to function as servants to the church, assisting the pastors in caring for church ministries and members.

Pastors—also called “elders” or “overseers”—are a group of qualified men who bear a special responsibility to preach the Word and protect the church from false teaching. The pastors are charged with overall spiritual responsibility, managing oversight, and leadership of the local church before God. The pastors are responsible to interpret and enforce the church’s statement of faith. 
Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:1–13; Titus 1:6–9; 1 Peter 5:1–5

Question 6

Christian Conduct

Accepted Answer

We believe that Christians should live for the glory of God and the well-being of others, that their conduct should be blameless before the world, that they should be faithful stewards of their possessions, and that they should seek, through the strength that God supplies, to realize for themselves and others the full stature of maturity in Christ, pressing after a heavenly life in joyful obedience to all Christ's commands. We believe in monogamous, life-long, heterosexual marriage and oppose all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography

Psalm 19; Ezekiel 36:27; Matthew 5:16, 31-32; 19:1-9; 28:20; John 14:15, 23-24; Romans 1:26-27; 6:1-7:6; 8:3-4, 12-14; 12:1-3; 1 Corinthians 4:2; 6:9-10, 18; 10:31; 2 Corinthians 9:6-9; 12:21; Galatians 5:13-24; 6:7-10; Ephesians 5:3-6; Hebrews 12:1-2; 13:5; Colossians 1:9-10; 3:17; 1 Timothy 6:6-10; 1 Peter 2:12; 2 Peter 1:3-11; 1 John 2:3-6; 3:16-18; Revelation 21:8

Question 7

Last Things

Accepted Answer

We believe in the personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of His kingdom. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, the eternal felicity of the righteous, and the endless suffering of the wicked

Matthew 16:27; 25:31-46; Mark 14:62; John 5:28-29; 14:3; Acts 1:11; 17:30-31; Romans 2:6-11; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 15:12-28; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Philippians 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; 2 Timothy 4:1, 8; Titus 2:13; Revelation 20:4-6,11-15

Statement of Faith