Statements of Faith

God’s Unity

There is only one true God. He has always been in existence and always will be. He is all-living, all-sufficient God; the Creator of the Universe.

 

Exodus 20:2-3; Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 43:10-11; John 17:3

 

The Trinity (Tri-Unity)

It is the testimony of both the Old and New Testaments and of The Church that God is both One and Triune. Although there is only one true God, He is eternally existent in three Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The triune God made man in His own image and gave man dominion and authority to rule in the Earth.

 

Genesis 1:26-28; John 10:30-33, 20:28; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Corinthians 3:17; 2 Thessalonians 1:2

 

God, The Father, Our Provider

God, the Father, is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. He is the seat of Authority and the giver of the Holy Spirit. He is from whom man was separated after the first man, Adam, sinned. No man has seen Him.

 

Luke 11:13; John 1:18, 6:46; Ephesians 1:17

 

God, The Son, Our Savior

Jesus Christ is eternally God. He was together with the Father and the Holy Spirit from the beginning, and through Him all things were made. Being fully God and fully man, he is the perfect sacrifice; the only way for humans to be reconciled to God is through the sinless sacrificial life of Jesus that atoned for all mankind. He defeated the enemy, Satan, in the Wilderness and on the Cross, forever making an open shame of him. He is now seated at the right hand of the Father, his work completed.

John 1:1-3; John 3:16-18; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Colossians 2:14-15

 

God, The Holy Spirit, Our Comforter

The Holy Spirit is God, the Lord and giver of life, who was active in the Old Testament and given to the Church to indwell and comfort believers. He empowers believers for service and testifies of Jesus, the Christ.

 

The baptism in the Holy Spirit, subsequent to conversion, releases the fullness of the Spirit and enables the fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit. We believe that the additional function of the Holy Spirit is to guide and lead us into all truth.

 

John 15:26; Acts 2:4; Galatians 5:22-23

 

The Life of Man is meaningless without God

When the first man, Adam, sinned, he died spiritually and his relationship with his Creator, God, was severed and thereby all men without a new birth are eternally separated from God. God is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Without Him, we can do nothing.

 

Genesis 3:23; John 14:6; John 15:5

 

The Virgin Birth of Jesus, the Christ

God introduced His Seed into the Earth through a virgin named Mary by immaculate conception (sinless origin). His name shall be called both Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins and Immanuel, God with us. He was prophesied to crush the head of the serpent, Satan. Jesus had no biologically human father. Being born of a human mother and spirit father, he was both fully human and fully God.

 

Matthew 1:20-23; Genesis 3:15

 

The Scripture

We affirm that the Bible, containing both the Old and New Testaments, is alone the only infallible, Holy Spirit inspired Word of God. Its authority is ultimate and eternal. It cannot be added to, subtracted from or superseded in any regard. The Bible is the source of all doctrine, instruction, correction and reproof. It contains all that is needed for guidance in godliness, righteousness and victorious living.

 

2 Timothy 3:16

 

The Atonement

The penalty for sin is death; both spiritually and naturally. Christ’s vicarious death (real physical substitutive death) on the cross was The only acceptable payment for our sin debt due to His life being perfect, complete and without fault. He paid the penalty for the sins of the whole world. However, its benefits are only available to those who receive Jesus as their personal Savior. Healing – body, soul and spirit – and all of God’s provisions for His believers are provided for in the atonement and must be appropriated by faith in Him. Only Christ’s sinless life, sacrificial death and bodily resurrection can bring us to salvation in God.

 

Romans 5:11; I Peter 2:24; I Peter 3:18

 

The Necessity of Faith

Faith is believing what God has said in His Word is true. By trusting in God and accepting the gift of citizenship in the Kingdom of God through Salvation, we are united with God as His children. Human works and performance will never equate to faith so satisfy the debt that was owed for sin. Therefore, Christ paid that debt and it is every mans’ responsibility to believe it by faith.

 

Hebrews 11:6; Romans 4:5; Ephesians 2:8-9

 

The Necessity of God’s Grace

Grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ. Grace is the power of the Holy Spirit to do in us what we cannot do for ourselves. It unites us in fellowship with God and allows us to avoid judgment. As a just God, God could not ignore the sin of humankind. By God’s Grace, we are able to overcome the evil tendencies of our old nature. It saves us to become reconciled back to God, our Father.

 

Ephesians 2:8-9; John 15:5; Romans 9:16; James 4:6

 

Salvation

The Word of God declares clearly that salvation is a free gift of God, based on the merits of the death of His Son, and is appropriated by Grace through Faith. Salvation is achieved by personal repentance (changing of one’s mind), belief in the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus (justification) and personal acceptance of Him into one’s life as Lord and Savior (regeneration). The new life in Christ includes the privileges of adoption and inheritance granting citizenship into the Kingdom of God. Salvation is an act of free will in response to God’s personal love for mankind. Salvation should produce an active lifestyle of loving obedience and service to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

 

John 3:16; Romans 10:9-10

 

The Church

The Church is the living, breathing Body of Christ, called by God to go into all the world and preach the Gospel making disciples of all nations. The Church, many members but one body, is further called to enlarge the Kingdom of God throughout the Earth. She is the one for whom the Lord Jesus Christ gave His life to sanctify her and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word.

 

Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15

 

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

The Word of God establishes for the Church two observances that exemplify the change in the life of a believer. The first, Baptism (By immersion), is the outward testimony in a believer’s life that they have died to self and now acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior. It is identification with Jesus and is affected in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

 

The Lord’s Supper, also known as Communion, is a commemoration of the death of our Lord and is done in remembrance of Him until He comes again; it is a sign of our loving participation in Him. Both institutions are restricted to those who are believers.

 

Matthew 28:19; Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; 1 Corinthians 11:24-26

 

The Second Coming (Eschatology)

We affirm the bodily, personal, second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the saints, the millennium and the final judgment. The final judgment will determine the eternal status of all mankind by their relationship with Jesus Christ.

 

2 Corinthians 5:10; Hebrews 9:27; 1 Thessalonians 4:16