Beliefs
THE SCRIPTURES
We believe the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God, captured through the words of human authors as they were led by the Holy Spirit. As divinely inspired revelation, the original writings are inerrant and authoritative, giving us practical instruction for life and revealing God’s plan of salvation for mankind.
THE TRINITY
We believe in the eternal triune Godhead of the Christian faith. There is one God who exists in three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. While each Person of the Godhead is distinct in His role, they each share the same nature, attributes, and perfection and are worthy of our praise, faith and obedience.
SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF HUMANITY
We believe God created man after His own image and likeness, creating them male and female. However, when Adam and Eve sinned, mankind fell and the resulting consequence was the loss of spiritual life. This spiritual death has been transmitted to the entire human race. Every child born from the lineage of Adam is spiritually dead and apart from divine grace is subject to the righteous judgment of God against sin.
JESUS CHRIST
We believe that Jesus Christ – the second Person of the triune Godhead – became God incarnate for us. He was fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, Jesus received both a human body and a human nature free from sin and its consequences. Jesus came to not only fulfill prophecy as the long awaited Messiah-King of Israel, but also the Savior who would give His life as a substitute to atone for the sins of the world.
WORK OF CHRIST
We believe Christ lived a sinless life yet in His infinite love for mankind He gave His own life to bear God’s holy judgment against sin. As our advocate and representative before the Father, Jesus died on the cross in our place – the just for the unjust – and by His death, burial and resurrection He became the Savior for everyone who needs spiritual life.
SALVATION
We believe that salvation comes from faith alone in Christ alone by God’s grace alone. Upon placing faith (which is the confident expectation of things hoped for, the assurance of things not seen) in Christ as Savior, every believer is indwelled by the Holy Spirit who gives new birth and spiritual life. This genuine active faith is the only condition for receiving salvation and grants the believer acceptance and adoption by God to experience eternal life as His child.
THE CHURCH
We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be comprised only of believers.Local church leadership (often modeled as pastors/elders) should be composed of men whose lives model the requirements of elders outlined in 1 Timothy and Titus. These local church leaders should model obedience to Christ by shepherding and encouraging believers to use their God given-gifts for the building up of the church and by proclaiming the gospel so that men, women, and children may receive salvation by placing their faith in Christ. Local churches must pursue unity across all man-made barriers as we have been made one in Christ to the glory of God the Father.
THE RETURN OF CHRIST
We believe in the personal bodily return of Jesus Christ which will usher in both the completion of God’s judgment against sin and the final fulfillment of the promise of eternal life for those who have placed their faith in Christ – trusting in Him alone for their redemption. Until His return, we are to live in a manner worthy of the calling we have been given.
CHRISTIAN IDENTITY
We believe our identity is rooted in God’s design and image. Therefore, as Christians, we rejoice and rest in the truth that our identity is “in Christ” and reject that our identity is found in our ethnicity, race, nationality, self-perception of one’s sexual desire or gender, past actions, present temptations, and/or anything that might seek to supplant our foundational identity in Christ Jesus.
MARRIAGE & SEXUALITY
We believe God established marriage as a lifelong, exclusive relationship between one man and one woman and that all intimate sexual activity outside the marriage relationship, whether heterosexual, homosexual, or otherwise, is immoral and therefore sin. We believe that God created the human race male and female and that all conduct with the intent to become a different sex or adopt a gender incongruent with one’s birth sex is immoral and therefore sin.
SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE
We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life.
[Adopted 10/22]