What We Believe

The Triune God

We believe the Church prays to the Father, through the mediating ministry of the Son, in the empowering enablement of God the Spirit.

Jesus Christ

We believe in Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Triune Godhead; that He was eternally one with the Father; that He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary, so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say the Godhead and manhood, are thus united in one Person very God and very man, the God-man. Jesus Christ died for our sins, and that He truly arose from the dead and took again His body, together with all things appertaining to the perfection of man’s nature, wherewith He ascended into heaven and is there engaged in intercession for us.

The Holy Spirit

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Triune Godhead, that He is ever present and efficiently active in and with the Church of Christ, convincing the world of sin, regenerating those who repent and believe, sanctifying believers, and guiding into all truth as it is in Jesus.

The Holy Scriptures

We believe the very life-giving breath of God is at work in the Bible. We believe they were given by divine inspiration, inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation.

Sin, Original and Personal

We believe that sin came into the world through the disobedience of our first parents and death by sin. We believe that sin is of two kinds, original sin and actual or personal sin. Original sin is our natural tendency toward sin. Personal sin is a voluntary violation of a known law of God by a morally responsible person.

Atonement

We believe that Jesus Christ, by His sufferings, by the shedding of His own blood, and by His death on the Cross, made a full atonement for all human sin, and that this Atonement is the only ground of salvation, and that it is sufficient for every individual of Adam’s race.

Prevenient Grace

We believe long before we are aware of God’s activity in our lives, Christ through the Spirit works to lead all persons to conversion and creates the conditions for conversion to occur.

Repentance

We believe human beings are called to turn around; reorient their hearts and lives, and live in a radically new way in the light of the kingdom Jesus introduced into the world. God’s always-coming kingdom demands change!

Justification, Regeneration, and Adoption

We believe that justification is the gracious and judicial act of God by which He grants full pardon of all guilt and complete release from the penalty of sins committed, and acceptance as righteous, to all who believe on Jesus Christ and receive Him as Lord and Savior. Regeneration, or the new birth, is that gracious work of God whereby the moral nature of the repentant believer is spiritually quickened and given a distinctively spiritual life, capable of faith, love, and obedience. Adoption is that gracious act of God by which the justified and regenerated believer is constituted a child of God.

Christian Holiness and Entire Sanctification

We believe that there is only one standard for the Christian Life, Holiness. This standard is attained as a person lives completely controlled by and directed by the Holy Spirit. This comes to full fruition as a person makes a complete consecration of self to the will and purpose of God in every area of their life. Holiness includes the impulse to grow in grace.

The Church

We believe in the Church, the community that confesses Jesus Christ as Lord, the covenant people of God made new in Christ, the Body of Christ called together by the Holy Spirit through the Word. God calls the Church to express its life in the unity and fellowship of the Spirit; in worship through the preaching of the Word, observance of the sacraments, and ministry in His name; by obedience to Christ, holy living, and mutual accountability. The mission of the Church in the world is to share in the redemptive and reconciling ministry of Christ in the power of the Spirit. The Church fulfills its mission by making disciples through evangelism, education, showing compassion, working for justice, and bearing witness to the kingdom of God.

Baptism

We believe that Christian baptism, commanded by our Lord, is a sacrament signifying an outward sign of an inward grace: acceptance of the benefits of the atonement of Jesus Christ, to be administered to believers and declarative of their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior, and full purpose of obedience in holiness and righteousness. Baptism being a symbol of the new covenant, young children may be baptized, upon request of parents or guardians who shall give assurance for them of necessary Christian training.

The Lord’s Supper

We believe that the Memorial and Communion Supper instituted by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is essentially a New Testament sacrament, declarative of His sacrificial death, through the merits of which believers have life and salvation and promise of all spiritual blessings in Christ. It is distinctively for those who are prepared for reverent appreciation of its significance, and by it they show forth the Lord’s death till He come again.

Divine Healing

We believe in the Biblical doctrine of divine healing and urge our people to seek to offer the prayer of faith for the healing of the sick. We also believe God heals through the means of medical science.

Second Coming of Christ

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again; that we who are alive at His coming shall not precede them that are asleep in Christ Jesus but that, if we are abiding in him, we shall be caught up with the risen saints to meet the Lord in the air, so that we shall ever be with the Lord.

Resurrection, Judgment, and Destiny

We believe in the resurrection of the dead, that the bodies both of the just and of the unjust shall be raised to life and united with their spirits. We believe in future judgment in which every person shall appear before God to be judged according to his or her deeds in this life and that glorious and everlasting life is assured to all who savingly believe in, and obediently follow, Jesus Christ our Lord; and that the finally impenitent shall suffer eternally in hell.