BELIEFS



WHAT WE BELIEVE

GOD

WE BELIEVE in God the Father, from whom all things come, in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord, and in the Holy Spirit, one God in three Persons, indivisible. By the Father we are perfectly loved. By the Son, born of a virgin, fully God and fully man, are we brought to salvation. By the Holy Spirit are we divinely indwelt. God is omniscient, almighty, and infinite, yet personal. His very nature is the essence of love. He is Abba (Daddy). He is sovereign and active today in fullness of power.


MAN

WE BELIEVE that man as created in God's image is a fellowship of two, male and female, equal under authority. We are wonderfully and fearfully made, designed for fellowship with the Creator as creatures both fully physical and fully spiritual. By the willful rebellion of our race, each of us is shattered in every good capacity. All of us have sinned. Each of us needs the Savior desperately, and by choosing Him, each one is redeemed.


BIBLE

WE BELIEVE the Bible to be the inspired and authoritative Word of God, which alone is binding on all the church for all of time. It is eternal, living and active, spiritual food for the spiritual man. It is the absolute description of the spiritual law of the universe, the way reality actually works. As such it is infallible and sufficient for matters of life, faith and practice.


SALVATION

WE BELIEVE salvation to be by the name of Jesus alone. The inevitable consequence of the sin of which all of us partake is death and broken relationship with God both here and in the hereafter. By His substitutionary sacrifice on the cross of Calvary, the God-man Jesus Christ, who was the propitiation for our sin took our death on Himself. He died, was buried, descended into hell (I Peter 3:18-19), and was resurrected in the body on the third day, according to the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father. By His death we are forgiven. By His resurrection we are given new life that we might again have fellowship with Him. This salvation begins in the present for the healing of both body and spirit and will be completed in the resurrection at the last day when He returns to judge the living and the dead and to receive His people to Himself.


CHURCH

THE CHURCH is Christ's body, His bride, composed of all those who acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior and who have committed to serve Him in love. It is called by Him to proclaim the gospel, to make disciples, to serve and obey Him in all His Word. It is a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, an organism endowed with power to do His work by virtue of the coming of the Spirit on the whole church on the day of Pentecost.


SACRAMENTS


WE RECOGNIZE two sacraments - baptism and the Lord's Supper - while affirming the sacred character of every other act of the body of Christ.

CREEDS

WE AFFIRM

the ancient creeds of Christian faith.