Who We Are.

The Bible, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, alone is the Word of God, fully inspired and without error in the original manuscripts, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and having supreme authority in all matters of faith and life.

There is One living and true God, eternally existing in three Persons. They are equal in every divine perfection, and They execute distinct but harmonious offices in the work of creation, providence, and redemption.

God the Father is the infinite, eternal and almighty personal Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love, and is the first Person of the Trinity. He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of people, He hears and answers prayers, and He saves from sin and death all who come to Him in repentance and faith through Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten Son, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and is the second Person of the Trinity. He was miraculously born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and performed miracles. We affirm His incarnation, teachings, substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people, and His personal, visible return to earth. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God the Father and humanity.

The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity and is sent from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and to regenerate, sanctify and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. At the moment of salvation the Holy Spirit, as the abiding Helper, Teacher, and Guide, indwells every believer in Christ and endows each believer with spiritual gifts for ministry to the family of God and the world.

The central purpose of God’s revelation in the Bible is to call all people into awareness of their sin, the availability of God’s marvelous grace, and the need for repentance and faith that results in complete forgiveness and fellowship with God. All people are sinners by nature and by choice and are, therefore, under the judgment of God. Those who call on the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness, believe in His resurrection and receive Him as their Savior are granted salvation, forgiveness of their sin and are regenerated by the Holy Spirit into a new life in Christ. This act of salvation is based solely on the grace and mercy of God and is not the result of human deeds or goodness.

The Lord Jesus Christ will come again to earth, personally and visibly, to establish His kingdom and fulfill God’s eternal plan for creation. Death seals the eternal destiny of each person. For each person, there will be a resurrection of the body, the final judgment before God, the eternal bliss in heaven for those who are in Christ Jesus, and the endless suffering in hell for those who have not received salvation.

The Church consists of a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all regenerated persons are members. It exists as both a world-wide fellowship of the family of God as well as in specific local congregations consisting of a community of believers in Jesus Christ who are committed to obedience to Him. Believers in a local church are called by God to gather together to devote themselves to worship, prayer, the teaching of the Word of God, observance of baptism and communion as ordinances established by Jesus Christ, and to fellowship and to minister to one another through the development and use of talents and spiritual gifts. God has laid upon the members of the local church the primary task of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world, beginning in their own communities and reaching cross-culturally to the ends of the earth.

The Lord Jesus Christ has instituted two ordinances for obedient observance by the local church: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Baptism does not constitute salvation but is a public profession of faith that a person has already experienced salvation. The Scriptures teach that the elements of Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, have no mystical or supernatural power, but were given by Jesus as symbols of the sacrifice of His body and blood as an atonement for the sins of the world. These two ordinances are to be observed and administered by God’s family until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.