- The Bible. We believe that the Bible is God’s written revelation to humans, and thus the books of the Bible given to us by the Holy Spirit constitute the plenary (inspired equally in all parts) Word of God. We believe that the Word of God is objective, propositional revelation, verbally inspired in every word, absolutely inerrant in the original documents, infallible, and God breathed. We teach that the Bible constitutes the only infallible rule of faith and practice (John 17:17, 2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:20-21)
- God. We believe that there is but one living and true God, an infinite, all knowing Spirit, perfect in all His attributes, one in essence, eternally existing in three Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – each equally deserving worship and obedience (Deut. 6:4; Mat. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14).
- God the Father. We believe that God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity, orders and disposes all things according to His own purpose and grace. He is the Creator of all things. As the only absolute and omnipotent Ruler in the universe, He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption. His fatherhood involves both His designation within the Trinity and His relationship with humankind. As Creator He is Father to all humans, but He is spiritual Father only to believers. He has decreed for His own glory all things that come to pass. He continually upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and events. In His sovereignty, He is neither author nor approver of sin, nor does He abridge the accountability of moral, intelligent creatures. He has graciously chosen from eternity past those whom He would have as His own; He saves from sin all who come to Him through Jesus Christ; He adopts as his own all those who come to Him; and He becomes, upon adoption, Father to His own (Gen. 1; Rom. 8:14; 1 Cor. 8:6; Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:4-6,11; Eph. 3:9).
- God the Son. We believe that Jesus Christ is the pre-existent and eternal Son of God who became human in order to reveal God and redeem humans. We believe He was supernaturally conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. In His person, we believe the Lord Jesus combined forever full and undiminished deity with true and perfect humanity to become the God-human. We believe Christ died on the cross as a substitute for sinful humans, was buried, arose bodily from the tomb, ascended into Heaven where He ministers on the behalf of saints, and someday will come again for His own (John 1:18, 8:58, Matt. 1:23, Col. 1:15-17, 1 Tim. 1:15, 3:16).
- God the Holy Spirit. We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, fully equal with God the Father and God the Son. Although the Holy Spirit is of the exact same essence, we believe the Holy Spirit is a personality distinct from the other members of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit, we believe, has an active ministry to the world in general which includes the restraining of evil, convicting of the unsaved and bestowing of God’s goodness on all humankind. We also believe the Holy Spirit has a ministry to every Christian which consists of regenerating, sealing, indwelling baptizing into the Body of Christ, and the giving of spiritual gifts. Ministries to obedient Christians include filling, assuring, teaching, guiding and comforting (Acts 5:3-4, 2 Thes. 2:3-9, John 16:7-11, Matt. 5:45, Tit. 3:5, Eph. 1:13, 1 Cor. 6:19, 12:13, Eph. 3:20, 1 Cor. 14, James 5:14, Eph. 5:18, Rom. 8:16, 14, John 16:13, 7).
- Creation. We believe that the Triune God, according to His sovereign will and for His own glory, created the heavens and the earth without the use of pre-existent material. All living things, we believe, came into being by a direct creative act of God and not by an evolutionary or random process, and thus have an existence distinct from Him and yet always dependent on Him (Gen. 2:4, Prov. 16:4, Acts 17:24, Col. 1:16-17).
- Humans. We believe that humans were directly and immediately created by God in His image and likeness. Humans were created free of sin with a rational nature, intelligence, volition, self-determination, and moral responsibility to God. We teach that God’s intention in the creation of humans were that humans should glorify God, enjoy God’s fellowship, live their lives in the will of God, and by this accomplish God’s purpose for humans in the world. We believe that in Adam and Eve’s sin of disobedience to the revealed will and Word of God, humans lost their innocence; incurred the penalty of spiritual and physical death; became subject to the wrath of God; and became inherently corrupt and utterly incapable of choosing or doing that which is acceptable to God apart from divine grace. With no recuperative powers to enable them to recover themselves, humans are hopelessly lost. Humans’ salvation is thereby wholly of God’s grace through the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ. We teach that because all humans were in Adam and Eve, a nature corrupted by Adam and Eve’s sin has been transmitted to all humans of all ages, Jesus Christ being the only exception. All humans are thus sinners by nature, by choice, and by divine declaration (Gen 2:16-17; Gen 3; John 3:36; Rom. 3:9-18, 23; Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2,1-3).
- Salvation. We believe salvation is wholly of God through grace by faith on the basis of the redemption of Jesus Christ, the merit of His shed blood, and not on the basis of human merit or works (John 1:12; Eph. 1:7; 2:8-10; 1 Peter 1:18-19).
- The Church. We believe in the spiritual unity of all believers in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, of which He is the head. We agree with the admonition of Scripture not to forsake the gathering together with fellow believers and therefore advocate active participation in a local church. The purpose of the church is to glorify God by growing in faith and knowledge of God through instruction in the Word, fellowship, keeping the ordinances, and advancing and communicating the gospel to the entire world (Mat. 28:19; Acts 2:38-43; Eph. 1:22; Eph. 4:5, 13-16; Eph. 5:23; Heb.10: 24-25).