GOD

There is only one true and living God who exists eternally as three distinct persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

THE FATHER

God the Father is the Creator of heaven and earth (Genesis 1:1). By His word and for His glory, He created the world out of nothing and daily sustains it. He is infinite, eternal, almighty and perfect in holiness, truth and love. He rules over all and, together with the Son and the Spirit, is the only Sovereign. He is faithful to every promise, works all things together for good to those who love Him (Romans 8:28) and, in His unfathomable grace, gave His Son, Jesus Christ, for mankind’s redemption, to live in fellowship with Himself (John 3:16).

The Son

Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16), "begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father," is the eternal Word made flesh (John 1:1,14), supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:34). He is perfect in nature, teaching and obedience (Hebrews 4:15). He is fully God and fully man. Through Him all things came into being and were created. He was before all things, and in Him all things hold together by the word of His power (Colossians 1:15-­17). He is the image of the invisible God, the first­born over all creation, and in Him dwells the fullness of God. He is the only Savior for the sins of the world, having shed His blood and died on a cross (Philippians 2:8). His death in our place revealed God’s love and upheld His divine justice, removing our guilt and reconciling us to God (2 Corinthians 5:19). Having redeemed us from sin, on the third day, He rose from the grave, victorious over death and sin. Then, for a period of 40 days, He appeared to the disciples and over 500 witnesses. He ascended into heaven where, at God’s right hand, He intercedes for His people and rules as Lord over all. He is the Head the Church, His body, and "He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will never end."

THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. "He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets," about the mystery to come and now through the proclamation of the gospel, He compels men to repent of their sins and confess Jesus as Lord (1 John 1:9). By the same Spirit, a person is led to trust in God’s grace and mercy. The Holy Spirit unites believers to Jesus Christ in faith, brings about the new birth and dwells within the regenerate. The Holy Spirit has come to glorify the Son, Who, in turn, came to glorify the Father. He will lead the church into a right understanding and rich application of the truth of God’s Word (John 16:12-­14).

SCRIPTURES

We believe the Bible, including the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament, to be the written Word of God, leading us to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:17). Being breathed out by God, the Scriptures are an essential and infallible record of God’s revelation to mankind (2 Peter 1:20-­21). Therefore, as originally given, each book is to be interpreted according to its context and purpose as the Lord speaks through it. We are called to hunger and thirst for righteousness found in Jesus according to the Scriptures, which are breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16­-18).

MAN

God made man – male and female – in His own image, as the crown of creation so that man might glorify God through enjoying fellowship with Him (Genesis 1:26­-28). "With reasonable and immortal souls (Gen. 2:7), they were fit unto that life to God for which they were created; being made after the image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness (Eccles. 7:29; Gen. 1:26); having the law of God written in their hearts (Rom. 2:14–15), and power to fulfill it, and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject to change." They were given dominion over creation, and called to joyfully cultivate family, land and every living thing that moves on the earth.

SIN & THE FALL

"Although God created man upright and perfect, and gave him a righteous law, which had been unto life had he kept it, and threatened death upon the breaking of that command (Gen. 2:16-17), yet he did not abide in this honor; Satan using the subtlety of the serpent to subdue Eve, then by her seducing Adam, who, without any compulsion, did willfully transgress the law of their creation, and the command given to them, in eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:12–13; 2 Cor. 11:3), which God was pleased, according to His wise and holy counsel to permit, having purposed to order it to His own glory." In this rebellion and sin against God, our first parents fell from their original righteousness and communion with God (Genesis 3) and we in them whereby death came upon all (Romans 3:23) all becoming dead in sin (Romans 5:12), and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body (Titus 1:15; Gen. 6:5; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 3:10–19). For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, and their foolish hearts were darkened (Romans 1:21; Romans 8:7-­8). Being set apart from his Maker yet responsible to Him, he became subject to God’s wrath, inwardly depraved and apart from a special work of grace, utterly incapable of returning to God (Colossians 1:21; Romans 8:7­-8). The corruption of nature, during this life, does remain in those that are regenerated (Rom. 7:18,23; Eccles. 7:20; 1 John 1:8); and although it is through Christ's pardon and mortification, sin still remains until He returns or calls us home.

As a result of The Fall creation (the natural world) is in a bondage of decay , not just mankind, and even though creation is not itself fallen like mankind or disobedient to God, Adam's sin brought the created order into bondage to death, decay, corruption, and futility and here waits and growns for the return of Christ to restore all things back to it's original glory. (Romans 8:19:23)

THE GOSPEL

Jesus Christ is the gospel. The good news is revealed in His birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension. He lived a sinless life to replace our sinful life (Hebrews 4:15). Christ paid a wrath­-absorbing death to free us from our death­-deserving life. He rose to eternal life defeating death and sin in order for us to inherit eternal life (Acts 17:30­-31). Christ’s death is a substitutionary sacrifice to God for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 3:21­-31). It satisfies the demands of God’s holy justice and appeases His holy wrath. It also demonstrates His mysterious love and reveals His amazing grace. There is no other name by which men must be saved.

MAN'S RESPONSE TO THE GOSPEL

The proper response to the gospel is faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, a faith that is given by God and naturally accompanied by repentance from sin (Ephesians 2:8­-10; 1 John 1:9). While neither repentance nor works save, biblical repentance is characterized by a changed life, and saving faith is evidenced by kingdom service (James 2:14). This response to the gospel is rooted and grounded in the free and unconditional election of God for His own pleasure and glory (Romans 8:29­-30). This gospel of grace through faith in Christ according to the Scriptures for the glory of God alone is to be sincerely preached to all men in all nations.

SANCTIFICATION

The Holy Spirit is the active agent in our sanctification and seeks to produce His fruit in us as our minds are renewed and we are conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 12:1­-2). Though indwelling sin remains a reality, we are led by the Spirit as we grow in the knowledge of the Lord. We freely keep His commandments and endeavor to so live in the world that all people may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven (Ephesians 2:10; Matthew 5:16). All believers are exhorted to persevere in the faith, knowing they will have to give an account to God for their every thought, word and deed. Our joyful obedience towards the spiritual disciplines of, but not limited to, Bible study and meditation, prayer and fasting, confession and repentance, are a vital means of grace in this regard leading to our pursuit of holiness. Nevertheless, the believer’s ultimate confidence to persevere is based in the sure promise of God to preserve His people until the end, which is most certain (1 Thessalonians 5:23­-24; Titus 2:11­-12; Jude 24).

EMPOWERED BY THE SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit empowers believers for the life of a disciple. The promise of the Father is freely available to all who believe in Jesus Christ, thereby enabling them to exercise the powers of the life to come in ministry and mission (1 Timothy 4:10; Romans 8:11). The Holy Spirit desires to continually fill each believer with power to testify and imparts His supernatural gifts for the edification of the body and the work of ministry in the world. All the gifts of the Holy Spirit at work in the church of the first century are available today and are to be earnestly desired and practiced in an orderly manner (Ephesians 4:11­-17; 1 Corinthians 12­-14).

THE CHURCH

God, by His Word and Spirit, creates the Church, calling sinful men out of the whole human race into the fellowship of Christ’s body. By the same Word and Spirit, He guides and preserves that new redeemed humanity. The Church is not a religious institution or denomination. Rather, the Church is made up of those who have become genuine followers of Jesus Christ by the power of the gospel. The Church exists to worship and glorify God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The church also exists in two functions, Universal and local. The Universal church is made up of all the people of God who have placed their faith and hope in Jesus Christ. From the Old Testament all the way into New, God’s people were always meant to be a people set apart (1 Peter 2:9). As God uses His people, the church, those who have been made into new creations, who are free from the bondage and slavery to sin, to go and live in such a way that upholds the Kingdom of God, the Gospel is made visible.

It also exists as a local "body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians 4) to serve Him by faithfully living out His will on earth. This involves a commitment to see the gospel preached and churches planted in the entire world for a testimony. The ultimate mission of the Church is worship, and the means by which this is accomplished is the making of disciples through the preaching and embracing of the gospel (Matthew 28:18­-20). Upon conversion, newly redeemed men and women are added to a local church in which they devote themselves to teaching, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper and prayer (Acts 2:42­-47).

All members of the Church are to be a vital and committed part of a local church. In this context, they are called to walk out the New Covenant as the people of God and demonstrate the reality of the kingdom of God. The ascended Christ has given gift ministries to the Church (including prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers) for the equipping of Christ’s body for the work of ministry, and that it might mature and grow in unity and love for one another (Ephesians 4:11-­16). In the context of the local church, God’s people receive pastoral care and leadership and the opportunity to employ their God­-given gifts in His service in relation to one another and to the world.

ORDINANCES OF THE CHURCH

Water baptism is only intended for the individual who has received the saving benefits of Christ’s atoning work and become His disciple. Therefore, in obedience to Christ’s command and as a testimony to God, the church, oneself and the world, a believer should be immersed in water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Water baptism is a visual and symbolic demonstration of a person’s union with Christ in the likeness of His death and resurrection. It signifies that his former way of life has been put to death and vividly depicts a person’s release from the mastery of sin (2 Corinthians 5:17). As with water baptism, the Lord’s Supper is to be observed only by those who have become genuine followers of Christ. This ordinance symbolizes the breaking of Christ’s body and the shedding of His blood on our behalf, and is to be observed repeatedly throughout the Christian life, taken with the body of Christ, as a sign of continued participation in the atoning benefits of Christ’s death (Luke 22:14­-23). As we partake of the Lord’s Supper with an attitude of faith and self­-examination, we remember and proclaim the death of Christ, receive spiritual nourishment for our souls, and signify our unity with other members of Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 11:17­-34).

THE CONSUMMATION

The consummation of all things includes the glorious return of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the dead and the transformation of those alive in Christ, the judgment of the just and the unjust, and the fulfillment of Christ’s kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth (Revelation 21:1). In the consummation, Satan, with his hosts and all those outside Christ, are finally separated from the benevolent presence of God, enduring eternal punishment in Hell. The righteous, in glorious bodies, shall live and reign with Jesus Christ forever, serving Him and giving Him unending praise and glory. Then shall the eager expectation of creation be fulfilled, and the whole earth shall proclaim the glory of God, Who makes all things new (Colossians 1:20; Revelation 21:5).