Scripture
We believe Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word
of God, without error when they were initially penned by their authors. We believe
it to be the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of all people,
the divine and final authority for the Christian life and faith.
The Holy Trinity
We believe in the Trinity, the Triune God, one God who has always and will
always exist as three distinct persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They all
share the same essence or substance but have distinct personalities and roles.
God The Father
We believe in God, the Father, Creator of all things visible and invisible, who
is true holiness, all powerful, infinite love, absolute truth, all knowing, and
all present.
God The Son
We believe Jesus Christ is simultaneously 100% human and 100% divine. We
believe He was born of a virgin, that His death was a pleasing and acceptable
sacrifice for the sins of all, and that He ascended to heaven. We believe He
will return in bodily form to gather all Christ followers. We believe Jesus is
the only way to have a personal relationship with God, and that by personally
accepting His death and bodily resurrection, anyone can be spiritually birthed
(born again) into this relationship.
God The Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit’s goal is to bring glory and honor to Jesus Christ.
We affirm He is actively involved in the lives of Christ followers. He is not
only responsible for their new birth, He also instructs and empowers them to
live the Christian life. He grows fruit in their lives as evidence of character
development. He gifts them in ways that enable fulfillment of their God given
mission of being God’s ambassador in reaching the world. We affirm He is also
active in the lives of unbelievers, whether skeptics or inquisitive seekers. He
is at work prodding them about sin, pointing out their distance from God, and
heightening their sense of emptiness that only God can fill.
Humanity
We believe that all people are created in the image of God. God created and
ordained marriage that glorifies Him as a covenant between Himself and one man
and one woman who are joined together as one flesh. Through the fall of Adam
and Eve, all were separated from God. We remain in that state until we accept
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Salvation
We believe that God, in His great love for all people, provided the ultimate
sacrifice for sin through the death of his one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
Salvation can come through Him alone. Only through His shed blood and
resurrection are there any grounds for justification and reconciliation to God.
One accepts Christ as Savior through a conversion process that includes
faith, repentance, confession, and baptism (Acts 2:38, 8:12, 10:47-48, Rom.
10:9, etc.) In baptism a believer is immersed, crucified and buried with
Christ (Rom 6:3-4), receives forgiveness of sin and the gift of the Holy Spirit
(Acts 2:38), is resurrected (Col. 2:12), is clothed with Christ (Gal. 3:27),
and becomes saved (1 Peter 3:21) because of God’s free gift of grace received
by faith.
People were created to exist forever. We will either exist eternally
separated from God by sin, or eternally with God through forgiveness and
salvation. To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life. Heaven and Hell
are real places of eternal existence.