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Our Statement of Faith
“Beloved...contend for the faith that was once for all delivered
to the saints. (Jude 1:3) The following paragraphs are brief, but
theologically precise, statements of what we believe and teach as a
local church regarding the fundamentals of the Christian Faith.
THE SCRIPTURES - We accept
the Bible, consisting of the 39 books of the Old Testament and the
27 books of the New Testament, as the written Word of God. The Bible
is the only essential and infallible record of God’s self-disclosure
to mankind. It leads us to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
Being given by God the Scriptures are both fully and verbally
inspired by God. Therefore, as originally given, the Bible is free
of error in all that it teaches.
GOD IS TRIUNE - There is one
God: infinite, eternal, almighty, and perfect in holiness, truth and
love. In the unity of the one godhead there are three persons;
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These are coexistent, coequal, and
coeternal, yet loving one another in distinct roles of headship and
submission.
GOD THE FATHER - God the
Father is the Creator of heaven and earth. By His Word and for His
glory, He freely and supernaturally created the world out of
nothing. Through the same Word He daily sustains all His creatures.
He rules over all and is the only Sovereign. His plans and purposes
cannot be thwarted. He is good and faithful to every promise,
working all things together for good to those who love Him. In His
unfathomable grace He gave His Son Jesus for the redemption of His
elect. He decrees that all creation will exist for the praise of His
glory. He is to be loved, honored, and worshipped as God the First
Person of the Trinity.
JESUS CHRIST - Jesus Christ,
the only begotten Son of God the Father, is the eternal Word of God
made flesh, supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the
Virgin Mary, just as the Old Testament prophets foretold.
He is perfect in nature, teaching and obedience. He is fully God
and fully man. He was always with God and is Himself God. 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.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation
and in Him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily.
He is the only Savior for the sins of the world having shed His
own blood and died a vicarious death on Calvary’s cross. By His
death in our place, He revealed the divine love and upheld the
divine justice, removing our guilt and reconciling us to God. Having
redeemed us from sin, on the third day He rose bodily from the
grave, victorious over death and all the powers of darkness and He
appeared to many witnesses performing many convincing proofs of His
resurrection. He ascended into heaven where, now at God’s right
hand, He intercedes for His people and rules as Lord over all and
one day He will return.
He is the Head of His body the Church and should be loved,
adored, served, obeyed and worshiped as God the Second Person of the
Trinity.
THE HOLY SPIRIT - The Holy
Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.
Through the proclamation of the Gospel He brings about the new
birth, indwells the regenerate, granting the desire and ability to
believe the truth, repent of their sins, trust in God’s mercy and
confess Jesus Christ as Lord. He unites all believers in faith to
Jesus Christ whom alone He has come to reveal and glorify. He is the
Comforter who is neither to be grieved nor quenched as He leads the
Church into the one right understanding and application of of God’s
Word. He empowers God’s people to bear spiritual fruit as they walk
in the obedience of faith. He is to be loved, obeyed, and worshipped
as God the Third Person of the Trinity.
MAN - God made man, male
and female, in His own image, as the crown of creation, that man
might enjoy loving fellowship with Himself. Tempted by Satan, man
distrusted God’s goodness and rebelled against God righteousness.
Being estranged from his Maker, yet still responsible to Him, man
became subject to divine wrath, inwardly depraved and, apart from a
special work of grace, utterly incapable of returning to God. This
depravity is radical and pervasive. It extends to his mind, will and
affections. Unregenerate man lives in slavery to sin and Satan as an
enemy of God. Fallen, sinful man, whatever his attainments in this
world, is lost and without hope apart from salvation by faith in
Christ.
THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION - The
Gospel is the good news that the death of Jesus Christ was a once
for all substitutionary and propitiatory sacrifice to God for our
sins. Christ satisfied the demands of God’s holy justice and
appeased His holy wrath. He purchased God’s saving grace for all who
believe and justified God for His common grace of kindness toward
all sinners who do not believe.
Jesus Christ is therefore the only mediator between God and man.
There is no other name under Heaven by which anyone can be saved.
Our ability to respond in faith to this Gospel is itself provided by
the free and unconditional selection of God. The Gospel is therefore
effective only in those who, by the grace of God, are born again and
thereby willing and able to genuinely repent of their sins and place
their faith in Christ alone to save them. This Gospel is to be
sincerely preached to all people in all nations without bias or
prejudice. True conversion is characterized by a new life of love
that delights to walk in the obedience of faith and is zealous to do
good works that are pleasing to God.
Salvation is the free gift of God. In it the righteousness of
Christ is imputed to the sinner by God’s judicial decree. Thus
justified by faith alone he is accepted by God and his debt for sin
is forgiven. The believer is thus reconciled to God as Father and
adopted as His child into His eternal family. He is liberated from
the law of sin and death and empowered by the Spirit of God to walk
in new life.
SANCTIFICATION - The Holy
Spirit is the indwelling agent in our progressive sanctification. As
He shines God’s love in our hearts He produces His fruit in our
lives. Our minds are renewed and our actions are conformed to the
image of Christ. Though our battle with indwelling sin continues
throughout our lives, as we are led by the Spirit, we are enabled to
walk in the Spirit and so delight in God’s commandments that we
truly endeavor to live in this world for the glory of God. All
believers are warned by God to persevere in their faith, knowing
that they will give an account to God for their every word and deed.
The spiritual disciplines of Bible study, prayer, worship, giving,
fellowship and confession of sin are provided by God as effective
means of grace to assist us in our pursuit of holiness.
Nevertheless, the believer’s ultimate confidence that he will
persevere in the faith is based on the sure promise of God to keep
all those who are His to the end.
EMPOWERED BY THE SPIRIT - In
addition to effecting regeneration and sanctification, the Holy
Spirit also empowers believers for Christian witness and service.
All genuine believers are baptized by the Spirit into the Body of
Christ at conversion. However, subsequent to conversion believers
are also made to drink of the same Spirit in order to be repeatedly
filled with the Spirit. Though the Holy Spirit may be resisted,
grieved, and quenched by our sin and unbelief, by God’s grace He
readily fills all who thirst with God’s love, joy, peace, wisdom and
power. In this way He also imparts to His people supernatural gifts
for the edification of the Body and witness to the world. All of the
gifts of the Holy Spirit described in the Bible are still available
for us today. They are vital for the mission of the church, and are
to be desired and used within the guidelines of Scripture.
THE CHURCH - God by His Word
and Spirit builds His Church, calling sinful men out of every
tongue, tribe and nation of the human race into the holy fellowship
of Christ’s Body. By the same Word and Spirit, God guides and
preserves His redeemed as a gathered community. It is not limited to
any religious institutions or denominations. Rather, the Church
Universal is made up of all who are born again followers of Jesus.
The Church exists in the world to worship God, to nurture fellow
believers and to bear witness to the Gospel. New local churches are
to be planted in the world for a visible evidence of God’s
salvation. The Church’s mission is to make disciples through the
preaching of the Gospel. Though social transformation is an indirect
benefit of changed lives, it is not the primary focus of the
ministry.
All members of the Body of Christ are to function as committed
members of a local church. In this context they are able to walk in
the obedience of faith working through love, as they show their love
for God by the way they keep His commandment to love one another.
Elders, Deacons & Ministry Gifts in
the Local Church
The ascended Christ has given gift ministries to His Church
(including apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers)
for the equipping of Christ’s body for works of service. Thankfully,
these gifts continue to function. However, the closed canon of
Scripture now fulfills the place of authority originally held by its
authors. No church leader is ever exempt from the biblical
qualifications for church office (1 Tim 3:1-13). Those with gift
ministries do not hold special authority over the local churches and
in order to function in any official capacity every minister must
meet the biblical qualifications of an Elder or a Deacon.
Likewise, though women play a vital role in the life of the
church, in keeping with the teaching of Scripture, women are not
permitted to “teach or to have authority over a man” (1 Tim. 2:12).
All church officers must therefore be men.
THE CHURCH ORDINANCES -
Water Baptism is an
initial act of the obedience of faith in Jesus Christ. It is
intended only for those who have been born again. As a public
testimony of one’s faith, it may be performed for the new believer
by any trusted fellow believer, ideally in the presence of fellow
church and community members. In it a believer should be immersed in
water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as a visual
demonstration of the believer’s union with Christ in the likeness of
His death and resurrection. It signifies that one’s former way of
life has been put to death, and that one has now been raised to new
life.
The Lord’s Supper: As
with water baptism, the Lord’s Supper is to be partaken of only by
those who are genuine followers of Christ. This ordinance symbolizes
the breaking of Christ’s body and the New Covenant sealed by the
shedding of His blood on behalf of His people. It is to be observed
repeatedly throughout the Christian life as a sign of participation
in the atoning benefits of Christ’s death. As the believer partakes
of the Lord’s Supper with an attitude of faith and self-examination,
he remembers and proclaims the death of Christ, receives spiritual
nourishment for his soul, and signifies his unity with other members
of Christ’s body. A common misunderstanding has been that this
ordinance can only be effectively served in formal services by
officers of the church. In the Bible we find believers often
“breaking bread from house to house” (Acts 2:46). We therefore
encourage all our members to rejoice in the priesthood of all
believers by serving and partaking of the Lord’s Supper with one
another whenever and wherever desired.
THE CONSUMMATION - The
Consummation of all things includes the visible, personal and
glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the
dead and the transformation of those alive in Christ into glorified
bodies, the judgment of the just and the unjust, and the fulfillment
of Christ’s kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth. In the
Consummation, Satan with his hosts and all those outside of Christ
will be finally separated from the benevolent presence of God to
justly endure eternal punishment in hell, but the righteous, in
glorified bodies, shall live and reign with Him forever in heaven.
Married to Christ as His Bride, the Church will live in the holy
presence of God, giving Him unending glory by praising and enjoying
Him forever.
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