Our Beliefs
Doctrinal Statement
PREAMBLE
We the members of this body of born-again believers, having placed our total trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, further acknowledge the Bible to be a divine revelation from God, and hold by conviction to the distinctives for which Baptists have stood, do now set forth this constitution to express our purpose, our convictions, and our plans to function as an Independent Baptist Church.
CHURCH COVENANT
Having been led, as we believe, by the Spirit of God to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour and on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we do now in the presence of God, angels, and this assembly, most joyfully enter into covenant with one another, as one body in Christ.
We engage therefore, under the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love; to strive for the advancement of this church, in knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline and doctrines; to give it pre-eminence over all institutions of human origin; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the Gospel through all nations.
We also engage to maintain family and personal devotions; to educate our children as prayerfully led by the Holy Spirit; to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances; to walk circumspectly in the world; to be just in our dealings; faithful in our engagements and exemplary in our deportments; to avoid all tattling, backbiting, and excessive anger; to abstain from the sale and use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage, and to be zealous in our efforts to advance the kingdom of our Saviour.
We further engage ourselves to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember each other in prayer; to aid each other in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation, and mindful of the rule of our Saviour to secure it without delay.
We moreover engage, that when we remove from this place, we will as soon as possible unite with some other church of like faith and practice where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God's Word.
DOCTRINAL STATEMENT
1. The Scriptures
We believe the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, inerrant in the original manuscripts and the supreme and final authority for faith and life.
2. The Godhead
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes and perfections.
3. The Lord Jesus Christ
We believe in:
1) His pre-incarnate existence as the eternal Son of God
2) His incarnation
3) His virgin birth
4) His death upon the cross as the substitutionary atonement for sin
5) His literal, bodily resurrection from the dead
6) His bodily ascension into heaven
7) His present ministry of intercession in Heaven
8) His personal, premillennial, pretribulational return to earth.
4. The Holy Spirit
1) We believe that:
2) He is the third person of the Godhead
3) He convicts man of sin
4) He is the supernatural Agent in regeneration
5) He indwells and seals all believers, and sets apart yielded believers unto a holy life
6) He keeps and empowers believers daily
7) He is the Divine Teacher of the Word of God and Guide for the believer's daily life
5. Man
We believe that man was created innocent and pure, but that Adam fell from his original position through the sin of disobedience. We believe, therefore, that all men, being Adam's descendants, are corrupted in body, mind, and soul; and thus in need of redemption.
6. Salvation
We believe that:
1) Salvation is solely by grace through faith in the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
2) All who show repentance toward God and faith toward Jesus Christ are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and thus become the children of God
3) All who are regenerated are kept forever
7. The Christian Life
We believe that:
1) The Christian life is a growth process in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ
2) The joyous Christian life is always a life of faith. By faith the believer must yield to the will of God and acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord of his life
3) Fellowship with God, power and a fruitful Christian life are accomplished only as the believer is filled with the Spirit and walks in the Spirit, Who enables him to obey the will of God for his life
4) God cannot overlook sin in His children, but He will chasten and correct them in love
5) The fruitful Christian life will express itself by maintaining a devotional life, by studying the Word of God, prayer, and by seeking the salvation of the lost through verbal witnessing to the saving power of God.
8. The Local Church
We believe that:
1) The Local Church was established by our Lord Jesus Christ, who also purchased the same with His blood.
2) The Local Church is the institution through which He seeks to carry out His work upon this earth today, and it manifests itself in local visible congregations of believers.
3) The local church should be composed of only regenerated, baptized believers who voluntarily unite together for worship, edification, fellowship, service and the evangelization of the world.
4) The local church has the absolute right to self-government, free from from all interference by any hierarchy, individual or organization, and that the only Superintendent is Christ, directing through the Holy Spirit.
5) Christ instituted only two ordinances for the church to observe until He comes:
Believer's Immersion
The Lord's Supper
9. The Future
We believe:
1) In the personal premillennial pretribulational return of Jesus Christ
2) At that time, He will come for His saints to gather unto Himself and seven years later He will come with His saints to judge the nations and to establish His Messianic Kingdom on earth
3) That the just will be bodily resurrected and consciously enjoy the presence of Jesus Christ forever
4) That one thousand years later, the lost will be bodily resurrected and consciously suffer everlasting punishment in the Lake of Fire
10. Satan
1) We believe that:
2) Satan is a created personal being
3) He is the author of sin and the arch-enemy of God
4) He continually seeks to hinder the work of God
5) His final destination is the Lake of Fire where he will eternal torments
11. Missions
Because all men everywhere who are without Christ are lost and destined for eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire, and because men cannot believe in Him of Whom they have never heard, we believe that:
1) We are debtors to all men and have the responsibility of giving them the Gospel
2) Jesus Christ left us the command to take the Gospel to every place where men are found
3) In order to carry out His command, we must support by prayer and financial aid those who go out under sound missionary agencies under the authority of a Biblical local assembly to represent us in the other parts of the world.