Doctrinal Guidance

The Statement of Faith below is what guides the teaching in our church and shapes our philosophy of ministry.

I. The Holy Scriptures

 

We believe the Bible is the Word of God and is essential to the life of the believer. The Bible is true, authoritative, and sufficient in all areas of life. The Bible is essential, infallible, and inerrant. It is God’s self-revelatory record through which God speaks in power, unfolds his redemptive purposes, and leads us to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible is the normative rule and guide of all Christian life, practice, and doctrine and should be used to test every doctrinal formulation.

[Psalm 19:7-11; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Deuteronomy 4:1-2; Romans 15:4; 1 Peter 1:25]

 

II. The Triune God

 

There is one God: infinite, eternal, almighty, and perfect in holiness, truth, and love. In the unity of the Godhead, there are three Persons:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-existent, co-equal, and co-eternal. The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the Father. Yet each is truly Deity. One God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - is the foundation of the Christian faith and life. (Genesis 1:26; John 1:1; John 10:33)

 

• God The Father - God the Father is the Creator of heaven and earth. He freely and supernaturally created the world by His word and for His glory. He is the sustainer of all creation, and His plans and purposes cannot be thwarted. God the Father is all-powerful and all-knowing, and His perfect knowledge extends to all things past, present, and future. The eternal triune God reveals himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and along with them, is Sovereign over all. To God, we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience as the first person of the Trinity.
  
  [Genesis 1:1; Deuteronomy 6:4; Psalm 19:1-3; Matthew 6:9; John 4:24; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 4:6; 1 Timothy 1:17]
   

• God the Son - Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is the eternal Word made Flesh, supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. He is fully God and fully man, and through Him, all things came into being and were created. Jesus perfectly revealed and obeyed the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities. He was fully human and yet without sin. Jesus died a brutal death on the cross, substituting Himself in the sinner’s place in order to remove our guilt and reconcile us to God. In doing so, He revealed divine love and upheld divine justice. He rose bodily from the grave on the third day, victorious over death and the powers of darkness and performing many proofs of His resurrection. He ascended into heaven where, at the right hand of God, He now intercedes for His people and rules as Lord over all. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive purposes. Jesus Christ is worthy of all adoration, love, service, and obedience by all as the second person of the Trinity.
  
  [Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; Mark 1:1; Romans 1:3-4; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:20; Philippians 2:5-11;
  Colossians 1:13-22; 1 Peter 2:21-25; Revelation 1:13-16]
   

• God the Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and of judgment in order to persuade all humankind to repent of their sins and confess Jesus as Lord. The Holy Spirit unites believers to Jesus Christ in faith, brings about the new birth, and dwells within the regenerate believer. At the moment of regeneration, He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ, cultivates Christian character, and bestows spiritual gifts by which they serve God and His church. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. God, the Holy Spirit, is the element that empowers the believer and the Church in worship, evangelism, and service. He is to be respected, honored, and worshiped as God, the third person of the Trinity.
  
  [Genesis 1:1-2; Psalm 51:11; Isaiah 61:1-3; Matthew 1:18; Matthew 3:16; Matthew 4:1; Matthew 12:28-32; Matthew 28:19; Luke 1:35;
  John 4:24; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 1:13-14; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 1 Timothy 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:14; Hebrews 9:8; Revelation 22:17]

 

III. Man

 

God made man—male and female—in His own image, as the crown of creation so that man might glorify Him through representation, relationship, and responsibility to God. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. Tempted by Satan, man rebelled against God. Being estranged from his Maker yet responsible to Him, man became subject to divine wrath, inwardly depraved, and utterly incapable of returning to God apart from a special work of grace. This depravity is radical and pervasive. It extends to his mind, will, and affections. Unregenerate man lives under the dominion of sin and Satan. He is at enmity with God, hostile toward God, and hateful of God. Fallen, sinful people, whatever their character or attainments, are lost and without hope apart from salvation in Christ alone.

[Genesis 1:26-30; Genesis 2:7; Genesis 2:18-22; Isaiah 6:5; Acts 17:26-31; Romans 1:19-32; Colossians 1:21-22]

 

IV. Salvation

 

Salvation is freely offered to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ, who obtained eternal redemption for all who believe by His blood, is the only way to salvation. By putting our faith in Jesus as Lord, we are reconciled to God and saved. Salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification.

 

• Regeneration is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creations in Jesus Christ. It is a change of heart that can only be brought on by the Holy Spirit through the conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God through faith in Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are experiences of grace.

• Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer into a relationship of peace and favor with God.

• Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerated person’s life.

• Glorification is the culmination of salvation, whereupon the very presence of sin is eradicated, and the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed is bestowed.

 

[Genesis 3:15; Exodus 3:14-17; 6:2-8; Matthew 1:21; 4:17; 16:21-26; 27:22-28:6; Luke 1:68-69; 2:28-32; John 1:11-14,29; 3:3-21,36; 5:24; 10:9,28-29; 15:1-16; 17:17; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 15:11; 16:30-31; 17:30-31; 20:32; Romans 1:16-18; 2:4; 3:23-25; 4:3; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13; 13:11-14; 1 Corinthians 1:18,30; 6:19-20; 15:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Galatians 2:20; 3:13; 5:22-25; 6:15; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-22; 4:11-16; Philippians 2:12-13; Colossians 1:9-22; 3:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Timothy 1:12; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 2:1-3; 5:8-9; 9:24-28; 11:1-12:8,14; James 2:14-26; 1 Peter 1:2-23; 1 John 1:6-2:11; Revelation 3:20; 21:1-22:5]

 

V. Election

 

Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. Election does not negate the free will of man, but the two mysteriously work together to accomplish God’s salvific plan for mankind. Election is the glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, and it excludes boasting and promotes humility.

[Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:5-8; Isaiah 5:1-7; John 1:12-14; John 3:16; John 5:24; John 6:44-45; Colossians 1:12-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14;
James 1:12; 1 Peter 1:2-5]

 

VI. Baptism

 

One of two Holy ordinances, water baptism by the professing Christian, is an act of obedience to Christ’s command and signifies the believer’s entrance into the universal body of Christ. It is one of the primary means God has given the church to publicly declare our faith in Christ as Lord and Savior. Water baptism is done in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It represents a believer’s union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection and all the benefits entailed by that union. Moreover, baptism is a promise and glorious anticipation that Christ will consummate all things.

[Matthew 3:13-17; Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; Acts 2:41-42; Romans 6:3-5]

 

VII. The Lord's Supper

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One of two Holy ordinances, The Lord’s Supper, is a memorial celebration by which the church remembers what Christ did on the cross to accomplish salvation. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ in heaven is united with the church on earth. By partaking in this ordinance, the believer enjoys participation with Christ, church unity, and nourishment toward sanctification. The elements (bread and wine/juice) are symbols, but they are not empty symbols: they render what they symbolize: the remission of our sins through the work of Christ and His everlasting union with us. Christ presents himself and his saving benefits through his spiritual presence through these means of grace. Only believers in a proper relationship with Christ are to participate in this ordinance.

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[Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 10:14-22, 11:17-34; Matthew 26:26-29; Malachi 1:10- 11]

 

VIII. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

 

The gifts of the Holy Spirit that we see exercised in the Scriptures have not ceased with the death of the last Apostle or the closing of the New Testament canon. They are available today and are to be eagerly desired and practiced in submission to the Spirit under the authority of Scripture. All of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for the edification of the body of Christ and should function according to what is decent and in order.

[Romans 12:6-8; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20; 1 Corinthians 12:7; Ephesians 4:11-13; 1 Corinthians 13:8-12]

 

IX. Complementary Roles of Men and Women

 

In essence, men and women are equal in dignity and value and are distinct by divine design. As part of God’s good created order, men and women are given different yet complementary roles and responsibilities in the home and church, especially as it comes to teaching and authority. These role distinctions are God’s grace to men and women and are to be protected, preserved, and practiced for His glory and our joy.

[Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:18; Acts 1:21-22; 1 Corinthians 11:2-16; Ephesians 5:22-33; 1 Timothy 2:8-15; 1 Peter 3:1-7]