Statement of Faith

We believe God originally created that man in His image and for His own glory, but Adam later sinned, thereby alienating himself from his Creator and plunging the entire human race into sin and death. We believe that as a consequence, all men are totally depraved, dead in trespasses and sins, being sinners both by nature and by choice, under the just condemnation to eternal punishment and everlasting existence separated from God, and stand in need of the forgiveness of God and of the new birth through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. We believe that man is saved through repentance and faith in the finished work of Christ. Justification is through grace alone. We believe the Scriptures teach that salvation of sinners is divinely initiated, wholly of grace, and accomplished only through the atoning work and shed blood of the Son of God; that His sacrificial death and bodily resurrection are the only grounds of salvation; that it is wholly apart from works and stands upon the sole condition of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and never without genuine repentance; that in order to be saved the sinner must be born again, being regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit through faith in God’s Word and becoming the recipient of a new nature; that the great Gospel blessing which Christ secures to such as believe in Him is justification, that judicial act of God accompanied by the pardon of sin and the imputation of divine righteousness, not because of any works of righteousness on man’s part, but solely through faith in the Redeemer’s blood; that the believer who has exercised personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is completely justified and in possession of a salvation which is eternally secure. We believe that the born-again Christian is completely justified and eternally secure in Christ, that he is kept by the power of God, that nothing can separate him from the love of God, and that none of Christ’s sheep will perish. We believe that the genuine believer can thus know that he has eternal life, and that the Spirit bears witness to the believer that he is a child of God, and that the Spirit is the promise that the believer will obtain the inheritance reserved in heaven for the saints. We believe that the assurance of salvation is not to be an occasion to the flesh but a motivation to purity. We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Though it is not necessary for salvation, it is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior. It represents the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper. We believe the Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming. We believe the first day of the week is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord’s Day should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We believe that the Church is the body of Jesus Christ composed of all true believers. The present work of the Church is the worship of God, the perfecting of the saints and the evangelization of the world. We believe in the personal and bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ to consummate our salvation and establish His glorious Kingdom.