Beliefs

The exclusive basis of our beliefs is God’s infallible written Word, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. We believe that it was uniquely, plenary and verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit and that it was written without error (inerrant) in the original manuscripts. We believe that it is the supreme, sufficient and final authority in all matters on which it speaks.

We accept those areas of doctrinal teaching on which, historically, there has been general agreement among all true Christians. Because of the specialized calling of this ministry, we desire to allow for freedom of conviction on other doctrinal matters, provided that any interpretation is based upon the Bible alone, and that no such interpretation shall become an issue which hinders the ministry to which God has called us.

We believe that:

1. There is only one true God, eternally existing in three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — each of whom possesses equally all the attributes of Deity and the characteristics of personality. Jesus Christ is God, the living Word, who became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. Hence, He is perfect Deity and true humanity united in one person forever.
2. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and voluntarily paid in full the penalty for the sins of men by receiving the holy wrath of God toward their sins through His death on the cross as their substitute, thus satisfying divine justice and accomplishing salvation for all who trust in Him alone.
3. Jesus Christ rose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He lived and died. He ascended bodily into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father, where He, the only mediator between God and man, continually makes intercession for His own.
4. Man was originally created in the image of God. He sinned by disobeying God; thus, he was alienated from his Creator. That historic fall brought all mankind under divine condemnation.
5. After the fall, man’s nature is radically corrupted, and he is thus totally unable to please God. Every man is in need of God’s forgiveness and reconciliation to Him by the redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ and the regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
6. The salvation of man is wholly a work of God’s free grace and is not the work, in whole or in part, of human works or goodness or religious ceremony. God imputes His righteousness to those who, in their earthly lifetime, put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, and thereby justified them in His sight.
7. The Holy Spirit has come into the world to reveal and glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to men. He convicts and draws sinners to Christ, imparts new life to them, continually indwells them from the moment of spiritual birth and seals them until the day of redemption. His fullness, power and control are appropriated in the believer’s life by faith.
8. It is the privilege of all who are born again of the Holy Spirit to be assured of their salvation from the very moment in which they trust Christ as their Savior. This assurance is not based upon any kind of human merit, but is produced by the witness of the Holy Spirit, who confirms in the believer the testimony of God in His written word.
9. Every believer is called to live so in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit so that he will not fulfill the lust of the flesh but will bear the fruit of the Spirit to the glory of God.
10. Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, His Body, which is composed of all believers, living and dead, who have been united to Him through saving faith. God commands His people to assemble together regularly for worship, for prayer, for participation in ordinances, for edification through the Scriptures and for mutual encouragement.
11. Jesus Christ will come again to the earth — personally, visibly and bodily — to consummate history and the eternal plan of God.
12. At physical death, both believers and unbelievers await the coming again of Jesus Christ in all His glory and the resurrection of the dead; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life, everlasting glory and blessing and they that are lost unto the resurrection of condemnation and eternal destruction.
13. Jesus Christ commanded all believers to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and to disciple men of every nation. The fulfillment of that Great Commission requires that all worldly ambitions be subordinated to a total commitment to His Lordship.
14. Jesus Christ commanded all believers to love God with all their entire being, to love one another, and to love their neighbors as themselves.