What We Believe

The Holy Scriptures
We believe that the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God, inerrant, infallible, immutable, and preserved in the King James Version for the English-speaking people, and that it is the supreme and final authority of faith and practice. (2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 1:23; 2 Peter 1:19-21)

 

The Godhead
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in essence while distinct in personality and function. (Exodus 20:2-3; Matthew 28:19-20; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 1 John 5:7)

 

Creation
We believe in God’s direct creation of the universe without the use of pre-existent material and apart from any process of evolution whatsoever, as according to the Genesis account. (Genesis 1:1-31; Exodus 20:11; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 11:3)

 

Jesus Christ 
We believe that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, and is true God and true man. (Isaiah 7:14; John 1:1; Luke 1:35; Galatians 4:4)

 

Bodily Resurrection of Christ
We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, in His ascension into Heaven, and in His present life there as our High Priest and Advocate. (Matthew 28:1-7; Acts 1:8-11; 1 Corinthians 15:4-9; Hebrews 4:14-16)

 

The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the agent of the New Birth through conviction and regeneration, and that He seals and indwells everyone who trusts Christ as Savior.  We also believe that the Holy Spirit fills and empowers believers, and that He distributes spiritual gifts to all believers. (John 3:5; Romans 8:9, 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:13, 13:1-13; Ephesians 1:13, 2:20, 4:11-12, 5:18; Hebrews 2:3-4)

 

The Charismatic Movement
We believe that the modern-day charismatic movement, in all its forms, is unscriptural.  We do believe in the power of God and the fullness of the Holy Spirit; however, this power is not evidenced by speaking in an “unknown tongue” or any other manifestation of a “gift”.  The Word of God clearly states that, when believers were filled with the Holy Spirit, they spoke the Word of God with boldness.  The modern-day charismatic movement, which officially began in the 1900s, sidesteps the very reason for the fullness of the Holy Spirit.  In Acts 2, when believers were filled with the power of God, they went out into the city, preached the Gospel, and went soul-winning, and had 3000 souls saved. (Acts 4:13, 19, 31)

 

The State of Man
We believe that man was created in the image of God, that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death, but also spiritual death, which is separation from God.  All human beings are born with a sin nature and are sinners in thought, word, and deed. (Genesis 1:26-27, 3:1-6; Romans 5:12, 19, 3:10-13, 23)

 

The Scope of Salvation
We believe that Jesus Christ died as the substitutionary sacrifice for all men.  The blood atonement He made is unlimited in its potential.  It is limited only in its application, effectively saving all those who call upon the name of the Lord in repentance and faith. (Isaiah 53:4-11; John 3:5-8, 16; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21; 1 Timothy 4:10; 1 John 2:1-2)

 

The Way of Salvation
We believe that all who receive, by faith, the Lord Jesus, are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become the children of God. (John 1:12-13, 3:3-16; Acts 16:31; Romans 4:5; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5)

 

The Eternal Security of the Believer
We believe in the eternal security of the believer, that it is impossible for one who is born into the family of God ever to be lost, because he is forever kept by the power of God. (John 10:28-29; 1 Peter 1:3-5)

 

The Rapture
We believe in that “blessed hope,” the personal, premillennial, pretribulational, and imminent return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, when He will gather all believers unto Himself and take them to Heaven. (John 14:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:51-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-13)

 

Dispensationalism
We believe that the Scriptures interpreted in their natural, literal sense reveal divinely determined dispensations or rules of life which define man’s responsibilities in successive ages.  These dispensations are not ways of salvation, but rather are divinely ordered stewardships by which God directs man according to His purpose.  Three of these dispensations—the age of the Law, the age of the Church, and the age of the Kingdom—are the subjects of detailed revelation in Scripture. (Genesis 1:28; 1 Corinthians 9:17; 2 Corinthians 3:9-18; Galatians 3:13-25; Ephesians 1:10, 3:2-10; Colossians 1:24-25, 27; Revelation 20:2-6)

 

Heaven and Hell
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the saved and the unsaved, the everlasting blessedness of the saved in Heaven, and the everlasting punishment of the lost in Hell. (Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 16:19-31; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-16; Revelation 21:1-8)

 

The Local Church
We believe that the local Church is the agency through which God has chosen to accomplish His work in the world.  A New Testament Baptist Church is an organized body of baptized believers, immersed upon a credible confession of faith in Jesus Christ, having two offices (Pastor and deacon), Pastor-led in its polity, autonomous in nature, and banded together for work, worship, edification, the observance of ordinances, and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.  The local Church, under the headship of Christ, is to be free from any external hierarchy and should not associate itself with any ecumenical, charismatic, neo-orthodoxy, new-evangelical, or any other effort which compromises the Truth of the Word of God. (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:41-17; Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-17; Ephesians 1:22, 3:10; 1 Timothy 3, 6:3-5; 1 Peter 5:1-3)

 

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
We believe that the two ordinances of the local Church are Baptism by immersion after salvation, and the Lord’s Supper, which was instituted by Jesus that we might remember and show forth His death “till He come” (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:41-47; 1 Corinthians 11:23-28; Colossians 2:12)

 

Human Sexuality
We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.  We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s original intent for the proper and Biblical sexual relationship. (Genesis 2:24, 19:5, 13, 26:8-9; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; 1 Corinthians 5:1, 6:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4)

 

Abortion
We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being.  Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life.  Abortion is murder.  We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, population or birth control, or the life of the mother are acceptable. (Job 3:16; Psalm 51:5, 139:14-16; Isaiah 44:24, 49:1,5; Jeremiah 1:5, 20:15-18; Luke 1:44)

 

Missions
We believe that God has given the Church the Great Commission to proclaim the Gospel to all nations so that there might be a great multitude from every nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language group who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  As ambassadors for Christ, we must use all available means to go to foreign nations and not wait for them to come to us. (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:20)

 

Civil Government
We believe that God has ordained and created all authority consisting of three basic institutions: (1) the home, (2) the Church, and (3) the state.  Every person is subject to these authorities, but all (including the authorities themselves) are answerable to God and governed by His Word.  God has given each institution specific Biblical responsibilities and balanced those responsibilities with the understanding that no institution has the right to infringe upon the other.  The home, the Church, and the state are equal and sovereign in their respective Biblically assigned spheres of responsibility under God. (Romans 13:1-7; Ephesians 5:22-24; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 2:13-4)

 

Lawsuits Between Believers
We believe that Christians are prohibited from bringing civil lawsuits against other Christians or the Church to resolve personal disputes.  We believe that the Church possesses all the resources necessary to resolve personal disputes between members.  We do believe, however, that a Christian may seek compensation for injuries from another Christian’s insurance company as long as the claim is pursued without malice or slander. (1 Corinthians 6:1-8; Ephesians 4:31-32)

 

Giving
We believe that every Christian, as a steward of that portion of God’s wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to support his local Church financially.  We believe that God has established the tithe as a basis for giving but that every Christian should also give other offerings sacrificially and cheerfully to the support of the Church, the relief of those in need, and the spread of the Gospel.  We believe that a Christian relinquishes all rights to the direct use of the tithe or offering once the gift has been made. (Genesis 14:20; Proverbs 3:9-10; Acts 4:34-37; 1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:6-7; Galatians 6:6; Ephesians 4:28; 1 Timothy 5:17-18; 1 John 3:17)