Articles of Faith:

1.  THE SCRIPTURES
We believe: 

• that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as originally written are God-breathed extending equally to each word and to all parts of the sixty-six books of the Bible.
• that God communicated through Spirit-controlled men so that the Scriptures are without error in the original writings.
• that all Scripture is to be interpreted in the natural, historical, grammatical, and literal manner.
• that all Scripture was designed for our practical instruction and is the believer’s sole authority for life and practice.

           Scriptures: 2 Timothy 3:16, 17; 2 Peter 3:15, 16; Matthew 5:18; Revelation 22:18, 19; 2 Peter 1:19-21; John 17:17; Hebrews 4:12

2. THE TRUE GOD           
We believe:

• that there is one eternal, living and true God, the Creator of all things.
• that God exists as three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
• that the members of the Godhead have the same nature and attributes and are worthy of the same worship.
• that God is unlimited in time, space, matter, knowledge, and power.
• that God created the heavens and the earth including all life, each after its own species, by direct act and not by the process of evolution.

           Scriptures: Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 46:9; Genesis 1:1; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Exodus 20:2, 3; Matthew 3:16, 17; John 1:1-3; Hebrews 1:8; Colossians
          2:9; Acts 5:3, 4; John 4:24
 
3. GOD THE FATHER          
We believe:

• that the Father is the source of all things and the one who sent the Son as His gift into the world.
• that the Father has planned all that comes to pass for His glory but he is not the author nor approver of sin.

           Scriptures: Ephesians 1:9, 10; John 3:16; 1 Pet. 1:2; Ps. 2:7-9; James 1:13; 1 Corinthians 8:6
 
4. THE SON          
We believe:

• that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, eternal and equal with the Father.
• that He was conceived without sin by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, existing in the flesh as fully God and fully man.
• that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and died voluntarily for our sin in our place.
• that Jesus Christ was buried and rose physically from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion.
• that He ascended to heaven and is now seated at the right hand of the Father.
• that Jesus Christ will receive us unto Himself at His appearance and will return to establish His earthly kingdom.

           Scriptures: Colossians 2:9; John 1:1, 14-18; Hebrews 1:3; Philippians 2:5-8; Luke 1:35; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; 1 Peter 2:22, 24; 3:18;
          2 Corinthians 5:22; Matthew 28:6; Acts 2:32, 33; Hebrews 1:3; 7:25; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17
 
 5. THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe:

• that the Holy Spirit is a divine person who is eternal and equal with the Father and Son.
• that He convicts the world of sin, reveals Christ and unites all believers in one body.
• that He seals, indwells, empowers, teaches, guides, comforts, sanctifies and gives gifts to believers.  
• that revelatory and sign gifts of the Holy Spirit were given to the early church for the primary purpose of authenticating His ministry.

           Scriptures: Acts 5:3,4; Hebrews 9:14; Psalm 139:7-12; John 14:26; John 16:7-11; Ephesians 1:13-14; John 7:39; 14:16, 17; Romans 8:9, 26-27;
          1 Corinthians 6:19; 12:8-13
 
6. HUMANITY AND SIN
We believe:

• that mankind is the result of the direct creative act of God, made in the image of God.
• that human life begins at conception.
• that sin is disobedience toward God. 
• that through deliberate disobedience to God mankind fell from his original position of innocence and sinlessness and as a consequence became separated from God.
• that sin has been transmitted to the entire human race so that every person is conceived with a fallen nature devoid of spiritual life and is powerless to remedy this condition.
• that the punishment for sin is death.
• that gender is determined by God-given anatomy.
• that the Biblical mandate for all sexual relationships is a union between one man and one woman in marriage.

          Scriptures: Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7; 3:1-6; Psalm 51:5; Romans 1:18-32; 3:1-24; 5:10-19; Isaiah 53:6; Romans 6:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9;
          Genesis 2:24-25
 
7. SALVATION
We believe:

• that salvation is release from the punishment for sin.
• that salvation is entirely of God’s grace through faith completely apart from any human merit or deeds.
• that believers were chosen by God for salvation before the foundation of the world and are enabled by the Holy Spirit to believe in Jesus Christ.
• that belief includes trusting in the substitutionary death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and turning away from sin.
• that a new nature and eternal life are given to believers by a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.
• that believers have a right standing before God because their sins have been transferred at the cross to Jesus Christ, and His righteousness has been credited to them.
• that believers demonstrate evidence of salvation.
• that salvation of the believer is eternally secure.

           Scriptures: John 3:3-7; Romans 10:9, 10; Ephesians 2:1-10; Ephesians 1:4-11; Titus 3:5-6; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Peter 1:23; 2 Peter 1:4;
          Romans 5:1; Philippians 1:6; John 10:27-29.
                                                                   
8. THE CHURCH
We believe:

• that the Universal Church is the Body of Christ consisting of all believers.
• that the Universal Church began at Pentecost and is distinct from Israel.
• that the local church is a component of the Universal Church in a particular place.
• that the purpose of the local church is to glorify God by proclaiming His Word, making disciples and observing ordinances.
• that the two ordinances of the church are baptism by immersion as the identifying symbol of one’s belief in Christ’s death and resurrection and communion which is a remembrance of Christ’s death until He comes.
• that the local church has the absolute right of self-government guided by Jesus Christ by means of the Holy Spirit.
• that the Scripture identifies two offices in the local church: the terms overseer, elder, pastor, and shepherd all refer to one office and the other office is deacon.

           Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 12:12, 13; Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 1:22, 23; Colossians 1:18; Acts 1:5, 8; 2:1-4; Matthew 28:19, 20; 2 Corinthians 5:20;
          2 Timothy 2:2, 15; Acts 2:38; Romans 6:2-5; 1 Corinthians 11:23-28; 2 Corinthians 5:20; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:1-13
 
9. ANGELS
We believe:

• that God created an innumerable host of sinless, personal spirits known as angels to glorify and serve Him.
• that Satan was created as an angel without sin, but rebelled against God accompanied by numerous angels now known as demons.
• that Satan introduced sin to the human race by tempting Adam and Eve.
• that Satan was defeated by the death of Christ and will be tormented forever.
• that Satan and his demons cannot possess Christians and their power is limited to influences that may be resisted by Christians. 

           Scriptures: Revelation 5:11; Hebrews 1:14; Psalm 91:11; Ezekiel 28:11-19; Genesis 3:1-5; Colossians 2:13-15; Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 20:10;
          2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2

10. FUTURE EVENTS
We believe:

• in the imminent appearing of Jesus Christ to raise all church saints to heaven.
• that after the seven year Tribulation, Christ will return to earth to set up His millennial kingdom, to re-gather Israel to their promised land, and to overthrow Satan.
• in the physical resurrection of all the dead: the believers to eternal life, and the unbelievers to judgment and eternal separation from God in the lake of fire.

           Scriptures: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:22-28; Revelation 19:11-16; Revelation 20:1-15; Romans 14:10-12; Matthew 25:46;
          Revelation 21-22