Scripture
We believe Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God, without error when they were initially penned by their authors. We believe it to be the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of all people, the divine and final authority for the Christian life and faith.
Godhead
We believe in the Trinity, the Triune God, one God who has always and will always exist as three distinct persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They all share the same essence or substance but have distinct personalities and roles.
God the Father
We believe in God, the Father, Creator of all things visible and invisible, who is true holiness, all powerful, infinite love, absolute truth, all knowing, and all present.
God the Son
We believe Jesus Christ is simultaneously 100% human and 100% divine. We believe He was born of a virgin, that His death was a pleasing and acceptable sacrifice for the sins of all, and that He ascended to heaven. We believe He will return in bodily form to gather all Christ followers. We believe Jesus is the only way to have a personal relationship with God, and that by personally accepting His death and resurrection, anyone can be spiritually birthed (born again) into this relationship.
God the Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit’s goal is to bring glory and honor to Jesus Christ. We affirm He is actively involved in the lives of Christ followers. He is not only responsible for their new birth, He also instructs and empowers them to live the Christian life. He grows fruit in their lives as evidence of character development. He gifts them in ways that enable fulfillment of their God given destiny of being God’s teammate in reaching the world. We affirm He is also active in the lives of unbelievers, whether skeptics or inquisitive seekers. He is at work prodding them about sin, pointing out their distance from God, and heightening their sense of emptiness that only God can fill.
Humanity
We believe that all people are created in the image of God. Through the fall of Adam and Eve, all were separated from God. We remain in that state until the moment of new birth by the Holy Spirit. Only through the work of the Holy Spirit can this eternal life be received.
Salvation
We believe that God, in His great love for all people, provided the ultimate sacrifice for sin in His Son, Jesus Christ. Salvation can come through Him alone. Only through His shed blood, and resurrection are there any grounds for justification and reconciliation to God. Salvation is, therefore, received as a free gift of faith.
Because God gives us eternal life through Jesus Christ, the true believer is secure in that salvation for eternity. If you have been genuinely saved, you cannot “lose” it. Salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by the self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that gives us this security.
People were created to exist forever. We will either exist eternally separated from God by sin, or eternally with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life. Heaven and Hell are real places of eternal existence.
IN ESSENTIAL BELIEFS, WE HAVE UNITY
“There is one Body and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all…” Ephesians 4:4-6 (NIV)
IN NON-ESSENTIAL BELIEFS, WE HAVE LIBERTY
“Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters…Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls…So then each of us will give an account of himself to God…So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God.” Romans 14:1,4,12,22
IN ALL OF OUR BELIEFS, WE SHOW CHARITY
“…and hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but the very secrets of God, and if I have that absolute faith which can move mountains – but have no love, I amount to nothing at all.” 1 Corinthians 13:2