Statement of Faith

Statement of Faith

We agree with the Together for the Gospel statement.

Our Beliefs 1. The Bible is the sole inspired, infallible, authoritative, and inerrant written Word of God (II Timothy 3:15-17, II Peter 1:21). 2. There is one God, eternally existing in three persons: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:1, Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19, John 10:30). 3. Jesus Christ is God in flesh (John 10:33); He was born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, Luke 1:34-35); He never sinned during his entire life (Hebrews 4:15, 7:26); He performed miracles (John 2:11); He died a vicarious and atoning death (I Corinthians 15:3, Ephesians 1:7, Hebrews 2:9); He came back to life after having been dead (John 11:25, I Corinthians 15:4); He ascended bodily to the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19); He will personally return to earth in power and glory (Acts 1:11, Revelation 19:11-16). 4. It is absolutely necessary to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit for salvation because of the exceeding sinfulness of the human nature. The only way to be justified is on the single ground of faith in the shed blood of Christ. Only by God's grace through faith alone can we be saved (John 3:16-19; 5:24, Romans 3:23; 5:8-9, Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 3:5). 5. Both those who are saved and those who are unsaved will be resurrected. Those who are saved unto the resurrection of life, and those who are not unto the resurrection of damnation (John 5:28-29). 6. Christians are examples of the love of God in this world. It is this (agape) love that we desire to possess and without it we have no right to call ourselves Christians (I John 4:16-17). 7. It is the mandate of the whole Church to go into the whole world and to preach the Gospel to every living creature (Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:19-20). Our Commitments 1. We will seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness because we know that then and only then will all other things be added to us. 2. We will do our best to serve God by our obedience. That means obedience to God’s commandments, and all of His Son’s admonitions. 3. We have chosen to follow after Jesus so we will deny ourselves daily and take up our cross and do our very best to be like Christ. 4. We believe in biblical evangelism. We know that it’s God’s love and kindness that leads us to repentance and He illustrated His love for us because Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. We also know we must use the Law of God to stop the mouth of a self righteous sinner, to bring the knowledge of sin and as a school master to lead people to Christ. We know we must use the law to prepare/plow the heart before planting the seed of the Gospel so that when the seed is planted, it may find good soil and produce a crop of 30, 60 or 100 fold. 5. We will treat all other seed sowers with the love and respect we would give to Jesus. We will not make harsh remarks about another seed sower whether in private or in public. 6. We will not allow doctrinal divisions in our ranks. Providing we all recognize and agree on the major essentials regarding salvation, we can then recognize there are legitimate questions regarding differing views on the non-essentials. Irenic discussion is encouraged. This is theological discourse that is done peaceably, accurately representing all views, even when you oppose them. Polemic debate will not be permitted, which is theology done in a warlike manner inside the Church, aggressively speaking against those with whom there is disagreement. In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.