What We Believe:

​

We are a congregation of Christians who have been called together by God to help the church of Jesus Christ excel in the ministry of the gospel. Because theological faithfulness is vital in discipleship, edification and in the equipping of the saints, it is hereby articulated in our summary of convictions in this regard:

​

God:

God is eternal and infinite in all of His perfections. This one God exists eternally in three distinct fully and truly divine persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is Creator of all that exists. He made the heavens and the earth out of nothing. He exerts comprehensive sovereignty over all of His creation. He possesses exhaustive and perfect knowledge of all events past, present, and future. He is present everywhere at all times. He is infinitely good with no shadow of sin in any part of His being. 

Gen. 1-3; Ps. 139:1-16; Is. 46:8-11; Acts 5:1-4; Romans 9:5; Eph. 1:11

​

Scripture:

The 66 books of the Bible in the Old and New Testaments constitute the completed and inscripturated Word of God. God the Holy Spirit carried along the human authors of Scripture so that they wrote the exact words that He desired them to write. The words in Scripture penned by human authors are thus the very words of God Himself. As inspired by God the Bible is completely free from error, and serves as the inerrant, infallible, and final rule for life and faith. The Bible speaks with complete authority about every matter it addresses. 

Acts 1:16; 2 Tim. 3:1-17; 2 Peter 1:3-21; 2 Peter 3:15-16​​

​

Jesus Christ:

Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, the second member of the Trinity. He exists as one Person with two distinct natures, truly divine and truly human without any mixture of the two. He was born of a virgin. He lived His entire life on earth without transgressing the Law of God, thus earning righteousness for His people. He suffered a violent death on the cross to pay for sin. He rose miraculously from the grave on the third day as Lord and Savior, demonstrating His victory over sin, death, and the devil. He ascended bodily into heaven where He reigns over all creation, and actively upholds and intercedes for His people as His bride, the church, awaits His glorious return.

Matt. 1:18-25; John 17:6; 1 Cor. 15:1-8; Eph. 1:21-23; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-15; Heb. 4:14-15; 7:25

​

The Holy Spirit:

The Holy Spirit is the eternal third member of the Trinity. He is the Person who convicts of sin and who indwells Christians. He regenerates and empowers them to live the Christian life, to understand the Scriptures, and to worship Jesus Christ. He is the sovereign God who equips believers with gifts of service to do ministry in the church. He is the promised Counselor who continues the work of the Wonderful Counselor, Jesus Christ.

John 16:4-15; Romans 8:9-11; 1 Cor. 12:12-30; Eph. 1:13-18

​

Grace:

Salvation is thoroughly a work of divine grace from beginning to end. Before the foundation of the world the Father elected to save a people, who would compose the church. Jesus Christ purchased the salvation of those individuals through His life, death, and resurrection. The Holy Spirit applies the work of Christ to all who believe, creating the gift of faith in their hearts, and He keeps them in that faith forever. 

Romans 3:21-23; Eph. 1:3-14; 2:1-10; Phil. 1:6

​

Man:

God created man out of the dust and breathed life into him so that he became a living person. Human beings are made in the image of God and were created by Him to be the pinnacle of creation. God made mankind in two complementary genders of male and female who are equal in dignity and worth. Men are called to roles of spiritual leadership particularly in the home and the church. Women are called to respond to and affirm godly servant leadership particularly in the church and home. God created the human person with a physical body and an immaterial soul, each possessing equal honor and essential to humanity. The Bible depicts the soul as that which motivates the physical body to action. The great hope of Christians is the restoration of body and soul in a glorified existence in the new heavens and new earth. Man is by design a dependent creature standing in need of divine counsel to serve God and to be conformed into the image of Christ.

Gen. 1:26-27; 2:7; Pro. 4:23; Romans 8:29; 1 Tim. 2:8-15; Eph. 5:22-33; 2 Cor. 4:16--5:10

​

Sin:

God created mankind in a state of sinless perfection, but the human race fell from this state when Adam willfully chose to rebel against God and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Since that time every human being, except Jesus Christ, has been born in sin and separated from God. Every element of human nature is inherently corrupted by sin so that mankind stands in desperate need of the grace of God to be cleansed from sin by the Holy Spirit through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. 

Gen. 3:1-7; Ps. 51:5; Romans 3:1-21; 5:12-21

​

The Church:

The church is the bride of Christ called to proclaim the Word of God, administer baptism and the Lord's Supper, and exercise church discipline. The church is the organism through which God accomplishes His mission in the world. It is the main agent for all ministry of the Word, including discipleship.

Matt. 16:18-20; 18:15-20; Romans 15:14; 1 Peter 2:1-12; Rev. 19:6-10

​

Regeneration:

Regeneration is the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit where He transforms the hardened heart of a sinner into the soft heart of a believer, who loves God and obeys His Word. It is what makes the new life in Christ possible. Regeneration, along with the God-given gifts of repentance and faith, is granted solely by grace, resulting in all the attendant evidences of our great salvation in Christ.

Ez. 36:25-27; Acts 20:21; John 3:1-9; Titus 3:4-6; James 1:18

​

Justification:

Justification is the sovereign declaration of God that the righteousness of Jesus Christ has been imputed to those who have trusted in His sinless obedience and His substitutionary atonement on the cross for our salvation. When God justifies a person, He no longer treats him as a sinner but reckons him to possess that righteousness which Jesus Christ earned on his behalf. The declaration of justification does not come through any past, present, or future merit in the sinner. Justification is based exclusively on the merits of Jesus Christ and is received through faith alone. 

Luke 18:9-14; Romans 4:1-12; Phil. 3:1-11

​

Sanctification:

Sanctification is a joint work between God and man, where God supplies grace for the Christians to grow in obedience to Christ. While Christians are made holy in a definitive sense at conversion, it still remains for them to grow in holiness. This work of grace requires believers to utilize, by faith, the normal means of grace such the spiritual disciplines (i.e., prayer; the study of Scripture; thought renewal; and fellowship in the context of the local church). Christians will experience real progress in growing more like Christ, yet this work will be incomplete in this life. The work of the gospel is fundamentally the work of helping Christians grow in the grace of sanctification.

Acts 26:17-18; Romans 6:1-14; 2 Cor. 3:18; Phil. 2:12-13; Col. 3:1-17

​

Revelation:

God discloses Himself to humanity in two ways. Special revelation is God's disclosure of Himself to His people in the pages of Scripture. General revelation is God's disclosure of Himself to the entirety of humanity in the things that have been made. General revelation and special revelation each come from God and so are of equivalent authority, though they differ in content. Special revelation discloses detailed information about the character of God and how to live all of life in a way that honors Him. General revelation is a disclosure of the beauty and power of God, which leads to judgement. The subject matter of general revelation is the character of God, and not mere facts about created order. General revelation requires special revelation to be properly understood and applied.

Ps. 19:1-6; Romans 1:18-23

​

Common Grace:

God extends His goodness to all people by making provision for their physical needs and granting them intellectual gifts. This goodness, also known as common grace, is what grants unbelievers the ability to apprehend facts in science, for example, and is why believers can affirm the true information that unbelievers come to understand. The chief manifestation of God's grace is His salvation of sinners by the blood of Jesus Christ to all who believe. Common grace cannot overcome the corrosive effects of sin upon human thinking without this special, saving grace of Jesus. This reality guarantees that, though unbelievers can know many facts, they will misunderstand information that is most central to human life, which includes information about God, the nature of the human problem, and God's solution in Christ.

Matt. 5:44-45; John 1:9; Romans 1:18-23; Col. 1:21

​

The Great Commission:

The church has been called to go into all the world with the task of evangelism and discipleship. Christ gave us a personal charge to spread the gospel. We are admonished to reach out to those around us with the same love that Christ demonstrated when He gave His life for us by His penal substitutionary atonement on Calvary.

Matt. 28:16-20; Romans 10:1-17; 2 Cor. 5:11-21; Col. 1:24-29

​

Last Things:

We believe in the personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of His kingdom. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgement, the eternal felicity of the righteous and the endless suffering of the wicked.

We believe in the personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of His kingdom. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgement, the eternal felicity of the righteous and the endless suffering of the wicked.

Matthew 16:27; Mark 14:62; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; Philippians 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 2 Timothy 4:1; Titus 2:13; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 1 Corinthians 15; 2 Thessalonians 1:7–10; Revelation 20:4–6,11–15