We seek to bring light to the darkness, hope to the lost, and compassion to those in need. THE BIBLE
We believe that the Bible consisting of only the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments is the inspired, inerrant, infallible, preserved, and therefore eternal Word of God. We believe that it is the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried. We use the
KJV in our life and ministry. II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:19-21; Psalm 119:160; Psalm 12: 6 & 7
GOD THE FATHER
We believe in one living God, having three persons. He is intelligent, spiritual, and personal. He is the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. He is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being. Genesis 1:1; Exodus 3:14; Leviticus 22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; I Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 19:1-3
JESUS CHRIST
We believe Jesus Christ is the eternal only begotten Son of God. We believe in His incarnation of being conceived of the Holy Spirit and firstborn of the virgin, Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself the demands and necessities of human nature and identifying Himself completely with mankind, yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, partaking of the nature of God and man, and in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now indwells all believers as the living and ever present Lord. Genesis 18:1; Psalm 2:7; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-23; Mark 1:1; Luke 1:35
THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Saviour and effects regeneration. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the assurance of God to bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service. We believe the Holy Spirit supernaturally indwells and empowers the true believer to do the work of God. We do not believe that speaking in tongues is an evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Tongues was a gift given to the early church for a sign and for the furtherance of the gospel; it is no longer needed as we have the full revelation of Scripture complete and sufficient for all areas of faith and life. Genesis 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26; Psalm 51:11 Isaiah 61:1-3; Joel 2:28-32
MAN
We believe that man was created in innocence under the law of his Maker, but by voluntary transgression fell from his sinless state, in consequence of which all mankind are now sinners, not by constraint, but of choice; and therefore under just condemnation without defense or excuse. Genesis 3:1-6; Romans 5:12; Romans 5:19; Romans 3:10-19; Ephesians 2:1, 3; Romans 1:18
SALVATION
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit when the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance (Change of mind) is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality of Him as Lord and Saviour. Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God's purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person's life. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed in Heaven. Genesis 3:15; Exodus 3:14-17; 6:2-8; Matthew 1:21; 4:17; 16:21-26; 27:22-28:6; Luke 1:68-69; 2:28-32; John 1:11-14,29; 3:3-21,36; 5:24; 10:9,28-29; 15:1-16; 17:17; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 15:11; 16:30-31; 17:30-31; 20:32; Romans 1:16-18; 2:4; 3:23-25; 4:3.; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13; 13:11-14; 1 Corinthians 1:18,30; 6:19-20; 15:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Galatians 2:20; 3:13; 5:22-25; 6:15; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-22; 4:11-16; Philippians 2:12-13; Colossians 1:9-22; 3:1ff.; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Timothy 1:12; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 2:1-3; 5:8-9; 9:24-28; 11:1-12:8,14; James 2:14-26; 1 Peter 1:2-23; 1 John 1:6-2:11; Revelation 3:20; 21:1-22:5. THE CHURCH
We believe that a Baptist church is a congregation of baptized believers associated by a covenant of faith and fellowship of the Gospel. This church being understood to be founded by Christ and the citadel and propagator of the Divine and Eternal Grace; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws; exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word; that its officers of ordination are pastors and deacons whose qualifications, claims, and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures. We believe the true mission of the church is found in the Great Commission: first, to make individual disciples; second, to baptize those disciples; third, to teach and instruct as He has commanded. We do not believe in the reversal of this order. We hold that the local church has the absolute right of self government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations; and that the one and only superintendent is Christ through the Holy Spirit. We believe that it is scriptural for like faith churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the Gospel; that every church is the sole and only judge of the measure and method of its cooperation; that on all matters of membership, of policy, of government, of discipline, of benevolence, the will of the local church is final. Acts 2:41-42; I Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 4:11; I Corinthians 12:4; Acts 14:23
ORDINANCES
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fresh fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming. Matthew 3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; 14:22-26; Luke 3:21-22; 22:19-20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; 20:7; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 10:16,21; 11:23-29; Colossians 2:12. EVANGELISM
It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. Missionary efforts on the part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ. Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:5-6; Isaiah 6:1-8; Matthew 9:37-38; 10:5-15; 13:18-30, 37-43; 16:19; 22:9-10; 24:14; 28:18-20; Luke 10:1-18; 24:46-53; John 14:11-12; 15:7-8,16; 17:15; 20:21; Acts 1:8; 2; 8:26-40; 10:42-48; 13:2-3; Romans 10:13-15; Ephesians 3:1-11; 1 Thessalonians 1:8; 2 Timothy 4:5; Hebrews 2:1-3; 11:39-12:2; 1 Peter 2:4-10; Revelation 22:17
THE LAST DAYS
We believe in the pre-tribulation rapture of the church, an event that can occur at any moment, and that at that moment the dead in Christ shall be raised in glorified bodies, and the living in Christ shall be given glorified bodies without tasting death, and all shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air before the seven years of the Tribulation. We believe that the Tribulation, which follows the Rapture of the Church, will be culminated by the premillennial return of Christ in power and great glory to sit upon the throne of David and to establish His kingdom upon this earth. Daniel 9:25–27; Matthew 24:29–31; Luke 1:30–33; Isaiah 9:6, 7; 11:1–9; Acts 2:29, 30; Revelation 20:1–4, 6; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18; 1 Corinthians 15:42–44, 51–54; Philippians 3:20, 21; Revelation 3:10.
