What We Teach

The Bible

The Bible is the inspired, inerrant, sufficient, and authoritative Word of God. It is the sole standard of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. It contains everything we need for life and spiritual growth. The whole counsel of God concerning everything essential for his own glory and man’s salvation, faith, and life is contained in the Holy Scriptures. Nothing is ever to be added to the Scriptures, either by new revelation or by human traditions. God’s Word is the supreme judge for deciding all religious matters. The 66 books of the Old and New Testaments are the only infallible rule of faith and practice. (2 Peter 1:21; 2 Timothy 3:16,17; Isaiah 8:20)

God

God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in His power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will. There is only one true living God. There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one God, the same in essence, equal in power and glory. (Psalm 86:8-10, 15; Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:6)

The Father

The first Person of the Trinity, the Father, orders and disposes all things according to His own purpose and grace. He is the Creator of all things. As the only absolute and omnipotent Ruler in the universe, He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption (Psalm 145:8-9; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Genesis 1:1-31; Ephesians 3:9; Psalm 103:19; Romans 11:36)

The Son, Jesus Christ

With the Father and the Spirit, the Son created all things, sustains all things, and makes all things new. He is fully God and fully man. The Bible clearly teaches His virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, ascension to the right hand of the Father, and bodily return in power and glory. He accomplished our redemption through the shedding of His blood and sacrificial death on the cross. His death was voluntary, vicarious, substitutionary, propitiatory, and redemptive (John 10:15; Romans 3:24-25; 5:8; 1 Peter 2:24).

The Holy Spirit

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to execute the divine will with relation to all mankind. Fully God, He sovereignly acted in creation, the incarnation, and written revelation. The Holy Spirit is the supernatural and sovereign Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit indwells, sanctifies, instructs, empowers, and seals believers until the day of redemption (Genesis 1:2; Matthew 1:18;2 Peter 1:20-21;John 3:5-7;1 Corinthians 12:13; Romans 8:9; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Ephesians 1:13).

The Church

The universal church is comprised of all the redeemed. The local church is the visible, tangible expression of the universal church. The purpose of the church is to exalt God in worship, to edify the Body through instruction in the word and encouragement, and to evangelize the lost by taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. The establishment and continuity of local churches is clearly taught in Scripture. While all Christians are members of the universal church, they are directed to associate themselves together in local assemblies. (Acts 14:23, 27; 20:17, 28; Matthew 28:19; Acts 1:8; 2:42; Galatians 1:2; Philippians 1:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1; 1 Corinthians 11:18-20; Hebrews 10:25).

The Ordinances

Jesus Christ gave us two ordinances: baptism and the Lord’s supper. Baptism is to be by immersion following salvation. It is a testimony to a believer’s faith in Jesus, union with Him, and points to a future resurrection to new life. It is a symbol of fellowship and identification with the church. All Believers are instructed to celebrate the Gospel at the Lord’s Table where we remember and proclaim His death until He returns (Acts 2:38-42; 8:36-39).

Salvation

Being a Christian isn’t merely joining a particular religion or affirming a specific value system. Being a Christian means you have understood your sinfulness, your inability to save yourself, and have embraced what the Bible teaches about Jesus. You have repented of your sins and are trusting in Christ alone and what He did on the cross for your salvation. Those who trust in Christ have been granted repentance, made righteous through faith in the perfect, obedient life, wrath-absorbing substitutionary death, and new life-giving resurrection of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we are no longer condemned, but heirs to the hope of eternal life and God’s glory (Titus 3:3-7).