The Holy Bible, and only the Bible, is the authoritative Word of God. It alone is the final authority in determining all doctrinal truths. In its original writing, it is inspired, infallible and inerrant (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Proverbs 30:5; Romans 16:25-26).
There is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and co-eternal (1 John 5:7; Genesis 1:26; Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19; Luke 1:35; Isaiah 9:6).
Jesus Christ is God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. On earth, Jesus was fully God and fully man. He is the only man ever to have lived a sinless life. He was born of a virgin, performed miracles, died on the cross for mankind and, thus, atoned for our sins through the shedding of His blood. He rose from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and will return again in power and glory (John 1:1,14, 20:28; 1 Timothy 3:16; Isaiah 9:6; Philippians 2:5-6; 1 Timothy 2:5).
Jesus Christ was conceived by God the Father, through the Holy Spirit (the third person of the Trinity) in the virgin Mary's womb; therefore, He is the Son of God (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18, 23- 25; Luke 1:27-35).
Man was created good and upright, but by voluntary transgression, he fell; his only hope of redemption is in Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Genesis 1:26-31, 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-21).
For anyone to know God, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential (John 6:44, 65).
We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ; We believe in His death, burial, and resurrection. Salvation is a gift from God, not a result of our good works or of any human efforts (Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16, 3:8; Titus 3:5; Romans 10:9-10; Acts 16:31; Hebrews 9:22).
Repentance is the commitment to turn away from sin in every area of our lives and to follow Christ, which allows us to receive His redemption and to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Thus, through repentance, we receive forgiveness of sins and salvation (Acts 2:21, 3:19; 1 John 1:9).
Sanctification is the ongoing process of yielding to God's Word and His Spirit in order to complete the development of Christ's character in us. It is through the present ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God that the Christian is enabled to live a godly life (1 Thessalonians 4:3, 5:23; 2 Corinthians 3:18, 6:14-18, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, Romans 8:29, 12:1-2, Hebrews 2:11).
The blood that Jesus Christ shed on the Cross of Calvary was sinless and is 100% sufficient to cleanse mankind of all sin. Jesus allowed Himself to be punished for both our sinfulness and our sins, enabling all those who believe to be free from the penalty of sin, which is death (1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:5, 5:9; Colossians 1:20; Romans 3:10-12, 23, 5:9; John 1:29).
Christians are people who have invited the Lord Jesus Christ to come and live inside them by His Holy Spirit. They relinquish the authority of their lives over to Him, thus making Jesus the Lord of their life as well as Savior. They put their trust in what Jesus accomplished for them when He died, was buried, and rose again from the dead (John 1:12; John 14:17, 23; John 15:4; Romans 8:11; Revelations 3:20).
Given at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is the promise of the Father, sent by Jesus after His Ascension, to empower the Church to preach the Gospel throughout the whole earth (Joel 2:28-29; Matthew 3:11; Mark 16:17; Acts 1:5, 2:1-4, 17, 38-39, 8:14-17, 10:38, 44-47, 11:15-17, 19:1-6).
We believe that the Holy Spirit exists as a co-equal and co-eternal Person within the Trinity and as such is fully divine. We believe that He glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father in all that He does. He convicts the unconverted of their sin and regenerates all who believe, and in Him, all believers are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. By the Holy Spirit, the Godhead now indwells all believers. He also illuminates, guides, equips, and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service (John 7:38–40; 16:7–11; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 5:16–18).
We believe that the Holy Spirit distributes gifts to the Church for the edification of the body of Christ. These gifts of service are intended to display both the diversity and unity of the one body in its mutual edification and ministry. We believe sign gifts (such as speaking in tongues) are not required as proof of the filling or baptizing work of the Holy Spirit. Rather, the Holy Spirit never departs from a believer and is ever present to testify of Christ, bringing about the fruit of the Spirit. His presence in the life of believers is the guarantee that God will bring us safely into heaven, where we will enter fully into the inheritance that awaits us (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 5:22-26; Ephesians 1:13–14).
The Church is the Body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit, with divine appointments for the fulfillment of Jesus' great commission. Every person who is born of the Spirit is an integral part of the Church as a member of the body of believers. There is a spiritual unity of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-31; Ephesians 1:22, 2:19-22; Hebrews 12:23; John 17:11, 20-23).
Water Baptism: Following faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, a new convert is commanded by the Word of God to be baptized in water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38, 10:47-48).
The Lord’s Supper: A unique time of communion in the presence of God when the elements of bread and either wine or juice (the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ) are taken in remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross (Matthew 26:26-29; 1 Corinthians 10:16, 11:23-25).
Healing of the sick is illustrated in the life and ministry of Jesus, and such healing is included in the commission of Jesus to His disciples. It is given as a sign to fellow believers. It is also a part of Jesus' work on the Cross and one of the gifts of the Spirit (Psalm 103:2-3; Isaiah 53:5; Matthew 8:16-17; Mark 16:17-18; Acts 8:6-7; James 5:14-16; 1 Corinthians 12:9, 28).
It is the Father's will for believers to become whole, healthy, and successful in all areas of life. However, because of the fall and our free will choice, many may not receive the full benefits of God's will while on Earth. That fact, though, should never prevent all believers from seeking the full benefits of Christ's provision in order to better serve others. These benefits include:
- Spiritual (John 3:3-11; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Romans 10:9-10).
- Mental and Emotional (2 Timothy 1:7, 2:11; Philippians 4:7-8; Romans 12:2; Isaiah 26:3).
- Physical (Isaiah 53:4-5; Matthew 8:17; 1 Peter 2:24).
- Financial (Joshua 1:8; Malachi 3:10-11; Luke 6:38; 2 Corinthians 9:6-10; Deuteronomy 28:1-14; Psalm 34:10, 84:11; Philippians 4:19).
Jesus Christ was physically resurrected from the dead in a glorified body three days after His death on the cross. In addition, both the saved and the lost will be resurrected—those who are saved to the resurrection of life and those who are lost to the resurrection of eternal damnation (Luke 24:16, 36, 39; John 2:19-21, 20:26-28, 21:4; Acts 24:15; 1 Corinthians 15:42, 44; Philippians 1:21-23, 3:21).
Heaven is the eternal dwelling place for all believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:3, 12, 20, 6:20, 19:21, 25:34; John 17:24; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Hebrews 11:16; 1 Peter 1:4).
After living one life on earth, those who reject Jesus’ atoning death in this life will be separated from the Lord and His incredible glory for all of eternity. We believe God will allow those what they have always desired—namely, the ability to remove God from their lives forever (Matthew 25:41; Mark 9:43-48; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 14:9-11, 20:12-15, 21:8).
Jesus Christ will physically and visibly return to earth for the second time to establish His Kingdom. This will occur at a date undisclosed by the Scriptures (Matthew 24:30, 26:63-64; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8; Revelation 1:7).
The Church is the body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit, with divine appointments for the fulfillment of her Great Commission. Each believer, born of the Spirit, is an integral part of the general assembly and Church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven (Ephesians 1:22, 23; 2:22; Hebrews 12:23).
Since God’s purpose concerning man is to seek and to save that which is lost, to be worshiped by man, to build a body of believers in the image of His Son, and to demonstrate His love and compassion for all the world, the priority of the Church is:
- To be an agency of God for evangelizing the world (Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:19,20; Mark 16:15,16).
- To be a corporate body in which man may worship God (1 Corinthians 12:13).
- To be a channel of God’s purpose to build a body of saints being perfected in the image of His Son (Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Corinthians 12:28; 14:12).
- To be a people who demonstrate God’s love and compassion for all the world (Psalm 112:9; Galatians 2:10; 6:10; James 1:27).
The Church exists expressly to give continuing emphasis to this reason for being in the New Testament apostolic pattern by teaching and encouraging believers to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. This experience:
- Enables them to evangelize in the power of the Spirit with accompanying supernatural signs (Mark 16:15-20; Acts 4:29-31; Hebrews 2:3-4).
- Adds a necessary dimension to a worshipful relationship with God (1 Corinthians 2:10- 16; 1 Corinthians 12-14).
Enables them to respond to the full working of the Holy Spirit in expression of fruit and gifts and ministries as in New Testament times for the edifying of the body of Christ and care for the poor and needy of the world (Galatians 5:22-26; Matthew 25:37-40; Galatians 6:10; 1 Corinthians 14:12; Ephesians 4:11-12; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Colossians 1:29).
The testimony of the God-breathed Holy Scriptures is that the marriage covenant shall be reserved for relationships between one God-created man and one God-created woman. It was our Creator, the Lord God, who decided the man should not be alone, who specifically fashioned the woman as the suitable helper for the man, who literally made the woman from a part of the man and in the woman made the man complete, who designed sexual union to be with a husband cleaving to his wife as one flesh, who bestowed his divine blessing upon the unity of a man and a woman, who gave the man and the woman the ability to fulfill his charge to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and who ordained the pattern for human existence that a man and a woman would pair up and cleave to each other in one flesh. No other relationship can ever be the holy unity between one God-created man and one God-created woman established by our Creator, which the Apostle Paul frequently compared to the holy unity of Christ and the Church, and man has no authority to alter the divine order of the unity between one God-created man and one God-created woman (Gen. 2:18-24; 1:27-28; Matt. 19:4-6; Eph. 5: 23, 25, 31-32.)
God’s design for sexuality and the divinely prescribed boundaries for the expression thereof, is covered clearly in the Holy Scriptures. Sexuality is limited to be exercised and enjoyed only within the covenant relationship of marriage between one God-created man with one God-created woman. It is God’s intention that those who enter marriage shall seek, in mutual love and respect, to live, one God-created man and one God-created woman, in Christian fidelity as long as both shall live. God has expressly condemned sexual intercourse outside of the marriage covenant. It is God’s expectation that the unmarried shall live pure and celibate lives, refraining from sexual intimacy. Furthermore, it is God’s design that gender is assigned by God at conception and evident at birth (Gen 1:26-27, 2:18-24; 1 Cor. 6:18; 1 Thes. 4:3; Rom. 1:26-27; Prov. 5:3-5, 7:21-27, 8-13; Gal. 5:19; Exodus 20:14; Deut. 5:18; Matt. 5:27, 19:18; Luke 18:20; Rom. 13:9; James 2:11; Lev. 20:10-21;1 Cor. 10:8; 6:18; Jude 7).