What We Believe
As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we affirm the following as a summary of what we believe to be basic truths about God and his works.
The Bible
We believe the Bible to be the complete word of God, that the sixty-six books comprising the Old and New Testaments were verbally inspired by the Spirit of God and were entirely free from error as originally written, that God has superintended the transmission of Scripture throughout the ages, and that the Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice and is the true basis of Christian union.
The Triune God
We believe in one God, creator of all, holy, sovereign, immutable, and existing eternally in three equal persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, each being truly and essentially God.
The Father
We believe in God the Father, neither begotten nor proceeding, who, in his perfect love, reigns with providential care over all creation, accomplishes his will, and protects and preserves his children whom he redeems and adopts into his family as co-heirs with Christ.
The Son
We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Saviour of the world, eternally begotten of the Father, fully God and fully human; we believe in his virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, triumphant ascension, mediatorial ministry, and personal return.
The Holy Spirit
We believe in the Holy Spirit, who is fully God, the Lord and giver of life, eternally proceeding from the Father and theSon; who convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; with whom believers are baptized into Christ’s body and by whom they are regenerated, sealed, and indwelt; who sanctifies, illuminates, equips, empowers, assists in prayer, and comforts those who believe in Jesus Christ.
Satan
We believe that Satan is a fallen angelic being; the originator of sin; the deceiver of the world and the accuser of believers; who uses his real but limited power and presence to oppose the work of God; and who, along with all fallen spiritual powers, will be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity.
Humanity
We believe that human beings were created by God for his own glory, male and female, in his image, thus possessing immeasurable worth; that they sinned, becoming guilty before God, resulting in a state of total depravity and incurring physical and spiritual death.
Salvation
We believe salvation encompasses the renewal of all things, the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise of the kingdom of God, and his ruling over all things in the new heavens and the new earth. We believe that the salvation of believers is by the sovereign, electing grace of God; that by the appointment of the Father, Christ voluntarily suffered a vicarious, substitutionary, expiatory, and propitiatory death; that justification is by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ, in his all-sufficient sacrifice and resurrection; that those whom God has effectually called shall repent, believe, and follow Jesus, and will be divinely preserved and finally perfected by the Spirit into the image of the Lord.
The Church
We believe that the universal church, the Body of Christ, comprised of all true believers in heaven and on earth, is expressed on earth in local churches. We believe a properly ordered local church consists of believers, baptized by immersion, who have been called out from the world, separated to the Lord Jesus; and voluntarily associated for the ministry of the word, the mutual edification of its members, the propagation of the faith, the observance of the ordinances,and the doing of good works. We believe it is a self-governing body responsible for exercising its own divinely awarded gifts, precepts, and privileges under the lordship of Christ, the Head and Chief Shepherd of the church. We believe that its officers are biblically qualified elders, who shepherd and oversee God’s flock, and deacons, who serve and support.
Ordinances
We believe that there are only two ordinances, or visible symbols of the gospel, for the church regularly observed in the New Testament:
- Baptism is the immersion of the believer in water whereby the believer obeys Christ’s command and identifies withChrist in his death, burial, and resurrection.
- The Lord’s Supper, or Communion, is the memorial wherein gathered believers partake of the two elements, the bread and the cup, which symbolize the Lord’s body and shed blood, proclaiming his death until he comes, and is acontinuing means for strengthening the faith of the believer.
The Lord’s Day
We believe that the first day of the week is the Lord’s day in honour of his glorious resurrection and is a particularly appropriate day for corporate worship.
Religious Liberty
We believe in religious liberty, that all people have the right to practise and propagate their beliefs without undue interference by the civil authority.
The Church and State
We believe in the separation of church and state. The church should not resort to the state or worldly means to carry on its work. We believe that government is divinely appointed for the interest and good order of society, and its leaders are to be prayed for, conscientiously honoured and obeyed, except only in the things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Lord of the conscience and Ruler of the kings of the earth.
Future Things
We believe in the personal and bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory; in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust to stand before God in the final judgment; in the eternal, conscious punishment of the unregenerate in hell; and in the eternal blessedness of the redeemed in the new heavens and the new earth.