ARTICLES OF FAITH

1. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are verbally inspired by God and are inerrant in the original writings and that they are of supreme and final authority in faith and practice. (II Timothy 3:16-17)

2. THE TRINITY

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit which are co-equal in power and glory and which possess the same perfections and attributes. (Matthew 28:19, I John 5:6-8)

3. THE PRE-EXISTENCE, DEITY, AND INCARNATION OF JESUS CHRIST

We believe that Jesus Christ ever existed with the Father, and Holy Spirit, and that in His incarnation was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and is true God and true man. (John l:l-19, I Timothy 3:16)

4. THE DEATH, BURIAL, RESURRECTION, AND ASCENSION OF JESUS CHRIST

We believe that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a representative and a substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are justified on the grounds of His shed blood. We believe that He arose bodily from the dead on the third day with a translated body of the same form in which He suffered and died. We also believe that our Lord ascended into heaven; that He is now seated at the right hand of the Father, and is our High Priest, and Divine Advocate with the Father. We believe that by His finished work on the cross and His unceasing ministry of intercession in Glory. That Jesus Christ has procured for every believer Eternal Redemption, Eternal Salvation, and Eternal Life. (I Corinthians 15:34, Romans 5:9, John 20:27, Mark 16:19, Hebrews 8:1, Hebrews 7:25, I John 2:1, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 5:9, John 3:16)

5. THE CREATION AND FALL OF MAN

We believe God created the heaven and the earth. We believe that man was created in the image of God; that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God; and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature, are totally depraved and that those who reach moral responsibility become sinners in thought, word and deed, and that they must be born-again to be accepted of God. (Romans 3:10, Romans 3:12, Romans 5:12, John 3:1-21, Genesis 1:1, 27)

6. SALVATION AND ETERNAL SECURITY

We believe that salvation is the gift of eternal life from God to man by grace and received by faith in the death and shed blood of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. We believe that the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin. Men cannot be saved by any merits or works; neither can his righteousness bring about salvation. We believe in the eternal assurance that every believer has in Christ. (Ephesians 2:8-10, I Peter 1:18-19, John 1:12, I John 5:13, John 3:16, 36)

7. THE PERSONALITY & MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person, that He convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, that He regenerates the sinner by the Word of God, that He permanently indwells the Church and the body of each believer, that He seals, enlightens, instructs, and guides every born-again person for godly living, Christian Service, and Spiritual worship. (John 16:7-15, John 3:5-7, I Peter 1:23, Ephesians 4:30, John 14:16)

8. THE NATURE OF THE CHURCH

We believe that the Church of Jesus Christ was begun at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended from Heaven and came into the church; that it is composed solely of born again people who have been called out from among the Jews and Gentiles to become the Body and Bride of our Lord. Christ glorified in Heaven, is its Head and the Holy Spirit on earth is the active agent of the Godhead who ever seeks to bring about within its ranks conformity and obedience to the Word of God and the Will of God. The body unites believers to each other and all to Christ; and its chief purpose of existence is to evangelize the world and to complete itself through the winning of lost souls to Christ. (Acts 2, Romans 1:16, Acts 15:14, Ephesians 5:23-24, I Corinthians 12:13, Mark 16:15, Acts 1:8)

9. ORDINANCES

We believe that two ordinances are significant above any others that Christians are commanded to observe, namely, water baptism and the Lord’s supper. While recognizing that water baptism has no saving merit, it is our conviction that after one is saved, baptism is the next step in order to portray to the world the Believers union with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. It is our conviction that the scriptural method of water baptism is immersion. We believe that Jesus Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper to commemorate His death “’til He comes”. We further believe that Baptism by immersion is observed but once, and is a sign of identification, and a testimony to newness of life; but the Lord’s Supper is commemorative and is to be observed often as a memorial of the Broken Body and Shed Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:9-13, I Corinthians 11:23-33)

10. CHRIST’S SECOND COMING

We believe in the “Blessed Hope,” the personal, imminent, pre-tribulation, pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones; and in his subsequent return to earth, with His saints, to establish His Millennial Kingdom. (I Thessalonians 4:13-18, Zachariah 14:4-11, Romans 5:9, I Thessalonians 1:10, Revelation 3:10, Revelations 19:11-16, Titus 2:13)

11. THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just at the Rapture; and of the unjust at the end of time. (I Thessalonians 4:16, I Corinthians 15:51-57, Revelation 20:11-15, John 5:28-29) 

12. THE ETERNAL STATE OF THE SAVED AND THE LOST

We believe in a Heaven and a Hell. Heaven is the place of eternal conscious joy for all who receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. For absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Hell is the place of eternal conscious punishment in the lake of fire for all who reject Jesus Christ and those dying in their sin. (John 14:1-6, Psalms 16: 11, Philippians 1:21-23, Psalms 9:17, John 8:24, II Thessalonians 1:7-9, Revelation 20:10-15, II Corinthians 5:8)

13. THE PERSONALITY OF SATAN

We believe that Satan is a personal being, a fallen angel, prince of demons, the god of this world, the great enticer and deceiver, the adversary of Christ and His people, the accuser of the brethren, whose end is the Lake of Fire. (Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28:12-19, II Corinthians 4:3-4, I Peter 5:8, Revelation 12:9-10, Matthew 25:41, Revelation 20:10)

14. SEPARATION AND SANCTIFICATION

We believe that the scriptures clearly teach non-conformity to the world for every believer; that born again people should be separated from the world unto Christ, that it is clearly commanded of God to all believers to live lives of separation from all worldly and sinful practices and to be holy as He is holy. We believe that positional sanctification occurs at the moment of regeneration and that positional sanctification is to be progressive throughout the entire life span of a believer here on earth. God’s provision for holy living is in the believer’s identification with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension; the indwelling person and power of the Holy Spirit and believer’s yieldedness to Him; and by the powerful Word of God. (Colossians 1:13, II Corinthians 6:14-17, Titus 2:1, I Peter 1:14-16, Colossians 1:13, Hebrews 10:13-14, II Corinthians 7:1, 3:18, II Peter 3:18, Romans 6:1-14, Ephesians 1:15 to 2:6, I Corinthians 6:19-20, Galatians 5:16-23, Romans 6:13, John 17:17, Hebrews 4:12, Ephesians 5:25-27)

15. MISSIONS

We believe every born again believer is directed by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to all mankind everywhere. We believe in the support of both foreign and home missions. (Mark 16:5, Acts 1:8, II Corinthians 5:19-27)