 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Statement of Faith Download print-ready version (PDF) 1. There is one true God who is infinite, eternal and unchanging in His being and who exists in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each of whom possesses equally all the attributes of Deity and the characteristics of personality. 2. The triune God is the Creator of all things. He sustains all things by the word of His power, and He has revealed Himself in history to all men through His chosen people, through the prophets and especially through His own son, Jesus Christ. 3. God has left the record of His disclosure about Himself and His will in the Holy Scriptures of sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments. These Scriptures we hold to be fully, uniquely and verbally inspired of God and a reliable and true testimony of what God has objectively disclosed to His people through word and act. 4. The Holy Scriptures are the only standard to determine what is the truth about and the will of the living Christ. However, each individual interpretation of Scripture should be evaluated in the light of the meaning given by the Holy Spirit to the overall teachings of Scripture, in the light of the understanding given by the Spirit to all available teaching officers (elders or deacons) who have humbled themselves under the lordship of Jesus Christ, and in the light of the understanding given by the Spirit to all the body of believers to which it is being presented. 5. Jesus Christ is God, the living Word, who became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. Hence, He is perfect Deity and true humanity united in one person forever. He lived a sinless life and voluntarily atoned for the sins of men by dying on the cross as their substitute, thus satisfying divine justice and accomplishing salvation for all who trust in Him alone. He rose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He had lived and died. He ascended bodily into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father, where He, the only mediator between God and man, continually makes intercession for His own. He now is clothed in the glory of the Father and has all power given to Him in heaven and on earth. 6. Man was originally created in the image of God. He sinned by disobeying God; thus, he was alienated from his Creator. By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed unto all men, for all have sinned. Man's nature is corrupted, and he is therefore totally unable to please God in the flesh. Every man is in need of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. The salvation of man is wholly a work of God's free grace and is not the work, in whole or in part, of human works or goodness or religious ceremony. God imputes His righteousness to those who humble themselves and put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, and thereby justifies them in His sight. It is the privilege of all who are born again of the Spirit to be assured of their salvation from the very moment in which they trust Christ as their Savior. This assurance is not based upon any kind of human merit, but is produced by the witness of the Holy Spirit, who confirms in believers the testimony of God in His written Word and who demonstrates the reality of God's working in their lives by the fruit of the Spirit and love for the brethren. 7. The Holy Spirit has come into the world to reveal and glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to men. He convicts and draws sinners to Christ, imparts new life to them, continually indwells them from the moment of spiritual birth and seals them until the day of redemption. His fullness, power and guidance are appropriated in the believer's life by faith. Every believer is called to live in the power of the indwelling Spirit so that he will not fulfill the lust of the flesh but will bear fruit to the glory of God. 8. Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, His body, which is composed of all men, living and dead, who have been joined to Him through saving faith. He, however, has chosen to organize His body and direct it through official leaders who seek His direction by the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures and set an example in humility and service. God admonishes His people to assemble together regularly for worship, for participation in ordinances, for edification through the Scriptures and for mutual encouragement. The home is the place where the father and mother should teach the Scriptures and set an example of sacrificial love. The continuance of the Church from generation to generation is dependent on the bearing, nurturing and training of children and on the official male leadership in the Church and home. Order in civil affairs depends on order in the home. 9. At physical death, the believer enters immediately into eternal conscious fellowship with the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his body to everlasting glory and blessing, at which time he will share glory like that of Christ. At physical death the unbeliever enters immediately into eternal conscious separation from the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his body to everlasting judgment and condemnation. Jesus Christ will come again to the earth--personally, visibly and bodily--to consummate history and the eternal plan of God, and to visibly share His rule with those who have believed on Him. 10. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded all believers to proclaim the gospel throughout the world and to disciple men in every nation. The fulfillment of that Great Commission requires that all worldly and personal ambitions be subordinated to obeying and teaching all things which He commanded. |
|
