What we believe

We believe that God created Adam and Eve perfect in His image but that through their voluntary act of disobedience to God in succumbing to Satan’s temptation, they became sinners, the image of God in them was marred, and they incurred physical death and spiritual separation from God. Since Adam was the representative head of the human race, all subsequent human beings have been rendered sinful by nature and by practice in the totality of their being. We believe, therefore, that sin is the universal problem of the human race.

Adam and Eve chose not to obey God, in turn they ceased to be what they were made to be and became distorted images of God. This caused them to fall out of fellowship with God, and fractured all of creation ever since that time.

We believe that sin is the transgression of God’s law and that, in addition to being born in sin, all human beings have deliberately rebelled against God in thought, word, and deed and are subject to eternal punishment unless redeemed by Christ.

✦Scriptures: Isaiah 53:6; 59:2; Romans 3:10-18; 1 John 3:4

We believe that, since God’s punishment for sin is death, human beings can only be reconciled to God through the death of a perfect substitute. The only perfect substitute was God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who voluntarily died on the cross, taking the place of sinners, and, by His shed blood, cleansing from their sins all who believe. By His death, Jesus Christ fully satisfied the holy demands of God for sin, and God accepted His sacrifice by raising Him from the dead and glorifying Him in heaven.

We believe that salvation involves repentance for sin and turning to God by faith alone in that all-sufficient sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, that those who so trust Christ are sovereignly chosen and effectually called by God for salvation and shall be divinely preserved and finally perfected in the image of the Lord.

✦Scriptures: John 3:1-21; Romans 6:23; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 2:8-9

We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ, at a time known only to God, and in the bodily resurrection of the saved and the unsaved; the saved to eternal blessedness in heaven, and the unsaved to judgment, and eternal conscious punishment in hell.

We believe that a vast host of personal spiritual beings exists, created in perfection by God for His own purposes, seldom perceived by humanity, these creatures do exert some influence on the affairs of earth.

We believe a New Testament local church to be a company of baptized believers, called out from the world; separated unto the Lord Jesus Christ, voluntarily associated for worship, the ministry of the Word, mutual edification of believers, the propagation of the faith, and observance of the ordinances. We believe that the church has two offices – that of elders (also referred to as pastors and overseers) and deacons.

We believe the local church to be autonomous under the Lordship of Christ, the great Head of the Church. The Church is meant to be the visible body of Christ, sent into the world to glorify God and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We believe there are only two (2) church ordinances - baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

The practices that the Bible condemns as sinful must not be practiced by Christians, such as lying or deceit of any kind (Exodus 20:16; Matthew 5:37; Ephesians 4:25), coarse language (Exodus 20:7; Ephesians 5:4), pornography (Philippians 4:8; Ephesians 5:3-4; 1 John 3:3), theft or fraud (Exodus 20:15; Ephesians 4:28), physical and verbal aggression or sexual harassment (Exodus 20:13; Galatians 5:24; 1 Timothy 3:3; 2 Timothy 2:24), substance abuse including the abuse of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), criminal activities (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-15), covetousness (Exodus 20:17; Hebrews 13:5), divisiveness among God’s people (1 Corinthians 1:10-13; Ephesians 4:3; Philippians 2:3-4; 1 Timothy 5:19; Titus 1:6; 3:10), and the like.

Rather, the Bible affirms that Christians must demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit in their attitudes and actions (Galatians 5:22-23), walk worthy of their calling (Ephesians 4:1-2), dwell together in a loving, respectful unity (Philippians 3:2-4), maintain a vibrant and effective testimony for God in the world (Matthew 5:13-16), pursue holiness in all aspects of their lives (2 Corinthians 6:14, 17; 1 Peter 1:16), and generally, to walk as Jesus walked (1 John 2:6).

We believe that the Bible clearly teaches that sexual intercourse was created by God to be practiced only within the confines of marriage (which is a monogamous, lifetime union of one woman and one man) for the enjoyment of the partners and the procreation of children (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-25; Matthew 19:3-9; Romans 7:2-3; 1 Corinthians 7; Hebrews 13:4).

Any other sexual union either (1) between an unmarried man and woman (fornication), or (2) between a married man and woman who are not married to each other (adultery), or (3) between two men or two women (homosexuality or lesbianism), or (4) between a human being and an animal (bestiality), or (5) between family members (incest), is sin (cf. Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 18; Matthew 5:27-32; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 5:1-2, 9-13; 6:9-20, 10:8; Ephesians 5:3-5; Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4).

Because human beings are created by God in His image, life itself is sacred and has intrinsic value from conception to natural death. Therefore, we are committed to the sanctity of the life of the unborn, the nurture of victims of abortion, the protection of children from abuse and exploitation, the provision for the homeless and hungry, the care of the mentally and physically ill and disabled, the protection of the elderly from neglect and abuse, the dignity of the dying, the rehabilitation of addicts and criminals, and, in general, the care of “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40).

In sum, all people are to be treated with respect and shown the love of Christ in practical and spiritual ways.

✦Scriptures: Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7, 21-24; Exodus 4:11; 20:13; Job 1:21; Psalm 22:9-10; 71:6; 127:3; 139:13-16; Isaiah 45:9-11; Jeremiah 7:6; 22:3; Mark 12:31; Romans 9:20-21

We believe that civil government is of Divine appointment for the interest and good order of society and that officials of the government are to be prayed for, conscientiously honoured and obeyed, except only in those instances when they may be in conflict with the conscience of believers and their wish to be obedient to the Word of God, the Scriptures. We believe in religious liberty for everyone, the right to believe according to the dictates of conscience, without coercion or molestation, and the right to propagate that faith.

✦Scriptures: Acts 5:29; Romans 13:1-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-2