Doctrinal Statement

1. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES – We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the verbally inspired Word of God, authoritative, inerrant, infallible and God breathed. The King James Version of the Bible shall be the official and only translation used by the church. (II Timothy 3:16&17, II Peter 1:20&21, Matthew 5:18)
2. THE GODHEAD – We believe in one triune God, existing in three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, eternal in being, identical in essence, equal in power and glory and having the same attributes and perfections. (Deuteronomy 6:4, II Corinthians 13:14)
3. THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN – We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, became alienated from God, and is totally unable to regain its former position. (Genesis 1:26, 3:1-24, Romans 3:23, 5:12, Ephesians 2:12)
4. THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST – We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. We believe that our redemption and salvation is guaranteed to us by His literal physical resurrection from the dead. We believe that he accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice. (John 1:1, 14&18; Luke 1:35; Romans 3:24-26 & 4:25)
5. THE PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – We believe that Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. He also in the present age regenerates believers in Christ, baptizes them into the church, the body of Christ, indwells them permanently, seals them unto the day of redemption, bestows spiritual gifts upon each one, and fills those yielded to Him. (John 3:8, 14:16, 15:26&27, 16:7-15; I Corinthians 12:4-13; Ephesians 4:30, 5:18)
6. SALVATION – We believe that salvation is a gift of God in grace and is received by man through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whose precious blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. (Ephesians 1:7, 2:8&9; John 1:12)
7. REGENERATION – We believe the scriptures teach that regeneration, or the new birth, is that change wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit, by which a new nature and a spiritual life, not before possessed, are imparted, and the person becomes a new creation in Christ Jesus; and without it salvation is impossible. (John 3:3-6; II Corinthians 5:17; I Peter 1:23)
8. SANCTIFICATION – (a) We believe that immediate, positional sanctification is that act of God whereby believers are, at the time of regeneration, eternally set apart as belonging to Him by redemption, thereby being placed in the family of God as children, joint heirs with Jesus Christ. (I John 3:1; Romans 8:14-17; I Corinthians 1:2) (b) We believe that progressive sanctification is the process by which, according to God’s will, we are made partakers of His holiness; that it is progressive; that it is begun in regeneration; that it is carried on in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, self-examination, watchfulness and prayer. (I Thessalonians 4:3, 5:23; Proverbs 5:18; I John 2:29; Philemon 2:12&13; Ephesians 6:18) (c) We believe that ultimate sanctification will be the portion of every believer, when finally in the presence of the Lord, complete and entire, with soul and spirit united in the resurrection body, free from every trace or effect of sin and rebellion. (I John 3:2; I Corinthians 15:52-54; Ephesians 4:30; Philemon 4:20&21)
9. THE ETERNAL SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER – The salvation of every believer is secure for all eternity from the moment of regeneration. This security is guaranteed by the fact that the life that is imparted is eternal life by the sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:1, 29, 30, 38&39; john 10:27-30; Ephesians 4:30)
10. THE CHURCH – (a) The Body of Christ. All who are truly born-again in this age are baptized by the Spirit of God into the True Church, the Body and Bride of Christ. (Ephesians 1:2&23, 5:25-27; I Corinthians 12:12&13; Galatians 3:27) (b) The Local Church. We believe the Scriptures teach that a local church of Christ is a congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel observing the ordinances of Christ and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word. (Acts2:41, 14:27, 20:17; I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11; I Corinthians 11:2)
11. CHURCH ORDINANCES – We believe that the Lord Jesus instituted two ordinances to be observed by all believers until His return. (a) BAPTISM – We believe the scriptures teach that Christian baptism is the immersion in water of a believer in Christ, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy spirit; to show forth, in a solemn and beautiful emblem, our identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. (Acts 8:36; Matthew 28:19&20) (b) THE LORD’S SUPPER – We believe the scriptures teach that the Lord’s Supper is the provision of bread and wine, as symbols of Christ’s body and blood, partaken of by the members of the church, following solemn examination, in commemoration of the suffering and death of the Lord. (I Corinthians 11:23-50)
12. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF BELIEVERS – We believe that all believers should seek to walk by the spirit, not bringing reproach upon their Lord and Saviour, and that separation from worldly pleasures and practices is commanded of God. (Romans 12:1&2; Galatians 6:16 & 25; II Corinthians 6:14, 7:1) We believe that it is the obligation of every believer to witness by life and by word to the truths of the Holy Scriptures and to seek to proclaim the gospel to all the world. (Acts 1:8) We believe that it is the responsibility of all believers to remember the work of the Lord in prayer and to support it with their means as the Lord has prospered them. (I Corinthians 16:2)
13. THE SECOND COMING – We believe in the personal, imminent coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His own, the church, and His subsequent return personally and visibly to the earth to set up His kingdom and to reign over the earth from the Throne of David. (II Samuel 7:12-16; Zechariah 14:4-11; Luke 1:30-33; Acts 15:14-18; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 19:11-16, 20:6)
14. THE ETERNAL STATE – We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence, and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at Him coming for the church, when soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in glory; but the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery until the final judgment of the Great White Throne at the close of the millennium, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting separation from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. (Luke 16:19-26, 23:43; II Corinthians 5:8; Philemon 1:23)