Our Statement of Faith
While accepting the scriptures to be our sole authority in all matters of faith and practice, we make the following declaration as a summary of certain foundational beliefs we hold. This statement does not contain everything we believe but does identify certain basic truths we view as indispensable to a believer's establishment in the truth.
1) THE BIBLE: We believe that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and that God has promised to preserve His pure words. We believe that the King James Bible is the inspired and preserved words of God in the English language and is therefore wholly without error, altogether sufficient as our only infallible and authoritative rule of faith and practice. We believe that all other version, excluding none, contain perversions and corruptions of the true word of God (2 Cor. 2:17) and, therefore, none may be used in any ministry of the church. We believe that the sixty-six (66) books of the Old and New Testament are the complete and divine revelation of God to man. The Bible is to be taken literally and must be rightly divided, giving heed to who is being addressed, the dispensational context of each passage, and applied in light of the apostle Paul's teaching to the Body of Christ in this age (Ps. 12:6-7; Prov. 30:5-6; 2 Tim. 2:15; 3:15-17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21).
2) THE GODHEAD: We believe in one God, eternally existing in three co-equal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; Eph. 4:4-6; Col. 2:9; 1 Jn. 5:7).
3) CREATION: We believe that God created the universe as recorded in the scripture (Gen. 1-2). We reject evolution and all other unscriptural theories of origin.
4) JESUS CHRIST: We believe that Jesus Christ is a member of the triune Godhead (Jn. 1:1-3; Col. 2:9). He was born of a virgin (Is. 7:14, Lk. 1:26-38) and was God manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). He lived a sinless life (Heb. 4:15), laid down His life and shed His precious blood on the cross for our sins (Rom. 5:8-9), and arose bodily the third day and is alive for evermore (1 Cor. 15:4; Rev. 1:18). He ascended back to Heaven (Acts 1:9) and sits glorified at the right hand of the Father (Heb. 1:13). He is the Head of the Church (Col. 1:18)
5) HOLY SPIRIT: We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment (Jn. 16:7-14); that He regenerates, indwells, baptizes, and seals all who trust Christ as Savior (Titus 3:5; Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 1:13); that He further enlightens and empowers all believers who believe His word and yield themselves to Him (1 Cor. 2:1-16). We believe that the spiritual sign gifts (such as prophecy, tongues, and miracles) have ceased for this present age (1 Cor. 13:8-13).
6) MAN'S SINFULNESS/ETERNAL PUNISHMENT: We believe that the scriptures plainly teach that the flesh of all men is sinful, inexcusable, under God's wrath, and inescapably accountable to Him (Rom. 1-3). Man can do nothing in and of himself to satisfy God's righteousness and rejecting God's provision for salvation results in everlasting damnation (2 Thess. 1:7-9; Rev. 20:11-15).
7) SALVATION: We believe that salvation is the free gift of God purchased in full by the shed blood, death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is given to a lost sinner by the grace of God through faith in the perfect and finished work of Christ and no works whatsoever are required to receive it (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Eph. 2:8-9). All who believe the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24) are instantly and permanently justified by the faith of Christ (Gal. 2:16). The gospel of the grace of God was first revealed to the apostle Paul (Gal. 1:11-12) and is to be rightly divided from the gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 4:23). We believe that all saved people during the present age of grace are complete in Christ and eternally saved. The Body of Christ is sealed with the Spirit and can never lose salvation (Rom. 5:1; Col. 2:10; Rom. 8:28-39; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30).
8) BELIEVER'S WALK: We believe that the Body of Christ is not under the Law but under Grace (Rom. 6:14). This means that the core operating principle in the believer's relationship with God and others is grace. By reason of Christ's victory over sin and by His indwelling Spirit, all saved people should experience deliverance from the power of sin in their daily lives. All believers still possess the old man (the flesh) and therefore the ability to sin. We do not believe that the sin nature is eradicated in this life (Rom. 6:1-23; Gal. 5:15-25). We believe in the practical sanctification of all members of the Body of Christ and that all believers should glorify God in all of their thoughts, words, and deeds (1 Cor. 10:31). Believers should separate from all forms of wordliness, humanism, and religious apostasy (2 Cor. 6:14-18; 2 Tim. 2:15-26; Titus 2:11-15).
9) COMING OF CHRIST: We believe that Christ is coming secretly before the tribulation period for the members of His Body. The dead in Christ will rise first and those that are alive and remain will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:14-18). We believe that the blessed hope of the Body of Christ (Titus 2:13) was a mystery revealed through Paul (1 Cor. 15:51-52) and is a distinct and separate event from the prophesied seventieth week of Daniel (Dan. 9:24-27) in order to save Israel and set up His righteous kingdom on the earth (Rev. 19:11-20: 6). We believe that God will literally fulfill His promises to Israel (Rom. 11:25-29).
10) BODY OF CHRIST: We believe that in this present age the Holy Spirit baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ upon salvation (1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:26-28). We believe that the church which is the Body of Christ was a great mystery that was hid from past ages until revealed by Christ through the apostle Paul (Eph. 1:22-23; 3:1-12). There is only one Body of which Christ is the Head (Eph. 4:4). In the Body of Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile. We therefore reject the false teaching that the Body of Christ is the "spiritual Israel" and has replaced Israel in the purposes of God (Rom. 11).
11) LOCAL CHURCH: We believe that Christians are to assemble locally in order to hear the word of God preached/taught and to serve the Lord together (Acts 11:25-26). The local church has a divine structure laid out especially in the Pastoral Epistles (Titus 1:5). We believe in the independence and autonomy of the local church: that each church is free to govern itself without ecclesiastical interference and should cooperate with other Bible-believing churches as the Holy Spirit leads, that it is responsible to follow the pattern found in the Pauline epistles (1 Cor. 4:16-17; 11:1) and is directly accountable to God. The two offices of Bishop and Deacon (Phil. 1:1) are only to be used by spiritually mature men (elders) who meet the standards of scripture (1 Tim. 3).
12) RIGHTLY DIVIDING: We believe that rightly dividing is the key to understanding the Bible (2 Tim. 2:15). To rightly divide the word of truth is to recognize and consistently maintain the clear divisions that God put in the scripture. For example, there is a difference between Law and Grace, the nation of Israel and the church which is the Body of Christ. We believe that the main division in the word of God is between the prophetic kingdom program of Israel (concerns that which was spoken by the prophets since the world began, Acts 3:21) and the mystery program of the Body of Christ (concerns that which was kept secret since the world began until it was revealed through the apostle Paul, Rom. 16:25). We further believe that Christ chose Paul to be the pattern and spokesman for the Body of Christ to follow in this present dispensation (1 Cor. 4:16-17; 11:1; Phil. 4:9; 1 Tim. 1:12-16). However, we also believe that all scriptures is for our learning and admonition (Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11; 2 Tim. 3:16).
13) SATAN: We believe that Satan was once holy, and enjoyed heavenly honors, but fell through pride and ambition to be like the Most High (Is. 14:12-15; Ezek. 28:14-17), that he is now the prince of the power of the air, and the unholy god of this world (2 Cor. 4:3-4; 11:3, 13-15; Eph. 2:2; 6:11-12). We hold him to be man's great tempter, the enemy of God and His Christ, the author of all false religions, the lord of the antichrist, and king of all the powers of darkness, destined however, to final defeat at the hands of God's own Son, and to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire, a place prepared for him and his angels. (Rom. 16:20; Rev. 20:1-3, 10).
14) SOCIAL ISSUES:
A. Human Sexuality - We believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged outside of marriage. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgenderism, pedophilia, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, polygamy, and pornography are sinful perversions of God's gift of sex (Gen. 2:24; 19:5-13; 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-23; Rom. 1:26-29; 1 Cor. 5:1; 6-9; 1 Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4).
B. Abortion - We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life (Job 3:16; Ps. 51:5; 139:13-16; Is. 44:24; 49:1, 5; Jer. 1:5; 20:15-18; Lk. 1:44).
C. Lawsuits between Believers - We believe that Christians are prohibited from civil lawsuits against other Christians in their own church to resolve personal disputes. We believe the church possesses all the resources necessary to resolve personal disputes between members. We do believe, however, that a Christian may seek compensation for injuries from another Christian's insurance company as long as the claim is pursued without malice or slander and is a fair and honest representation of damages (1 Cor. 6:1-8; Eph. 4:31-32).
D. Family Relationships - We believe that men and women are spiritually equal in position before God, but that God has ordained distinct and separate spiritual functions for mean and women in the home and in the church. The husband is to be the leader of the home, and men are to be the leaders of the church. Accordingly, only men are eligible for licensure and ordination by GBC (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:18; 1 Tim. 2:8-15; 3:4-5, 12; Eph. 5:22-25; 1 Cor. 11:3).
E. Civil Government - We believe that God has ordained and create all authority consisting of three basic institutions; 1) the home, 2) the church, and 3) the state. Every person is subject to these authorities, but all, including the authorities themselves, are answerable to God and governed by His word. God has given each institution specific biblical responsibilities and has balanced those responsibilities with the understanding that no institution has the right to infringe upon the other. The home, the church and the state are equal and sovereign in their respective biblically assigned spheres of responsibility under God. (Rom. 13:1-7; Eph. 5:22-24; 1 Pet. 2:13-14).