What We Teach on Salvation Doctrines
1. God
We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.
2. The Bible
We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.
3. The Human Condition
We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.
4. Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus-Israel’s promised Messiah-was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.
5. The Work of Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.
6. The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.
7. The Church
We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.
8. Christian Living
We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.
9. Christ’s Return
We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission.
10. Response and Eternal Destiny
We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.
What We Teach on Other Issues
1. Gender
We believe that gender is the sexual identity of a person established by God at conception and is permanently embedded in their DNA.
2. Marriage
We believe that marriage is an intimate, complementary, and exclusive union between a biological man and a biological woman (as defined by "Gender" above) in which the two become one in all aspects of life.
3. Sex
We believe it is sinful to engage in sexual relations outside of marriage as defined above. We also believe that forgiveness, healing, and restoration are available through faith in Christ for those who repent.
4. Sanctity of Life/Abortion
We believe that physical life is a gift of God and begins at conception, therefore, abortion is sinful. We also believe that forgiveness, healing, and restoration are available through repentant faith in Christ for those who have participated in abortion.
5. Creation
We teach a literal six-day creation, which came about when God spoke the world and everything in it into existence. Death subsequently entered into creation when Adam sinned (Gen. 2:16–17; Rom. 5:12). We know this because the Genesis account is not purely a poetic expression of a creation story, but historical fact.
The term for “day” in Genesis chapter one (Heb. “yom”) never means anything other than a literal 24-hour day when it is used in conjunction with ordinal numbers (“first, second, etc.”).
Though some Christians may hold to differing positions on creation, they must affirm the following points:
- God Himself is the source of life and matter, not natural processes. (Gen. 1:1)
- God literally created a historical and actual Adam and Eve. (Gen. 1:26, 2:7, 2:21-23)
- The fall of mankind into sin is a literal account of history. (Exod. 31:17)
First, to believe that matter and life comes from any other source than God is to deny the most fundamental truth about creation, and about God Himself (who is “life” itself). The basic tenets of atheistic evolution (even a view of creation that resembles deism) must be rejected to have any hope at all of salvaging an orthodox view of Scripture.
Second, both the writers of Scripture and Jesus himself assume a literal and historical Adam and Eve. To teach otherwise would relegate their teachings to be inaccurate and untrue—a position that is unacceptable. A literal Adam is a necessary implication of Romans 5, where it is outlined how the guilt of sin spreads to all men. That implies the necessity of the third qualification above as well.
Because the fall of man into sin is a literal historical event, the sacrificial death of Christ is necessary to save Adam’s descendants. Jesus’ death and resurrection rescues us from our condition in sin that is a reality because of the literal, historical, and even genetic relationship with Adam from whom all mankind has descended.
6. The End Times
We teach that Jesus will return to earth following the Tribulation and prior to the establishment of His 1,000 year kingdom. When He returns, He will defeat His enemies and an angel will bind Satan and cast him into prison. Jesus will then rule on the throne of David in Jerusalem for 1,000 years (Revelation 19:11-20:6). This 1,000 year rule, known as the millennial kingdom, will be a time of blessing, prosperity, long life, and the restoration of the dominion mandate given to mankind in the garden of Eden. Israel, having been brought to repentance and faith in Jesus as the Messiah, will receive the land promised to their fathers (Ezekiel 36:22-32). Jesus, as the Last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), will rule from Jerusalem over Israel and all the nations (Psalm 2; 110).
At the end of the millennial kingdom, Satan will be released from prison and lead a final rebellion amongst mankind against Jesus. The people who will rebel will be unbelievers born during the millennial kingdom. They will be descendants of believers who survive the Tribulation and enter the millennial kingdom. Satan will be defeated and cast into the lake of fire where he will spend eternity (Revelation 20:7-10). All unbelievers will then be judged before the Great White Throne and cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15). God will make a new heaven and new earth, where all believers will live with resurrected bodies in the presence of the triune God in eternal fellowship and bliss. The throne and dwelling place of God will be on the new earth with mankind forever (Revelation 21-22).
7. Men’s and Women’s Roles in the Church and Home
We teach that God made men and women in His image (Genesis 1:26-27). As image bearers of God, both men and women are equals in their worth and humanity. In Christ, men and women are on equal spiritual ground, both being clothed in the righteousness of Christ and being equal heirs of the grace of life (Galatians 3:28; 1 Peter 3:7). Men and women are also equals in many of their spiritual roles. They are both called to serve in the church, make disciples, and proclaim the gospel.
God has also made men and women gloriously distinct. These distinctions do not indicate a distinction in value. In addition to their biological differences, God made men and women to be distinct in some of their roles. In marriage, God calls the husband to be the loving, sacrificial Christ-like leader of his wife. God calls the wife to be the dignified helper of her husband, submitting to his leadership as the church submits to Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33; 1 Peter 3:1-7). These roles are not consequences of the fall but were instituted at creation, when the man was created first and the woman was then created as his helper (Genesis 2:7-25; 1 Corinthians 11:7-12; 1 Timothy 2:13).
In the church, God calls godly, qualified men to teach the Bible when men are present (1 Timothy 2:8-15) and lead as elders (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9). God calls women to teach other women (Titus 2:3-5). God also calls men and women to learn from one another as we fellowship with one another (Acts 18:26).
8. Baptism
Baptism is a believer’s (Matthew 28:19) public declaration by immersion into water (Acts 8:36-39) of his faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 8:12). Immersion into water symbolizes a believer’s death to sin and new life in Christ (Romans 6:1-11). Baptism does not bring about salvation, which comes by faith in Christ (John 3:16), but is a believer’s declaration that he has been saved by Christ.