Statement of Faith
The Bible is the Word of God
We believe that the Holy Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God, authoritative, inerrant, and God – breathed {Psalm 12:6; Proverbs 30:5; Matthew 5:18; John 16: 12-13; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Hebrews 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:16-17}.
The Depravity of Man
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God. Through Adam’s original sin, the entire human race is born spiritually dead. Every human being has a sin nature which separates him from God. Man is totally unqualified to redeem himself or to restore his fallen condition {Genesis 1:26-27, 3:6-15; Psalms 51:5; Romans 3:23, 5:12; Ephesians 2:12}.
Salvation
We believe that salvation throughout all generations is the gift of God given to man by Grace. It is received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose efficacious death on the cross provided man’s reconciliation to God. Salvation is by Grace, through Faith alone, in Christ alone. No good works, no church membership or attendance, no religious rituals, and no amount of morality or deeds of self-righteousness can save man {John 3:15-16, 5:24, 6:40, 47, 20:31; Acts 4:12, 16:31; Romans 3:24-25, 5:11, 16; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Ephesians 2:8-9}.
The Eternal Security of the Believer
We believe that all believers are secure forever. All believers have the right to personal assurance of their eternal security because God promises it {John 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 8:38-39; 1 Corinthians 1:4-9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; Hebrews 10:14}.
The Person and Ministry of Jesus Christ
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man while maintaining His essential Deity. The Holy Spirit conceived him and was born of the Virgin Mary to reveal God, redeem man, and resolve the invisible struggle among the angles by the total victory over Satan. We believe that Jesus Christ fully accomplished our redemption through His substitutionary sacrificial death on the Cross. The Father accepted totally the pouring out of His Son’s soul unto death {Isaiah 53:9-12} as the atonement of sins. The Father’s acceptance of Jesus Christ’s death is made manifest and realized by His literal physical resurrection from the dead {Luke 1:35; John 1:1; Romans 3:24-26, 4:24-25; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 9:22; 13:20-21; 1 Peter 1:3-5, 18-21, 2:24, 3:18}. We further believe that even now, the Lord Jesus Christ is in heaven having been supremely exalted by God the Father. He sits at the right hand of God where He fulfills the ministry of Great High Priest, Intercessor, and Advocate for believers. Jesus Christ is the irrefutably acknowledged Head of the Church, which is his Bride, His body and His possession. He will return to crush all the enemies of God {Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:19-23; Hebrews 7:25-27; 1 John 1:2}.
The Trinity of God
We believe that there is one God existing in three persons: (1) God the Father, (2) God the Son, who became the unique person of the universe, the God-Man Jesus Christ, and (3) God the Holy Spirit. Each person of the Trinity is equal in characteristics and authority and each possesses the same attributes and perfection {Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14}.
Sovereignty
We believe that God, existing as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is Sovereign. He exercises supreme and absolute rule over all creation as a part of, and consistent with, the essence and all other attributes of His deity: love, righteousness, justice, eternal life, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, veracity, and immutability {1 Chronicles 29:11-12; Daniel 4:35; Psalm 24:1; Ephesians 1:11; 1 Timothy 6:15}.
However, God in His Sovereignty will not violate the free will of man. The free will of man and the Sovereignty of God coexist by divine decree {John 3:16, 36; Romans 5:8-10; 16:24-25; 1 Timothy 2:4-6}.
The Person and Ministry of God the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He convicts the world of the sin of unbelief, restrains evil from its ultimate manifestation, glorifies Christ and guides believers into all truth {John 16:7-14}. We believe that at the point of personal faith in Christ the Spirit baptizes each individual into eternal union with Christ {1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Galatians 3:26-27}. He permanently regenerates, seals, and indwells each believer. It is the duty of each believer to “walk” by means of the Spirit which means to daily acknowledge his sins before God the Father so that he is constantly empowered, controlled, i.e. “filled” with God the Holy Spirit unto good works. By doing this, the believer avoids quenching or grieving Him {Romans 8:9, 14; Galatians 5:16-23; Ephesians 1:12-14, 4:30, 5:18; Titus 3:5-6}.
Water Baptism
We believe that water baptism, by total immersion in many waters, is the outward and public demonstration of one’s faith in the savings works of the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism itself does not and cannot save anyone rather it identifies a believer with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ {Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:38, 41, 8:12}.
Spirituality
We believe that though salvation is the result of one decision to believe, spirituality is the result of continuous decisions to maintain intimacy or fellowship with God by means of daily recognition and confession of personal sins. This brings about God’s forgiveness, the restoration of fellowship with Him, and the “filling” or empowerment of God the Holy Spirit that is commanded of every believer {Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 4:30, 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 1 John 1:9}.
Spiritual Gifts
We believe that God the Holy Spirit, in grace and apart from human merits, administers spiritual gifts to believers in this dispensation. {Romans 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-13; Ephesians 4:7-14}. All spiritual gifts are supernatural empowerments for service to the church which is the body of Christ. God may, and does heal and miraculously intervene in all affairs of man or natural circumstances by His direct action through any believer that he may wish to use. No individual believer has the prerogative over any spiritual gift {Isaiah 46:10; Matthew 28:18; James 5:13-15}.
The Responsibility of the Believer
We believe that once born again, the new child of God needs the sincere milk of the word {1 Peter 2:2}, continually nourished by God’s instruction so that he can grow spiritually in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ {2 Timothy 2:15; 2 Peter 3:18}. It is God’s desire that first every man be saved, and secondly that every believer in Christ come to intimately know Him through the consistent intake of the Word of God {1 Timothy 2:4}. The effectual work of God’s Word brings the believer to spiritual maturity where he glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ in all that he does and receives great blessings on earth and eternal rewards in the Kingdom of God {Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 13:9; 1Timothy 4:16}.
The Church
We believe that the church, which is Christ’s body, is made up of all born-again persons of this present age. The church is a spiritual organism, and all believers are in union with Christ, irrespective of secondary affiliation with Christian Churches, denominations or organizations {1 Corinthians 12:12-14; Ephesians 1:22}.
Church Ordinance
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper to be observed until His return {1 Corinthians 11:23-36}. The purpose of this ordinance is to honor and to remember Jesus Christ. It is not for the purpose of forgiving sins or maintaining salvation.
Satan
We believe that the Bible acknowledges the personal identity of Satan who is a high-ranking fallen angel and the openly declared adversary of God and man {Job 1:6-7; Isaiah 14:12-17; Zechariah 3:1-5; 1 Peter 5:8}. Satan is also the ruler of this present world, the accuser and tempter of believers {John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11; Ephesians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 4:4}. His definite destiny is the eternal lake of fire together with his fallen angels and all unbelievers {Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10}.
Dispensations
We believe that a dispensation is a period of human history explained in terms of divine revelation. History is defined as a series of administrations or eras. Each dispensation reflects the unfolding of God’s plan for mankind and constitutes divine viewpoint of history. Understanding dispensations is a means by which believers during a specific time can orient to God’s plan, and purpose for their lives {John 1:16-17; Romans 16:25-26; Ephesians 1:7-11; Colossians 1:26}.
The Blessed Hope
We believe that the next great event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the air. He will receive to Himself the resurrected bodies of Church Age believers who have died and believers who are alive at His coming. Their resurrection bodies will be just like Jesus Christ’s body. This event is also known as the “Rapture”, “Translation of the Church,” or ‘Exit Resurrection” {1 Corinthians 15:51-57; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14}.
The Tribulation
We believe that the Exit Resurrection of the Church will be followed by the fulfillment of Israel’s seventieth week. The latter half of this seven-year period is the time of Jacob’s trouble, the “Great Tribulation” {Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15-21; Revelation 6-19}.
The Second Coming of Christ
We believe that the “Great Tribulation” will be climaxed by the (pre-millennial) return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth to set up His kingdom {Zechariah 14: 4-11; Matthew 24:29-31, 25:31-46; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; Revelation 20:6}.
The Eternal State
We believe that the soul and the human spirit of those who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation immediately pass into His presence at the moment of physical death. The soul and the human spirit remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming. At this time, soul, human spirit and body reunite and shall forever be associated with His glory. 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. At this time, their souls and bodies reunite to be cast into the eternal Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to be salted with everlasting destruction and banished from the presence of the Lord forever {Luke 16:19-26, 23:43; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 20:11-15}.