Statement of Faith
We believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the verbally inspired Word of God and are the final authority for faith, life and conduct; that they were given without error and preserved without error in the 1611 Authorized Version (King James Version) for the English speaking peoples of this world. (II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:19-21)
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in essence, while distinct in personality and function. (Exodus 20:2-3; Matthew 28:19; I Corinthians 8:6)
We believe in God’s direct creation of the universe without the use of pre-existent material and apart from any process of evolution whatever, according to the Genesis account. (Genesis 1:1-31; Exodus 20:11; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 11:3)
We believe that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of Mary, a virgin, and is true God and true man. (John 1:1, 14; Luke 1:35; Isaiah 7:14; Galatians 4:4)
We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, in His ascension into heaven and in His present life there as High Priest and Advocate. (Matthew 28:1-7; Acts 1:8-11; I Corinthians 15:44-49; Hebrews 4:14-16)
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the agent of the new birth through conviction and regeneration and that He seals, indwells, and baptizes every believer into the body of Christ at the moment of conversion. We believe that the Holy Spirit fills, empowers, and distributes service gifts to believers, but that sign gifts were restricted to the Apostolic Period. (John 3:5; Ephesians 1:13; Romans 8:9; I Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 5:18; Ephesians 4:11-12; Romans 12:6-8; Hebrews 2:3-4; Ephesians 2:20; I Corinthians 13:8-13)
We believe that God gives spiritual gifts to all believers; that some gifts of the Holy Spirit are permanent and are to be used throughout the Age; that other gifts were temporary, given in the Apostolic Age for the purpose of founding the Church. Having fulfilled their purpose, they are not necessary or given today. These include the gifts of Apostleship, prophecy, healing, tongues and interpretation of tongues. The modern “Tongues Movement” is against clear teaching of the Scripture. (I Corinthians 14)
We believe that man was created in the image of God, that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death which is separation from God, and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature and are sinners in thought, word, and deed. (Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 3:1-6; Romans 5:12, 19; Romans 3:10-13; Titus 1:15-16)
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died as the substitutionary sacrifice for all men. The blood atonement He made was unlimited in its potential. It is limited only in its application, effectively saving those who are brought by the Holy Spirit to repentance and faith. (Isaiah 53:4-11; II Corinthians 5:14-21; I John 2:1-2; II Peter 2:1; I Timothy 4:10; John 3:5-8; John 16:8-13)
We believe that all who receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God. (John 1:12-13; John 3:3-16; Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8-9)
We believe in the eternal security of the believer, that it is impossible for one born into the family of God ever to be lost because he is forever kept by the power of God. (John 6:39, 49; John 10:28-29; Romans 8:35-39; Jude 1; I Peter 1:5)
We believe in “that blessed hope” – the personal, premillennial, pretribulational and imminent return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when the Church will be “gathered together unto Him”. (Titus 2:13; John 14:1-3; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Corinthians 15:51-58; II Thessalonians 2:1-13)
We believe in the literal fulfillment of the prophecies and promises of the Scriptures which foretell and assure the future regeneration and restoration of Israel as a nation. (Genesis 13:14-17; Jeremiah 16:14-15; Jeremiah 30:6-11; Romans 11)
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, the everlasting blessedness of the saved, and the everlasting punishment of the lost. (Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 16:19-31; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 21:1-8)
We believe that the Church, which is Christ’s body, is the spiritual organism consisting of all born-again believers of this New Testament dispensation. (Ephesians 1:22-23; I Corinthians 12:13)
We believe that the local church is the agency through which God has chosen to accomplish His work in the world. A New Testament Baptist church is an organized body of baptized believers, immersed upon a credible confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, having two offices (pastor and deacon), congregational in policy, autonomous in nature, and banded together for work, worship, edification, the observance of the ordinances and the worldwide fulfillment of the Great Commission. We believe that the local church, under Christ’s headship, is to be free from any external hierarchy and should not associate itself with any ecumenical endeavor, neo-orthodoxy, new evangelicalism, or any such efforts to compromise the Truth. (Acts 2:41-47; Ephesians 3:10; Matthew 28:18-20; I Timothy 3; I Peter 5:1-3; Ephesians 1:22; Romans 16:17; II Corinthians 6:14-17; I Timothy 6:3-5)
We believe that the scriptural ordinances of the church are baptism and the Lord’s supper and are to be administered by the local church; that baptism, by immersion, should be administered to believers as a symbol of their belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and as a testimony to the world of that belief and of their death, burial, and resurrection with Him. We believe that the Lord’s supper should be partaken of by baptized believers to show forth His death “till He come”. (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:41-47; Acts 8:26-39; I Corinthians 11:23-28; Colossians 2:12)
We believe in the existence of a higher form of created beings the Bible calls angels. That Satan was the highest ranking angel before his fall and is now the enemy of God and man. However, this conquered enemy and the angels who follow him are already judged but not sentenced to their final reward.
We believe God’s precious plan for sexuality is exclusively within marriage, between a man and a woman. Furthermore, we believe that any form of adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, pedophilia, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex and against the clear teachings of Scripture. We also believe that God disapproves and forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender by surgery or appearance. We believe that a man or woman who chooses to engage in any of these types of behaviors has done so of their own accord and are in direct violation of God’s perfect plan for human sexuality. (Genesis 2:18; Genesis 2:24-25; Leviticus 20: 10-21; Romans 1:20-32; Hebrews 13:4)
We believe in the sanctity of human life, which we believe begins at conception. We believe that God alone is the giver and taker of life. Furthermore, we stand opposed to man’s intervention in God’s sovereignty which has taken the form of abominations such as abortion, euthanasia, genetic cloning, as well as other deviations from God’s perfect creation plan. (Exodus 21:12-14; Leviticus 24:17,20; Psalm 22:9-10; Psalm 71:6; Psalm 139:13-16; Proverbs 6:16-19; Jeremiah 1:5; Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 49:5; Matthew 18:6)
We believe that God’s precious gift of salvation is received by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. We reject any and all cults and their followers that teach and/or profess anything contrary to this teaching. (Ephesians 2:8-9; John 14:6; Acts 4:12)
We believe that Christians are prohibited from bringing civil lawsuits against other Christians or the 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 (1 Corinthians 6:1-8; Ephesians 4:31-32)