Doctrinal Statement

The Scriptures

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

Psalms 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Jeremiah 36:1-32; Matthew 5:17-18; 22:29; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:19-21.

God

There is one and only one living and true God. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Psalm 19:1-3; Matthew 6:9ff.; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; 1 John 5:7; John 1:1-18,29; Colossians 1:13-22; 2:9; Hebrews 1:1-3; 4:14-15; 7:14-28; 9:12-15,24-28; 12:2; 13:8; Mark 1:10,12; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4,38; Romans 8:9-11,14-16,26-27; Revelation 1:10; 22:17.

Man

Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love. 

Genesis 1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; Psalms 8:3-6; Romans 1:19-32; Ephesians 2:1-22;

Salvation

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

Genesis 3:15; Exodus 3:14-17; 6:2-8; John 3:3-21,36; Romans 1:16-18; 8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 John 1:6-2:11

God’s Purpose of Grace

Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. All true believers endure to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

Genesis 12:1-3; Jeremiah 31:31ff.; Matthew 16:18-19; Romans 8:28-39; 10:12-15; Ephesians 1:4-23; 2:1-10; 3:1-11;

The Church

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

Matthew 16:15-19; Acts 2:41-42,47;1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 5:22-32; Revelation 2-3.

Last Things

God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness.