Our Statement of Faith
I. Triune God
We believe that there is only one God who exists eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each deserving worship and obedience equally. It is completely perfect and unchangeable and infinitely Holy, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent. He is a personal God. It is perfect in all its attributes.
1 John 5:7; Matthew 3:16-17; 5:48; 28:19; Numbers 23:19; Genesis 1:1; 3:22; 11:7; 1 Peter 1:16; Colossians 1:16-17; Exodus 25:8; John 1:14; Revelation 1:8; Psalms 147:5; Psalms 139:7-10; 89:11; Exodus 3:14, Psalms 102:26-28; John 4:24
II. God the Father
God the Father is considered the first person of the Trinity. He deals mercifully with the affairs of humanity. He becomes the spiritual Father of all those who are regenerated by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. His love led him to give his Son to death so that everyone who believes in his Son may be saved through faith.
Psalm 90:2; Job 42:2; Lamentations 3:37-39; John 1:12-13; 3:16.
III. God the Son
We believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God and is fully God and fully man. We believe that through him all things, both visible and invisible, were created and that through him all things will be reconciled. We believe in his virginal conception by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. We believe he lived a sinless life. We believe in his miracles and teachings. We believe that through faith in his atoning sacrifice, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to sinful man. We believe that only through Jesus Christ can we reach the Father. We believe in his bodily resurrection, ascension to heaven, that he is seated at the right hand of God, that he intercedes for his people and that his return will be personal and visible to earth. We believe that he is the only and divinely appointed Mediator between God and man. We believe that he is our High Priest, King and head of the Church, and that he is Sovereign of the universe.
Isaiah 53:10-12; Matthew 1:18-25; 20:28; Luke 1:26-38; John 1:1, 14, 14:6; 18; 10:30, 17:3; 20:28, 30-31; Acts 1:9-11; 20:28; Romans 5:6-8; 6:9, 10; 8:34; 9:5; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 15:3-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 1:4; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:1-3; 7:25; 9:28; 1 Timothy 2:5; 3:16; Titus 2:13; 1 Peter 2:21-23; Revelation 12:10
IV. God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit It is totally God. He possesses the same attributes of the Father and the Son. He is a person of the trinity, he is not a force. Seek to exalt Christ. He inspired men of old to write the Scriptures. In the present time it provides illumination to enable believers to understand the truth. His work is to convince people of sin, righteousness and judgment and in the same way he regenerates the believing sinner, resides, guides, teaches and gives gifts and power to believers to live and serve godly. It seals the believer until the day of his final redemption.
Genesis 1:2; Ephesians 1:13,18,4:30; Acts 1:8; Ezekiel 36:27; John 3:5-8,14:26, 16: 8-11, 13-16; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 12:11; 2 Corinthians 3:17; 1 John 4:1-3; 2 Peter 1:21-22; Hebrews 6:4
V. The Holy Scriptures
We believe that the Bible, which consists of 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 of the New Testament, is the only Word of God, being completely written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it contains in its entirety the record of the revelation that God makes of himself for the salvation of men and is therefore without error in the original manuscripts and has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
Psalm 19:7; Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 5:17-20; Mark 13:31; John 20:31; Acts 20:32; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; 1 Corinthians 2:10
VI. Man
The first man and the first woman were created in the image and likeness of God. Both sinned against God by disobeying Him and this brought spiritual and physical death later. As a consequence of their sin, the entire human race after them was born with a sinful nature, corrupted in all its parts and they are separated from God and at enmity with Him and can only be reconciled with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Genesis 1:26-27; 3:6-7, 11, 24; 6:3; Romans 3:23, 5: 10, 12, 6:23; 8:5-13
VII. Salvation
We believe that salvation is a gift from God and can only be obtained by grace and through faith and not by works. Although salvation is not by works, we affirm that we were made for good works as mentioned in the scripture and this is evidence of regeneration. We believe that God, out of the pure affection of his will, chose in him before the foundation of the world those who would be adopted as his children through Jesus Christ. He justified, sanctified, and glorified those whom he chose beforehand. Being a gift from God, salvation cannot be earned nor can it be lost once obtained. He who has been truly regenerated will be distinguished by a life of piety and continuous struggle against sin. God draws sinners to faith through the proclamation of the gospel. By the work of the Holy Spirit the human being is convicted of his sin. Only those who genuinely place their faith in Jesus Christ and genuinely repent of all their sins are saved. Out of His great love, God provided salvation through Jesus Christ so that everyone who believes in His Son will not perish but have eternal life. Therefore Jesus is the only way by which human beings can reach the Father.
Ephesians 2: 4-5, 8-10; Romans 8:30, 10:14-17; 1 Corinthians 6:11; John 16:8-11, 17:12; Matthew 13:23, 19:25-26; John 3:16, 14:6; Acts 4:12, 16:31
VIII. Regeneration
We believe that regeneration is a change of heart, wrought by the Holy Spirit, who gives life to those who are dead in their crimes and sins, spiritually illuminating their minds and renewing their entire nature, so that they love and practice holiness.
Ezekiel 36:25-26; John 1:13; 3:3, 5-8; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 2:1-6; Titus 3:5; 1 John 5:1
IX. Justification
Justification is a legal act in which God declares the unjust righteous by applying the justice of Christ to them. We believe that justification is a complete display of God's grace toward sinners by absolving them of all their sins, by satisfaction obtained through Christ and not through something done by them, but because of the obedience and satisfaction of Christ, they receive their righteousness by grace only through the sole faith in Christ Jesus.
John 1:16; Acts 10:43; 13:39; Romans 3:24-26; 4:23-25; 5:1-21; 8:1; Ephesians 2:8-9; Philippians 3:7-9; Titus 3:5-6; 19; 1 John 2:12
X. Sanctification
We believe that those who have been regenerated and justified have likewise been sanctified or set apart for God as a holy thing. We believe that this sanctification is positional and that it happens instantly and regeneration occurs. In the same way, we believe in progressive sanctification in which the believer, with the help of the Holy Spirit, becomes more and more like the image of Christ by being intentional about living a life set apart for God as a holy thing and living in a continuous struggle against the sin. Although there is a process of progressive sanctification from the moment the believer was regenerated, he will never reach a complete degree of sanctification since that will only be completed at the moment of death or at the moment the Lord returns and the saints are grant a glorified body.
John 17:17, 19; Romans 6:11,18, 12:1-2; 15:16; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 6:11; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 1:4; Philippians 1:9-11; 2:12-13; 3:12-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 5:23; Hebrews 2:11; 6:1; 7:1; 10:10; 12:10, 23; 1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 1:5-8; 1 John 2:29
XI. The Church
We believe in the universal church which is composed of all those who have been regenerated in all ages of history. These represent the body of Christ, of whom He is the head. Likewise, we believe in the local autonomous church which is made up of a group of believers who meet in a particular area at a particular time. We believe that the church is not a local but an assembly of genuine believers who have been baptized and who have covenanted together in love as supportive members to meet regularly under the authority of the scriptures and the leadership of the elders. They meet regularly to hear preaching, sing together, pray together, give generously, and practice the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. The church also practices ecclesial discipline as established in Matthew 18:15 to 20 and each member is concerned with fulfilling the great commission given by Jesus according to Matthew 28:18-20.
Matthew 18:15-20, 28:18-20; Ephesians 1:22-23, 2:19, 4:15, 5:19, 23.
XII. The Ordinances
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ left two ordinances to be observed and administered by the local church which are Baptism and the Lord's Supper. We teach and practice baptism by immersion and only baptize those who have genuinely repented of their sins and placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their only Savior and Lord. We believe that all who have been regenerated will likewise be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit as a sign of their union with Christ in his death and resurrection. We believe that baptism in itself does not save anyone but that salvation only comes through faith in Jesus Christ, but we believe that baptism is a public act of faith of one who has been saved by the pure grace of God. In the same way we believe that the local church should frequently celebrate the Lord's Supper. We believe that the bread and the fruit of the vine are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus and we believe that every time we celebrate the Lord's Supper we announce the death of the Lord until he returns. We believe that when we celebrate the Lord's Supper as a local church we are likewise renewing our covenant with God and with our fellow believers who are members of the body of Christ. We believe that only those believers who have been baptized should participate in the Lord's Supper.
Romans 6:4-6; Matthew 26:17-29, 28:19-20; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-23; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
XIII. Perseverance of the Saints
We believe that those whom God has accepted in Christ and sanctified by His Spirit will never wholly or finally fall from the state of grace, but will certainly persevere to the end, and although they may fall, through negligence and temptation, into sin, thereby grieving the Spirit, diminish their graces and comforts, bring reproach to the Church and judgments upon themselves, but they will be renewed again to repentance and to be kept in the power of God through faith for salvation.
Jeremiah 32:40; Matthew 13:20-21; John 8:31; 6:66-69; 10:27-30; Romans 8:28-39; Ephesians 1:11-14; Philippians 1:6; Hebrews13:5; 1 John 2:27-28; 3:9; 5:12, 18
XIV. The Last Things
We believe in the imminent, personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of his kingdom. We believe that there will be a bodily resurrection of the dead. Believers will be resurrected to eternal joy and blessing and unbelievers will be resurrected to judgment and eternal conscious torment.
Matthew 16:27; 25:31-46; Mark 14:62; John 5:28-29; 14:3; Acts 1:11; 17:31; Romans 2:6-11; Philippians 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 2 Timothy 4:1, 8; Titus 2:13; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 15:12-28; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; Revelation 20:4-6, 11-1