We believe first and foremost that the Bible, being the direct word of God to man, is the final and ultimate authority for the people of God. The doctrines we believe are not original to us but are rooted in the long history of the confessional and reformed faith.
The Triune God
In the divine and infinite God there are three subsistences, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All of equal substance, power and eternity with each have the fullness of the divine essence yet remaining undivided. (Deut. 6:4; John 1:1-4; 16:7-15; Luke 1:35; Matt. 3:16-17)
God The Father
The Father is of one, neither begotten nor proceeding. Sovereign and unchanging, complete in wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. (Deut. 4:15-18; John 4:24; Exodus 3:14; Num. 23:19)
God The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, and not merely an influence; that He is the source and power of all acceptable worship and service. We believe that His work is to convince the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, to convict and regenerate sinners, to dwell in the hearts of believers, to guide, comfort, protect and sanctify them in this world, and to glorify Christ. We believe that He will never depart from the Church nor from the weakest believers. (John 14:16-17,26; 16:13-15: Acts 1:8; 5:3-4; Rom. 8:2,16; I Cor. 6:19; 12:13; Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 4:30; 5:18).
God The Son
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinners. (John 1:1,2,14; Luke 1:30-35; Phil 2:5-8; Heb. 4:15; Matt. 1:18-25) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through the shedding of His blood in death on the cross as a representative, substitutionary sacrifice; and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical, resurrection from the dead. (Rom. 3:24-25; I Peter 2:24; Eph. 1:7; I Peter 1:3-5) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, and now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor and Advocate. (Acts 1:9-10; Heb. 7:25; 9:24; Rom. 8:34; I John 2:1-2)
The Holy Scriptures
We believe in the verbal, plenary God-breathed inspiration of the Bible, both the Old and New Testament, consisting of 66 books, inerrant in the original writings. (II Tim. 3:16,17; Matt. 5:18; II Peter 1:21,22; John 16:12,13)
Man
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and that man is totally depraved in the sense that his whole being is affected and cursed by sin so that he cannot, in this state, please God. We believe that he is unrighteous in an absolute sense and can only accomplish relative good. We believe that he is lost and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. (Gen. 1:26-27; Eph. 2:1-3, 12; Rom. 3:22; 5:12)
Salvation
We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and that man is justified by faith in Jesus Christ alone, and is thus given a new position of righteousness and holy standing before God, in which he becomes a son of God by spiritual rebirth, a new creation in Christ. (John 1:12; Rom. 8:1,38-39; I Cor. 1:14-15; 10:10; II Cor. 5:17) We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Rom. 8:1,38-39; I Cor. 1:4-8; I Peter 1:5)
The Chruch
We believe that the church, which is the body and bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born again persons of this present age and is distinct from the nation of Israel. (Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25-27; I Cor. 12:12-14; II Cor. 11:2) We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. (Acts 14:27; 20:17,28-32; I Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11)
Sanctification
Following the regeneration of the sinner (Ephesians 2:5), there does occur an inevitable (Romans 8:29-30), varying and lifelong renovation of the inner man (Ephesians 3:16) in thought, will, affection and appetite (Matthew 22:37-38). By sanctification, the believer is more and more transformed into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18) through the power of the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 36:27). Sanctification, which manifests itself in the life of every child of God, is an act of His grace (Ephesians 2:8-10) whereby Christians are continually delivered from the power and effects of sin remaining in their fallen natures (Romans 6:14).
The Lord’s Supper
We believe that all born again believers are to be invited to partake of the Lord’s Supper. (Mark 14:22-25; I Cor. 11:23-24)
The Second Coming
We believe that Jesus will return to earth bodily in order to deliver His people, to execute judgment upon the living and the dead, to consummate His kingdom as promised to Abraham, Israel, and the Church, to abolish all earthly rule, authority and power, to put an end to the last enemy, which is death, and to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace by the blood of His cross. (Acts 1:11, Titus 2:12-13, Revelation 1:7, John 14:3)
The Eternal State of MAN
We believe that all those who have rejected God’s offer of salvation in Christ, and thus have not believed on nor received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, remain after death in conscious torment in hell (Hades) until the final judgment of the great white throne at the close of the millennium when spirit, soul and body will be reunited and all those individuals will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone (which we believe will be a literal place), not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting destruction, without end, from the presence of our Lord and from the glory of His power.
We believe that all those who have believed on and have received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior will, at death, immediately enter into His presence in Heaven and will there remain in conscious comfort until the resurrection of the body at His coming for His bride, the Church, when spirit, soul and body will be reunited and they, together with those raptured alive at His coming for the church, will dwell with Him forever in glory. (Luke 16:19-26; 23:43; John 3:36; II Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; II Thess. 1:7-9; Rev. 20:11-15; 21:8)