Statement of Faith

We affirm the Holy Bible as the God-breathed Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21), and the only basis for our faith and practice.  The Church accepts “The Baptist Faith and Message,” a 1963 affirmation (revised in 2001) of fundamental Christian beliefs, as a general statement of our faith.  The following is a synopsis of the major tenants of our Statement of Faith.

Scripture.
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.

God.
There is one and only living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. 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.

Jesus Christ.
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross, He made provision for the redemption of men from Sin.

Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. At the moment of regeneration, He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ.

Man.
Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning of His creation. In the beginning, man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race.

Salvation.
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. Only the grace of God can bring man into his Holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God.

Church.
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in 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.

Baptism & the Lord’s Supper.
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

The Lord’s Day.
The first day of the week is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private.

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 and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised, and Christ will judge all men in righteousness.