STATEMENT OF FAITH

In general terms our beliefs can be summed up in the following statements:  

• We believe in one triune God, Creator, and Sustainer of the Universe, Who is eternally existent in three Persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:1; 2:6; John 14:16; Colossians 1:16-17).

• We believe in the Diety of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His death and shed blood to pay the penalty for our sins, His bodily resurrection, His exaltation at God’s right hand, and His personal imminent return (Colossians 1:15-20; Acts 1:11). 

• We believe that all men are sinners by nature and by choice, and therefore are guilty before God and are under His condemnation (Romans 3:23; 6:23). 

• We believe that all who, by faith, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior are born again of the Holy Spirit; are therefore children of God and eternally saved, and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, Who enlightens, guides, and enables him in life, testimony, and service (John 1:12; 3:3; Ephesians 2:8-9; John 14:16-17, 26). 

• We believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at conversion and is a universal experience of all Christians; and that God gives spiritual gifts to all believers for the building up of the body of Christ (Romans 12:3-8; I Corinthians 12:4-11, 13, 27-31; 14:1-40; Ephesians 4:8-13; I Timothy 4:14; II Timothy 1:6; I Peter 4:10-11). 

• We believe that water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the only ordinances to be observed by the church during the present age. They are, however, not to be regarded as means of salvation (I Corinthians 11:23-29; Acts 2:41; Acts 8:36-38; Acts 10:47-48). 

• We believe that a local New Testament Baptist church is an organized body of believers, each of whom has been immersed upon a credible confession of faith in Jesus Christ, having two offices, Pastor [sometimes referred to in the Scripture as elder or bishop] and deacon, congregational in polity, autonomous in nature, and banded together for work, worship, the observance of the ordinances and the worldwide proclamation of the Gospel. We further believe in the “church which is Christ’s body,” the spiritual organism consisting of all born-again believers of the New Testament age (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:41-42; I Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:22-23; I Timothy 3; I Peter 5:1-3). 

• We believe in the physical, imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ, the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, the everlasting blessedness of the saved in glory, and the everlasting conscious punishment of the lost in hell (I Corinthians 15:1-58; Luke 16: 19-31).