We believe the Bible is breathed out by God, infallible, and without error in the original writings. It was given to mankind as a gracious act of God’s self-revelation to redeem, guide, correct, and comfort His people. It consists of 66 books in the Old and New Testaments and stands as the final authority for all matters of faith and practice, wholly sufficient for revealing God’s will for mankind and guiding believers in all that He requires. The unifying theme of the Bible is the magnification of God’s glory through the redemption of His people. This is ultimately seen in Christ. We therefore affirm the Bible’s necessity, as it alone is the final and complete revelation of Jesus Christ, the only means by which sinners can be reconciled to God.

We believe there is one true God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Christians have historically referred to God as the Trinity, acknowledging the mystery of one God who exists as three distinct persons. Each person of the Trinity is fully and truly God, possessing the same divine nature, attributes, and power. Each person of the Godhead is distinct, yet perfectly unified in will and action—expressed through the roles each fulfills in creation, redemption, and providence.

God is not physical and therefore has no body; He exists as pure spirit. We believe that God alone is self-existent, uncaused, and independent of anything outside of Himself. He has no beginning and He has no end. He is the creator and sustainer of all things, the sovereign ruler over the universe, with all reality finding its meaning, purpose, and existence in Him. He is the perfect and just judge of the world, to whom all are accountable. He is unchanging in His nature, limitless in His power and wisdom, and present everywhere in His creation. He is infinitely good, immeasurably loving, and incomparably holy, and is alone worthy of all our praise, honor, and glory, forever.

We believe in God the Father, who eternally exists in perfect holiness, wisdom, power, and love. He graciously governs and directs all things according to His divine will and is actively involved in every aspect of His creation. From eternity past, the Father determined to send His Son into the world to secure redemption for sinners, and the Holy Spirit to indwell, seal and sanctify all who would come to believe in His Son. We affirm that He has decreed all that comes to pass for His own glory. While He is the creator of all, He uniquely adopts believers into His family through faith in Christ, granting them the right and privilege to be called His children.

We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, who is both truly human and truly divine. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, and perfectly and uniquely fulfilled the law of God. As both God and man, Jesus alone is the mediator between God and humanity, and is the only means by which sinners can access God. We believe He died on the cross in the place of sinners and rose physically from the dead on the third day following His crucifixion. Through His righteous life, sacrificial death, and resurrection from the dead, He provides the only way of salvation for humanity. After His resurrection, Jesus ascended to the Father in heaven, sat down at the right hand of God, and eternally intercedes for us as our High Priest. He will one day return in glory to judge the living and the dead and will reign as King with His people in His Kingdom forever.

We believe that the Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the Trinity, proceeding from the Father and the Son. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. In the process of salvation, the Father effectually calls those who would believe, and at the new birth, the Holy Spirit regenerates, indwells, and baptizes them into the body of Christ, producing repentance and faith unto salvation. From the moment the sinner is born again, the Holy Spirit initiates the lifelong work of sanctification, conforming believers to the likeness of Christ. As believers walk in obedience to Him, they are continuously filled with the Spirit, empowered to resist Satan’s attacks and the temptations of the flesh, and are enabled to produce spiritual fruit that equips them for godly living and service. The Holy Spirit was sent as Christ’s life-giving Spirit, to dwell within His church to guide, direct, and comfort believers until Christ’s final return. He unites all believers into one body, creating a bond of fellowship within the church. He sovereignly imparts spiritual gifts to all believers for the edification of the church and the advancement of God’s kingdom. Given as a promise and seal, He preserves believers until the day of final redemption.

We believe that God created the heavens and the earth and everything that exists by His powerful

Word, out of nothing. After creating all other living things, He uniquely made humans, both male and female, in His own image, created to enjoy Him and to walk in perfect fellowship with Him forever. God declared all His creation to be good—humankind was innocent, free from sin, and entrusted with dominion and stewardship over His creation. However, Adam being tempted by Satan, chose in his freedom to disobey God’s command. Through Adam’s disobedience, sin and death entered the world, subjecting all creation to physical destruction and additionally bringing spiritual death to humanity. As the representative head of the human race, Adam’s sin caused all humanity to fall, corrupting every part of human nature and leaving no remnant of righteousness within us. All people are therefore separated from their Creator, under His just condemnation, and in need of redemption and restoration through Jesus Christ.

We believe that salvation is the free gift of God’s grace, given to all who place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone. It cannot be earned through human efforts or good works but rests entirely on what Christ accomplished—His perfect life, sacrificial death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead. On the cross, Jesus stood as a substitute for sinners, enduring God’s wrath in our place. Through faith in Him, we receive the imputed righteousness of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and adoption into God’s family as sons and daughters. We are saved from the wrath of God and eternal punishment in hell. Salvation is entirely the work of God, permanently securing for those who have trusted in Christ, eternal reconciliation and fellowship with Him forever.

We believe the Gospel is the good news that sinners can be forgiven of their sins and eternally reconciled with God. This is in stark contrast with the news that because God is holy and just, He requires us to live a perfect life that we cannot live, and as a result, we bear a load of moral debt that we cannot bear, and are therefore eternally under the wrath of God. The Bible says the penalty of our sin and disobedience is death, and not only death in this life, but an everlasting death, which relationally separates us from God, forever. The good news of the Gospel is that God sent His son, Jesus, in the form of a human, to live a perfect life, and die to cancel our debt, so that whoever repents from their sins, and trusts Christ with their life, will be declared legally perfect before God and will receive all the blessings of Christ in the heavenly places. When we stand before Him, and are judged, we will stand before Him blameless, as Christ stood before Him, in our place, condemned.

The good news of the Gospel is one of a divine exchange. Our life, with our sin is credited to Christ’s account, as though He lived our life, and His perfect life is credit to us, as though we lived His. He received the sinner’s death that we deserve and we receive the blessings only He could earn. It’s the scandal where a sinner is made to look like God: holy, righteous, and pure, and God, the sinner: spit on, beaten, and left for dead. This salvation offered by Christ is a free gift that cost Christ everything, and yet us nothing, for the purpose that “in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”.

We believe the church is the universal body of Christ, composed of all true believers throughout all time and in all places, joined as members of one body through the promise of the New Covenant. The church is neither a building nor a religious authority, but is a community of people that God calls to Himself, with Christ as the head. As members of one body, we believe the local church is an expression of the universal church, and as such, individual members should not walk in isolation from the body but should regularly gather with other believers in corporate fellowship. The New Testament church is to be under the care and guidance of local, male elders at each assembly, with deacons also appointed to serve and care for its members. Commitment to the body of Christ is expressed through regular participation in the communion meal and by the baptism of new believers. We believe the local church exists to gather and go. We gather to worship God through song, prayer, and the preaching of His Word. We go into our communities and beyond to proclaim the saving gospel of Jesus Christ.

We believe Baptism is a biblical practice commanded by our Lord and is to be faithfully observed by the church. It signifies the believer’s union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. Baptism points to the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, granting new life to believers and serving as an outward sign of the inward transformation accomplished by the Spirit. All throughout the New Testament, it is closely tied to repentance and faith. We affirm that the New Testament pattern for baptism is full immersion in water, which represents the believers’ burial with Christ and their rising to new life with Him. Baptism is to be administered publicly, proclaiming the saving work of Christ in the life of the believer to the church. This public act points to the unity believers have with the universal body of Christ and serves to affirm their new identity and their commitment to Him. We reserve Baptism for those mature enough to make a conscious profession of faith, as the Scriptures testify to its connection with repentance and faith.

We believe Communion was instituted by the Lord at the Last Supper, where He took the familiar

Passover Meal celebrated by Israel and established a new meal for the New Covenant people of

God. Through Communion, the Lord redirected the disciples’ gaze from God’s provision and rescue out Egypt, to the ultimate redemption offered through His sacrificial death on the cross. In Communion, believers commemorate, celebrate, and rejoice in the New Covenant by partaking

of the bread and wine, which Jesus used to represent his body and blood given for us. At the Last

Supper, the Lord said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” indicating His desire for this practice to continue as an ongoing remembrance of his sacrifice. In Communion, believers “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes,” declaring the hope of the cross until the Lord returns. Communion not only calls the mercy and grace extended through Christ’s death but also invites believers into committed fellowship with the bride of Christ, His church. Due to its theological significance, participation in Communion should be reserved for those who profess faith in Christ, as the meal calls us to remember the foundation of our covenantal relationship with God. Communion serves as a profound means of grace for the church, serving as a continual reminder of the goodness of what God has provided for us in Christ.

We believe that at the moment of death, the believer is immediately found in the presence of the Lord. The unbeliever, upon death is cast into an intermediate state of punishment, awaiting final judgment. We believe in the final bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost. At death, the

bodies of both the believer and unbeliever go into the ground. At the end of the age, those who have trusted in Christ and His offer of salvation will be raised to eternal life, receiving glorified bodies and will dwell and reign with God in the new creation and will experience eternal joy and fellowship with Him forever. Those who have rejected Christ will be raised to eternal judgment, separated from God’s presence forever and will spend eternity in hell.

We believe in the personal, visible, and bodily return of Jesus Christ, who will come gloriously to fulfill all of God’s promises. He will rightly assume His role as Lord and Sovereign over all, establishing His eternal and earthly kingdom as the promised Davidic King. He will judge the living and the dead, consuming the earth in fire to bring forth the New Jerusalem, which will descend from heaven and constitute the new heavens and new earth.