What We Believe
We affirm the “Baptist Faith and Message 2000” adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention as our larger statement of faith with scriptural references. (click here)
I. The Scriptures
The Holy Bible was written by divinely inspired men and is God's inerrant revelation of Himself to man. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.
II. God
There is one and only one living and true God. 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.
A. God the Father
God is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is a loving father toward all men.
B. God the Son
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 without sin. His substitutionary death on the cross made provision for the redemption from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man. He will return in power and glory to
judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever-present Lord.
C. God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired men to write the Holy Scriptures. Through illumination, He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls man to the Savior,
and effects regeneration. Simultaneously with salvation, the Holy Spirit imparts new life, baptizes the believer into the body of Christ (His church), permanently indwells the believer, and securely seals the believer unto the day of redemption. The Holy Spirit fills (directs and controls) those believers who are yielded to Him, enables believers to bear fruit, and empowers believers to live a life free from sin’s dominion.
III. Man
We believe that man was created in the image of God by direct act of God and did not come into being as the result of evolution. Therefore, every person possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and love. He created them male and female as the
crowning work of His creation. By his free choice, man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Man’s nature was thus corrupted and he is utterly and totally incapable of saving himself. Only by believing in Jesus is salvation offered as a remedy to man’s actions.
IV. Salvation
Salvation involves the redemption of man and by God’s grace 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. In its broadest sense salvation includes repentance, regeneration, and justification.
V. The Church
We believe that the New Testament church is the body of Christ of which Jesus is the Head and whose members are those who have received Christ by faith. The local church is an autonomous local congregation, observing the two ordinances of Christian
baptism and Lord’s Supper and a tangible expression of the body of Christ in a particular location. Since all members of the body of Christ are united in Christ by the same Spirit, we are instructed by the Bible to live in love, harmony and unity. The
purpose of the church is to make Christ known to lost men and to make disciples, and glorify God on earth.
VI. Baptism and 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. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership. The Lord’s Supper is a memorial of the shed blood and broken body of the Lord. It is a reminder of the death of Christ and His future return. Participants are to be saved and baptized. Self- examination is to precede participation in the Lord’s Supper.
VII. End Times
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 personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The
unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.
VIII. Stewardship
God is the source of all blessings. We owe all that we have to Him. Therefore, we are under obligation to serve Him with our time, talents, and material possessions. We recognize all that is entrusted to us is to be used for the glory of God and for helping
others.
IX. Marriage
God has ordained marriage as the foundational institution of human society. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God's unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.
X. The Christian Life
We believe that every Christian should live for Christ and not for himself and should, by the power of the indwelling Spirit, allow Christ to manifest His life through him to God’s glory. By ever increasing obedience to the Word of God, each believer should mature and progressively become more like Jesus. In the power of the Spirit, each believer should live a holy life; not fulfill the lusts of the flesh; exercise his spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ; witness for Christ; be personally involved in making disciples to
fulfill the great commission; perform good works and bear fruit to the glory of God.