We believe that there is one true God, eternally existing in three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—each of whom possesses equally all of the attributes of deity and elements of personality. See Deut 6:4; Ps 90:2; Matt 28:19; Acts 5:3‑4; 2 Cor 13:14; Rev 1:4‑6.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and perfect man, deity incarnate, born of a virgin, and neither sinned nor could have sinned. By His death as a substitute for sinners He infinitely satisfied divine justice and provided salvation for all who believe in Him. He arose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He had lived and died. His resurrection body is the pattern of that body which will ultimately be given to all believers (John 20:20; Phil 3:20‑21). The Lord Jesus Christ, in His glorified body, is now in heaven, exalted at the right hand of God the Father, where He presently fulfills the ministries of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate for the saved (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25; 9:24; 1 John 2:1‑2).

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity. He is, always has been, and always will be fully God, with intellect, emotion, and will. He has been intimately involved in all that God does, including creation, justification, and sanctification. The Holy Spirit gives each believer one or more spiritual gifts. He gives these gifts “for the common good,” in order that believers might serve one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Some spiritual gifts, such as apostleship, miracles, tongues, interpretation of tongues, healings, and prophecy, were only given for the foundational period of the church (Eph 2:20). These foundational gifts ceased by the time the apostles went to be with the Lord. The fact that no one on earth today has the gift of healing does not mean that God does not miraculously heal today. It merely means that He heals without the aid of men and women utilizing the gift of healing. The biblical gift of tongues was the divinely given ability to witness to the unsaved in a foreign language unknown to the speaker. It was not untranslatable vocal sounds. The gift of interpretation was the ability to accurately translate (not paraphrase or approximate) a foreign language not previously learned by the interpreter.

We believe that the Scriptures are God-breathed (2 Tim 3:16‑17). God moved holy men to write (2 Pet 1:20‑21) and He made certain that what they wrote was without error in the original documents. He has revealed Himself and His eternal plan to mankind in the Bible. Divine inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of the Bible. The NT interpretation of the OT, both factually and theologically, represents an authoritative way of interpreting the Bible. For example, if the author of Hebrews says that Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead, then that is indeed what Abraham believed. The Bible is the necessary and sufficient source of spiritual sustenance for the believer, and is able to equip us for every good work (2 Tim 3:16‑17). Especially important in maintaining a godly walk is a continual focus on the Second Coming of Christ in the prophetic teachings of Scripture (2 Pet 1:3‑11).

We believe that the first human, Adam, was created in the image of God. Through disobedience he sinned and thus was alienated from God, died spiritually, and suffered the corruption of his nature (though still retaining the image of God), rendering him unable to please God. This fall took place at the beginning of human history, and all individuals born since then suffer these same consequences—are fallen, sinful, and lost and are thus in need of the saving grace of God. This saving grace cannot be experienced by any person in the world apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ. See Gen 3:1‑19; Rom 3:10‑20, 23; 8:12‑21; Eph 2:1‑3. While eternal salvation is hypothetically possible through perfect obedience to God (Rom 2:13; see also Luke 10:28b), it is actually impossible due to the fallen nature that each person inherits from his parents.

The sole condition for receiving eternal salvation from hell is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who died a substitutionary death on the cross for man’s sin and rose from the dead (John 3:16‑18; 6:47; Acts 16:31). No act of obedience, preceding or following faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, such as commitment to obey, sorrow for sin, turning from one’s sin, baptism, or submission to the Lordship of Christ, may be added to, or considered as a part of, faith as a condition for receiving eternal salvation (Rom 4:5; Gal 2:16; Titus 3:5). This saving transaction between God and the sinner is simply the giving and receiving of a free gift (John 4:10; Eph 2:8‑9; Rev 22:17). There is no biblical distinction between “head faith” and “heart faith.” Saving faith is the conviction that Jesus Christ indeed guarantees eternal life to all who simply believe in Him for it (John 5:24; 11:25‑27; 20:31; 1 Tim 1:16). We consider two views of election and salvation to be possible. First, election by God is to service, not eternal destiny (e.g., John 15:16; Acts 1:2, 24; 10:41; 15:7; 1 Pet 2:4). Second, God sovereignly chose those who would be saved before the foundation of the world (e.g., Rom 8:33; Eph 1:5; Col 3:12). Yet this must be balanced against the Biblical teaching that people are able to respond to God’s drawing (e.g., Acts 10; 17:27). In this view, there is a mystery here that we cannot now fully comprehend. God sovereignly chooses, and man is free to respond to God’s drawing.

We believe that the Church, that is, the body and future bride of Christ, is a spiritual entity made up of all believers of this present age despite their affiliation with churches and organizations. The Church was born on the day of Pentecost. Since Pentecost all who believe in Christ are members of the Universal Church. The Universal Church is visibly functional through groups called local churches that meet regularly in identifiable locations. These should be autonomous and governed by their own leadership (1 Cor 1:1‑2; Phil 1:1; 1 Tim 5:17; Heb 13:17). The congregation is responsible to submit to its leadership (Heb 13:17). The Word of God commands believers to gather together in local congregations, to devote themselves to worship, prayer, the teaching of the Bible, observance of the ordinances of water baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the edification of the body, and an active witness to the unsaved world. A local expression of the church is found wherever Christians meet regularly in obedience to these commands. The Lord gave the church two ordinances to be practiced until He returned. The Lord’s Supper is to be conducted regularly by believers in remembrance of Christ’s death on our behalf. The other perpetual ordinance the Lord gave the church was Christian baptism. We are to urge those whom we lead to faith in Christ to publicly manifest their faith in Christ by being baptized. Since only believers are to be baptized, one who was baptized prior to regeneration has not yet undergone Christian baptism and should submit to baptism even though he or she was sprinkled or immersed in the past. Church discipline should be a vital part of church life. Steps of church discipline may include confrontation by one person, by several of the church leaders, by all of the church leaders, and, finally, if the person refuses all efforts to bring him to repentance, exclusion of the individual from the Lord’s Table until he does repent.