The Bible
We believe that the sixty-six books of the Bible are the inspired Word of God in the original autographs (2 Tim 3:16–17), that it was written by men controlled by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:20–21), and is therefore without error. It is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
The Trinity
We believe in the Trinity of the Godhead; there is one God (Deut 6:4) eternally existing in three equal but distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Mt 28:18-19; 2 Cor 13:14).
God the Father
We believe in God, the Father, and rejoice that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men (Dan 2:21; 4:17), that He hears and answers prayer (Jn 15:16), and that He saves from sin and eternal damnation all who come to Him through Jesus Christ (Jn 6:44; 3:16, 18). We believe He has a paternal relationship to believers only (Rom 8:15; Jn 8:41-44).
God the Son
We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son (Jn 3:16), born of a virgin (Mt 1:23), sinless in His life (1 Pet 2:21-22), Who atoned for the sins of the world by His death, burial, and bodily resurrection (1 Cor 15:3–4). We believe in His ascension into Heaven (Acts 1:9), His perpetual intercession for His people (Heb 7:25), His personal coming in the air for His church prior to the seven year tribulation (I Thes 4:13-18), and His return to earth at the close of the tribulation to establish His millennial Kingdom (Rev 19:11-16; 3:10; 20:1-6).
God the Holy Spirit
We believe in the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4) Who convicts, (Jn 16:8-11; 14:26) regenerates, (Tit 3:5) baptizes, (1 Cor 12:12-13) indwells, (1 Cor 6:19-20) seals, (Eph 1:13) and fills. (Acts 4:31; Eph 5) We believe Spirit baptism takes place at the time of regeneration (cf. Acts 10:44-47; 11:16) and that the filling of the Spirit is manifested by the fruits of the Spirit rather than by any specific spiritual gift (Gal 5:16, 22-23; Acts 4:31; 1 Cor 13:8).
Creation
We believe in the direct creation by God in six solar days, of the physical universe, all spirit beings, man, and lower forms of life, without the process of evolution; and also that the early chapters of Genesis are literal and accurate history. God sustains all creation but exists in no necessary relationship to it (Gen 1, 2; Col 1:15-17; Jn 1:3).
Spirit Beings
We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless spirit beings (Col 1:16; Heb 12:22). One of these, though created holy by God, sinned through pride, thereby becoming Satan, the Devil, the enemy of his Creator, leading a host of angels in rebellion against God (Ezek 28:12-17; Rev 12:7-9). He became the god of this age and the ruler of all the powers of darkness and is destined to the judgment of an eternal punishment in the lake of fire (2 Cor 4:3-4; Eph 2:1-2; Rev 20:10; Mt 25:41).
Mankind
We believe that all men are sinners by nature (Eph 2:3; Rom 3:9-20; 5:12) and under the condemnation of God (Jn 3:18, 36). The only remedy for this condition is Holy Spirit regeneration through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ as payment for one’s sins (1 Pet 1:18-22; Jn 3:8, 14, 18a; Heb 9:22). We believe regeneration is the irrevocable act of God, thus securing the believer for all eternity (Rom 8:35-39; Jn 10:28-29). We believe the Bible does not teach that God created any person for the purpose of condemnation (Jn 3:16; 2 Pet 3:9).
Final Destinies
We believe that the souls of believers in Christ do at death immediately pass into His presence (2 Cor 5:8; Phil 1:23) and there remain until the resurrection of the body at the rapture when soul and body reunited shall stand before Christ to be judged of their Christian works for the giving of rewards; and they shall then be associated with Christ forever in glory (2 Cor 5:10; 1 Cor 3:11-15; 1 Thes 4:13-18). The souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery until the final resurrection at the end of the millennium for judgment; the result of this judgment will be that all will be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting separation from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power (Lk 16:19-26; 2 Thes 1:6-9; Rev 20:11-15).
Human Sexuality
We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, transvestism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex (Gen 2:24; 19:5, 13; 26:8-9; Lev 18:1-30; Rom 1:26-29; 1 Cor 5:1; 6:9; 1 Thes 4:1-8; Heb 13:4). We believe that God disapproves of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender (Gen 1:26-28; Deut 22:5). We believe that the only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man and one woman (Gen 2:24; Mt 19:4-6; Rom 7:2; 1 Cor 7:10; Eph 5:22-23).
The Church
We believe in the Church (Mt 16:18), a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head (Eph 1:22; Col 1:16; Eph 4:15; 5:23) and of which all regenerated people are members (1Cor 12:12-13; Eph 5:30 ). We believe that a local church is a company of believers in Jesus Christ (Acts 2:41-42), baptized on an acceptable confession of faith (Acts 10:47-48 ), associated for worship, work, and fellowship (Acts 2:42; Heb 10:25), and having two offices: pastor and deacon (Phil 1:1). We believe that to these visible churches were committed, for observance throughout the church age, the ordinances of baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper (Mt 16:16-20; 1 Cor 11:23-26), and that God has laid upon these churches the task of witnessing to a lost world to accept Jesus Christ as Savior (Acts 1:8; Mt 28:18-20) and of building up the saints in the faith once for all delivered (Eph 4:7, 11-16; Jude 3). We believe that human betterment and social improvements are the inevitable by-products of the Gospel and edification (Eph 2:10; Gal 5:22-23).
Separation
We believe that separation is a doctrine as well as a practice and that the separation principle runs through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We believe that true spiritual fellowship is the result of a common faith and practice. We believe there are four aspects of Biblical separation.
a. Political separation – the separation of the church from the state (Lk 20:25).
b. Personal separation – the separation of the believer from the world and sin in order to serve God. This involves a separation from acts of sin, the world system, the unbeliever, heretics, and false teachers (Josh 24:15; Eph 5:15-18; 1 Jn 2:15-17; 2 Cor 6:14-7:1; 1 Jn 4:1; 2 Jn 10-11).
c. Ecclesiastical separation – the separation of the church from apostasy. Each local church is independent and autonomous and must be free from interference by any other ecclesiastical authority. We believe we are to reprove apostates rather than recognize them, to rebuke rather than to reason with them, to reject rather than to receive or unite with them. We believe that loyalty to Christ also demands separation from any group content to walk with or tolerate religious unbelief (2 Cor 6:14-17; 2 Jn 10-11; 2 Tim 4:2-4).
d. Practical separation – the separation of the believer from an erring brother. We believe that we must separate from those who continue in disobedience to the Word of God. This includes the trouble maker, the disorderly, and the immoral brother (2 Thes 3:6, 14-15; Rom 16:17; 1 Cor 5:11; Tit 3:10).