THE HOLY BIBLE
The Holy Bible, and only the Bible is the authoritative Word of God. It is inspired, inerrant, infallible, and the final authority in determining all doctrinal truth, righteousness, morality, and Godly living.
GOD
There is one true God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, identified as the Trinity. They are equal as Deity in their divine nature and attributes.
JESUS CHRIST
Jesus Christ is God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. On earth, Jesus was fully God and fully man. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, performed miracles, died on a cross for all mankind, atoning for our sins through the shedding of His blood. He rose from the dead on the third day according to the scriptures, ascended to the right hand of the Father and will return again in power and glory.
HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the Trinity. He is a divine person with a mind, will, and emotions. He indwells and empowers believers to become and live like Christ. He is our teacher, comforter, counselor, helper, intercessor, and advocate.
FALL OF MAN AND SIN
Man (Adam) was created good and upright but by his own free will sinned against God. As a result, every human being has been born in sin, inheriting Adam’s sin nature. All have sinned and have fallen short of God’s standard.
REDEMPTION
Mankind’s only hope for redemption is through accepting Jesus Christ as their savior; receiving forgiveness of sin and the free gift of eternal life through His atoning sacrifice on the cross.
SALVATION
We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ; His death, burial, and resurrection. Salvation is a gift from God, not a result of our good works or human efforts.
REPENTANCE
Repentance is the commitment to turn away from sin in every area of our lives and to follow Christ and live in obedience to His word. Through repentance, we receive forgiveness of sins and appropriate salvation.
REGENERATION
When one receives Jesus Christ as their savior, this results in a spiritual new birth, described in scripture as their spirit being regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
SANCTIFICATION
Sanctification is the ongoing process of becoming and living like Christ. It is through the word of God and present ministry of the Holy Spirit in us that works out our sanctification and enables us to live a Godly life.
JESUS CHRIST INDWELLS ALL BELIEVERS
Believers who have given their lives to Christ, invite Him to come and live inside of them by His Holy Spirit. They relinquish the authority of their lives over to Him, thus making Jesus Lord of their life as well as their Savior.
BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and baptizes you with Himself, empowering you with supernatural power and spiritual gifts to be witnesses for Christ. It is a subsequent experience to the spiritual new birth that comes when receiving Christ at salvation. Throughout the New Testament and church history, believers who were baptized with the Holy Spirit received the gift of a spiritual language as an outward sign of this baptism.
THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit gives believers spiritual gifts according to His will and purposes to build up Christ’s church, serve one another, reach unbelievers, and confirm the power of the Gospel. All believers are to earnestly desire the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The gifts should operate out of love in the Spirit of Christ and in line with the truth and instructions given to us in scripture.
HEALING OF THE SICK
God’s nature and will to heal was demonstrated in the life and ministry of Jesus, and included in the commission of His disciples. Healing was provided through Jesus’s atoning sacrifice on the cross and is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Elders and believers are instructed to pray and minister healing to believers who are sick in the church, and to unbelievers with the preaching of the gospel, confirming the power and truth of the gospel of Jesus.
GOD’S WILL FOR PROVISION
It is God’s will for believers to be made whole spirit, soul, and body, live in health, and have an abundant and blessed life.
THE CHURCH
The church is the people of God, called the body of Christ, where we come together for worship, teaching, edification, fellowship, communion, and equipping to reach our world for Christ. Every believer is to be an integral part of the church in unity as a member of the body of believers. The church is the institution God has established to reach, serve, and transform our communities, cites, and nation for Christ.
WOMEN IN MINISTRY
The freedom and role of women in Christ is clear in the writings of the early Church. The book of Acts frequently mentions the presence and activity of women in the founding of the Church. From the praying in the upper room (1: 14) to the persecution by Saul (8:3) to the reception of the Gospel by Greeks (17:12), women were involved. Of major importance is the prophecy of Joel 2:28-32 which is used in Acts 2:17-21 to explain the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. With this event the promise had been fulfilled that God would pour out his Spirit so that both sons and daughters would prophesy.
The church at Philippi was founded on women, and one of them, Lydia, obviously played an important role in the origin and growth of this church. The four prophesying daughters of Philip, who are mentioned in Acts 21:9, are further examples of the ministry of the Holy Spirit through women.
The ministry of women becomes even clearer in the writings of Paul. In Christ, racial, societal, and gender barriers have been broken down so that all are made one. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female, for you all are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). In Paul’s letters we encounter a significant number of women who were engaged in the work of the Gospel.
WATER BAPTISM
After receiving Christ as Savior and Lord, scripture instructs the new believer to be baptized in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
THE LORD’S SUPPER
Jesus instructed His followers to regularly take communion with the elements of bread and wine (grape juice) representing and remembering His body was broken and blood was shed for our salvation and healing.
MARRIAGE & SEXUALITY
The Bible defines marriage as a covenant, a sacred union between one man and one woman instituted by and publicly entered into by God. The Bible teaches God’s design and purposes for sexual relations is solely to be in the context of a biblical marriage between one man and one woman. The Bible teaches all sexual behavior or sexual relations outside of a biblical marriage between one man and one woman is sin and against God’s moral law.
RESURRECTION
Jesus Christ physically resurrected from the dead in a glorified body three days after His death on the cross. Believers and unbelievers will also experience resurrection after death, to the saved, a resurrection to life for eternity with God, and to the unsaved, a resurrection to eternal damnation and separation from God.
HEAVEN & HELL
Heaven is the eternal dwelling place for all who have genuinely accepted and followed Christ. Those who have rejected Christ, His salvation, and free gift of eternal life, will be judged by God and sent to Hell where there will be eternal torment and separation from God.