Beliefs

WE BELIEVE...

  • God is the one and only true God.
  • The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one.
  • Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
  • Salvation is through faith in Jesus alone.
  • Jesus died on the cross and rose on the third day.
  • The Bible is the Word of God.

God

God is the one and only true God, eternal, perfect and infinite in His being, holiness, love, wisdom, mercy, righteousness and power; transcendent above the world as its Creator, yet immanent in the world as the Preserver of all things. God is self-existent and self-revealing in three divine Persons–the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit–who are distinct in function, but equal in power and glory.

The Father is revealed in Scripture as a person of the triune Godhead. His existence and power are revealed in creation and in the function of the human conscience. He sent His Son into the world for the salvation of the world in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who claimed and addressed Him as His Father. He is a Father in a personal relationship to all who confess and follow Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.

Deut. 6:4, 1 Tim. 1:7, 1 Tim. 2:3, Heb. 11:3, Ex. 34:6-7, Gen. 1:1-2:3, Matt. 3:13-17, 2 Cor. 13:14, John 3:16, John 14:9-12, 1 John 3:1-2

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the triune Godhead, the eternal Word and divine Son of God. Before His incarnation, He was eternally with God the Father and was God. In regard to His humanity, He was miraculously conceived of the Holy Spirit without a human Father, was born of a virgin, took on true humanity, and thus was fully human and fully divine. In His incarnation, He lived a perfect life on earth and revealed the invisible God perfectly. He gave Himself in death upon the cross as a substitutionary and propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the world, by which He paid the price of redemption, thus satisfying both the righteousness and the love of God. He was raised from the dead, glorified in the body in which He had suffered and died, ascended into heaven, is at the right hand of the Father, and makes intercession for us. He is the only Savior and Lord of the church and the universe.

John 1:1-4, John 1:14, John 1:18, John 14:5-10, Col. 1:15-17, Matt. 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-35, Phil. 2:5-11, Heb. 1:3-4, 2 Cor. 5:19-21, Mark 10:45, Rom. 3:21-26, Rom. 5:9-11, Isa. 53:4-12, 1 Cor. 15:3-4, 1 Pet. 2:24, Acts 1:9-11, Rom. 8:33-34, Heb. 7:25, Heb. 9:24, Phil. 2:10-11, Col. 1:19-21

Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is one with the Father and with the Son in the triune Godhead and possesses all of the distinctively divine attributes. He is God, present and active in the world, ministering conviction of sin to sinners and regeneration to penitents. The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to believers, in whom He resides. He ministers comfort, assurance, guidance, and victory. He is the agent of sanctification in the believer’s life, producing progressive growth in Spirit-fruit. He empowers believers and works through them in the distribution, manifestation, and ministry of spiritual gifts.

Gen. 1:1-2, Acts 5:3-4, 2 Cor. 13:14, John 16:7-11, 1 Cor. 6:17-20, Eph. 3:14-19, Acts 2:1-21, John 14:16, John 14:26, Rom. 8:1-17, Acts 4:31, 1 Pet. 1:2, 1 Cor. 2:12-14, Gal. 5:16-25, Eph. 1:13-14, 1 Cor. 12:7-11, Eph. 4:30, Rom. 15:18-19

Salvation

Salvation is a free gift of God’s grace based on the work of Jesus Christ (the shedding of His blood on the cross, His resurrection and present intercessory ministry) and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Those who receive God’s gift of salvation by faith become children of God, justified in their relationship to God, sanctified in their walk and work, and secure in an ongoing faith expressed and fostered by obedience to Christ. Justification is extended to all people in regard to Adamic guilt and by personal repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and His provision in regard to personal guilt.

Rom. 6:23, Rom. 10:9-10, Phil. 1:6, Acts 2:38, Eph. 2:8-10, John 1:12, Gal. 4:4-7, Eph. 4:23-24, 1 Peter 1:5, 1 John 2:4-6, Col. 1:22-23, Rom. 5:1, Rom. 5:12-21, James 2:14-26

The Bible

The Scriptures, both Old Testament and New Testament, are the Word of God, a supernatural revelation from God to mankind, verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit through human instrumentality, without error in the original writings in all that they affirm. They are a God given record of the incarnational revelation of God in Christ and a written disclosure of God’s will and plan for mankind. The scriptures are the final authority for faith and practice, with the entire New Testament being the fulfillment of the Old Testament and the perfected rule for the Christian church.

1 Pet. 1:10-12, Matt. 5:17-18, John 5:45-47, 1 Tim. 3:16-17, 2 Pet. 1:20-21, Ps. 119:1-60, John 10:35, Heb. 1:1-2, Luke 24:25-27, Luke 24:44-47, John 5:39, 2 Pet. 3:15-16, Heb. 8:7-13

Man

Man was created in the image of God, sinless, in perfect holiness and fellowship with God; as male and female, equal before God as persons and distinct in manhood and womanhood, with male responsibility for headship in the home and in the church; as a being of choice who willfully disobeyed God, bringing alienation, depravity, death, and eternal lostness to the human race through Adam’s sin.

Gen. 1:26-31, Gen 2:7, Gen 2:18-25, Gal. 3:28, 1 Cor. 11:3-16, Eph. 5:22-33, 1 Tim. 2:11-15, Gen. 3:1-21, Rom. 5:12-21, Eph. 4:18-19

The Church

The church of Jesus Christ is the universal body of redeemed believers committed to Jesus Christ as Lord, and finds expression in the local church in worship, fellowship, holiness, discipline, teaching and preaching the Word, prayer, spiritual gifts, and the New Testament ordinances. The church is called out from and is separate from the world, but reaches out to the world with the Gospel and the “cup of cold water”. The church, as the body of Christ, is the visible representation of God on earth and is ready to suffer and serve as required by Christ and His Word.

I Peter 2:9-10, Acts 2:42-47, 1 Cor. 1:2, 1 Cor. 14:26, Rom. 12:4-8, 1 Cor. 12:1-31, Eph. 4:7-16, Matt. 28:19-20, John 13:14-16, 1 Cor. 11, James 5:13-16, Matt. 5:13-16, 2 Cor. 5:18-20, Rom. 8:17, 2 Thess. 1:5