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What We Believe

GOD

We believe in one holy, loving, and sovereign God, Creator of all things, who exists eternally in three equally divine Persons: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each divine Person shares the same nature and attributes and is equally worthy of worship, honor, and obedience.

SCRIPTURE

We believe that the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is God’s word to us through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.

HUMANITY

God created Adam and Eve—man and woman—in his image: good, righteous, and with the purpose of glorifying him, enjoying him, and carrying out his will on earth. Adam and Eve sinned and incurred physical and spiritual death. While still faintly reflecting the image of God, all human beings—in union with Adam—are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath and condemnation. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled, and renewed.

JESUS CHRIST

We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, God incarnate, fully God and fully human, two natures in one Person. Jesus—Israel's promised Messiah—was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate, Lord and Judge. He is the only mediator between God and humanity, and through Him every believer may approach God directly.

Salvation

We believe that salvation is completely the work of God apart from any human merit. As Savior, Jesus Christ paid the penalty for sin, conquered death, and freed us from the power of sin and Satan by His substitutionary death and resurrection. By faith in Him alone a lost sinner is forgiven of his sins, made a child of God forever, and given all that he needs for spiritual life, including direct access to God and the gift of the Spirit, who brings to completion the work of Christ in us.

The Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person and is fully God, worthy of worship and honor. He was actively involved in the work of creation, the writing of Scripture, and Jesus's earthly ministry. He regenerates believers, brings us into union with Christ, and incorporates us into the family of God, the body of Christ. He also indwells, enlightens, guides, empowers, and transforms believers for Christlike living and service.

The Church

We believe that the true church consists of all those who have placed their faith in Christ alone for salvation. The true church is manifested in local churches. The purpose of the church is to glorify God by building up its members in the faith, by teaching and practicing the Word, by fellowship, by keeping the ordinances (baptism and the Lord’s Supper), by advancing and communicating the gospel to the entire world, and by being His worshiping people now and forever.

Baptism and the Lord's Supper

We believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are commanded by the Lord Jesus himself as ongoing practices for the good of his church. They are both meant for believers only: baptism symbolizing a visible testimony of our faith and our entrance into the new covenant community, the Lord’s Supper regularly pointing us to our covenant relationship with God through Christ. Together they are simultaneously God’s pledge to us, a reminder of Christ’s work, our public vows of submission to the once crucified and now resurrected Christ, and anticipations of his return and of the consummation of all things.

The Christian Life

We believe that God's justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. We are saved by grace, and this grace moves us toward joyful obedience to all of Jesus’s commands. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially. Christians are thus called to make every effort to grow in Christlikeness and to engage in God’s redemptive mission in the world.

Christ's Return and the Christian Hope

We believe in the pre-millennial bodily return of Jesus Christ. The time of his return is known only to God. After Jesus returns, he will raise the dead bodily and judge the whole world—assigning unbelievers to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and believers to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth.

The Relationship Between Church and State

Recognizing the God-ordained institution of human governments, we believe that each local church is self-governing in function and must be free from interference by any ecclesiastical or political authority. We further believe that every human being is directly responsible to God in matters of faith and life and that each one should be free to worship God according to the dictates of conscience.

Marriage, Sexuality, and Gender

We believe that marriage refers to the exclusive union, instituted by God, of one biological man and one biological woman joined as husband and wife. According to Scripture, sexual intimacy of any kind is to occur only between a man and woman married to each other. All sexual activity outside of marriage is prohibited.

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We believe that any form of sexual immorality, such as adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, incest, use of pornography, or pedophilia, is sinful and offensive to God.

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We believe that gender and biological sex are inseparable, and affirming a gender different than one's biological sex, or any attempt to change one’s sex, is sinful and offensive to God in that it violates God’s good creational design.

 

We believe that in order to preserve the unity, purity, and integrity of the church as the local Body of Christ, and to provide a biblical role model to the church members and the community, it is imperative that all persons employed by the church in any capacity, or who serve as volunteers, should abide by and agree to this Statement on Marriage, Sexuality, and Gender, and conduct themselves accordingly.

Biblical Authority

The statement of faith does not exhaust the extent of our faith. The Bible itself, as the inspired and inerrant Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, church practice, and all human conduct, is the chief and ultimate source of all that we believe. For purposes of church doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline, our Elders are the church’s final interpretive authority on the Bible’s meaning and application.

Historic Distinctives of Baptists

  • The Bible is the final authority for faith and practice

  • The priesthood of all believers

  • Two symbolic ordinances, believer’s baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper

  • Local church autonomy

  • Separation of church and state

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