We believe in one personal and living God, the Creator and Upholder of all things.  God is a self-existing spirit and a perfect eternal being without limitation in space and time.  God exists in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), which are equal in essence but distinct in function (Gen 1; Deut 4:35, 39; Col 1:15-17; Jn 5:26; 4:24; Matt 5:48; Ps 90:2; 1 Kgs 8:27; Matt 28:19).

1. 1. We believe that God directly created the universe and everything in it in six literal days.  All things were created instantaneously by the word of God as recorded in the Genesis account.  God created without the use of any pre-existing materials and apart from any evolutionary processes (Gen 1-2; Exod 20:11; 31:17; Neh 9:6; Heb 11:3).

1. 1. We believe that angels were created by God as finite, spirit beings possessing all aspects of personality.  All of these mighty beings are completely subject to God.  Elect angels function to worship and serve God and minister to His people.  Evil angels rebelled against God with their ruler Satan, who is also a created spirit being, and now carry out     his work of resisting God’s purposes by deceiving the world and opposing believers.  Satan and all evil angels face certain and eternal destruction in the lake of fire (Job 1:6; Ps 103:20-21; 148:2, 5; Matt 12:24; Lk 15:10; 1 Tim 5:21; Heb 1:14; 2 Pet 2:4; Rev 20:10).

1. 1. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who possess all the qualities of both God and man and will possess these two natures eternally.  Christ’s physical body was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and He was born of a human mother, the virgin Mary.  Jesus lived a sinless life, died a substitutionary death bearing the wrath of God for sinners, and literally rose victorious from the grave.  He now lives exalted at the right hand of God making intercession for the saints.  At the appointed time He will come again to earth and reign as King forever (Matt 1:18-25; Lk 2:52; Jn 1:1, 14; 1 Cor 15:3-4; 2 Cor 5:21; Eph 1:20-22; Col 1:15-17; 2:9; 1 Tim 2:5).

1. 1. We believe the Holy Spirit is an eternal, divine person who was active in creation and revelation and who now convicts the world, testifies to the work and person of Christ, and ministers to believers.  He is the agent of the new birth of a believer at which time He also indwells them, baptizes them once into the body of Christ, and seals them guaranteeing the completion of their redemption.  The Holy Spirit is the efficient power for godly living as believers submit to His control (Gen 1:2; Jn 3:8; 15:26; 16:8; Acts 5:3-4; Rom 8:9-13; 1 Cor 12:11; 12:13; Gal 5:16; Eph 1:13-14; Heb 9:14; 2 Pet 1:21).

1. 1. We believe that man fell by voluntary choice into sin; thus, God cursed the earth and imputed man’s sin to the entire race of mankind.  Therefore, everyone born is a sinner by nature and conduct and, as such, stands as an enemy of God and guilty before Him condemned to both physical death and eternal punishment.  Sin pervades the entire person, and he is unable to do or be anything different (Gen 3; Ps 143:2; Rom 3:23; 5:10; 5:12-21; 6:23; 8:7-8; 8:20; Eph 2:3; Tit 1:15-16).

1. 1. We believe that by a direct act God created man in His image giving man an untested holy character and both body and soul.  As male and female, mankind is equal in importance and personhood, yet is created to function differently.  The image of God in man remains to this day, though distorted by sin.  Jesus Christ, the true image of God, is restoring the original image of God in man as His believers are becoming more and more like Him (Gen 1:26-27; 2:7; 2:18; 9:6; Eccl 7:29; 1 Cor 11:3; Col 1:15; 3:10).

1. 1. We believe that the only hope for sin-cursed man is the salvation accomplished by the substitutionary death of the sinless Christ on the cross.  It is offered to all, effectively saving those who are brought by the Holy Spirit to repentance and faith.  Therefore, salvation is initiated by God and is freely given apart from any effort of man.  This salvation received by faith brings forgiveness of sins, the righteousness of Christ on the sinner’s account, adoption as a child of God, and eternal life in fellowship with God.  The saved person begins a process whereby God conforms him more and more into the image of the holy Christ.  This process continually progresses from salvation and is perfected when the believer is raised to eternal life with Christ.  A true believer is kept a believer by the power of God (Rom 3:24-25; 8:29-33; 1 Tim 2:6; 2 Cor 5:14-21; Jn 3:5-8; 3:16; Eph 1:3-7; 2:8-10; 1 Pet 1:5).

1. 1. We believe that the church is made up of all true believers who have been placed into the body of Christ by the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit.  The church began at the day of Pentecost and, therefore, was a mystery in the Old Testament.  The church, then, should be considered as distinct from Israel.  We believe that the local church is the agency through which God has chosen to do His work in this age.  It is an organized congregation of believers who have been immersed upon a credible confession of faith in Jesus Christ; who are led by qualified male leaders serving in the offices of pastor and deacon; and who practice the ordinances of baptizing believers by immersion and remembering the Lord’s death in the regular taking of the Lord’s Table.  The local church is to be congregational in polity making its own free decisions as a body and having the Scriptures as its sole and final authority.  On all matters of membership, polity, government, discipline, and benevolence the will of the church is final.  Therefore, we believe the local church is autonomous being free from any external hierarchy.  The purpose of the church is to spread the gospel of Christ both locally and globally, to build up its members in the faith for service, all of which leads to biblical worship that brings glory to Jesus Christ (Rom 12:4-5; Eph 3:1-10; 4:11-16; Acts 2; 6:3-5; Matt 16:18; 18:18; 28:19-20; 1 Tim 3; Tit 1:6-9; 1 Cor 5:4-5, 13; 11:17-34).

1. 1. We believe that the local church is to be pure.  Purity is sought through consistent practice of church discipline as modeled in the New Testament.  Also, the purity of the church is maintained by separating from any who deny the faith.  We also believe that we are to refuse ecclesiastical fellowship and organizational cooperation with those who are truly born again, but who espouse doctrines that are contrary to Scripture or are engaged in practices that are not consistent with the Word of God (Eph 2:21-22; 5:26-27; 1 Cor 5:13; Tit 3:10; Matt 18:15-20; 2 Cor 6:14, 17; Rom 16:17-18; Eph 5:11; 2 Thess 3:6-15).

We believe the Scriptures teach that at death the spirit and soul of the believer pass into the presence of Christ and remain in conscious joy until the resurrection of the body when Christ comes for His own. The blessed hope of the believer is the imminent, personal, pre-tribulational, pre-millennial appearance of Christ to rapture the Church, His bride, prior to the seventieth week of Daniel. God’s righteous judgments will then be poured out upon an unbelieving world during the seven years of tribulation. The climax of this fearful era will be the physical return of Jesus Christ to the earth in great glory to re-establish the Davidic kingdom. Israel will be saved and restored as a nation. Satan will be bound, and the curse essentially will be lifted from the physical creation. Following this thousand-year reign of Christ (the Millennium), the Great White Throne judgment will occur, at which time the bodies and souls of the wicked shall be reunited and cast into the lake of fire, a divinely appointed place of eternal torment. The saved will enter into the city that God has prepared for His own and will live with the Lord in resurrected and glorified bodies forever (Mal 3:18; Jn 3:16-18; I Cor 15:51-57; II Cor 5:8; I Thess 4:13-18; Tit 2:13; Phil 3:20-21 Rev 6:17; 19:11-20:6; 20:7-15; 21:1-3; Rom 11:26-27; Is. 35:1-7).