WHAT WE BELIEVE

OUR BELIEFS

There is one true God.

God is called by many different names because of the different dimensions of His character, but God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4). God is super-dimensional and eternally self-existent (Jn 8:54-59). God is omniscient (all knowing), omnipresent (everywhere), and omnipotent (all powerful). He is the creator of the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1 and 2). While God is one, He has revealed Himself in what the Church calls the Trinity, God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. The Scriptures declare he was born of a virgin (Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:31,35); he led a sinless life (Hebrews 7:26; 1 Peter 2:22); he performed many miracles (Acts 2:22; 10:38); he died for our salvation on the cross (1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21); he was bodily resurrected from the dead (Matthew 28:6; Luke 24:39; 1 Corinthians 15:4); he has been exalted to the right hand of God (Acts 1:9,11; 2:33; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:3).

The Holy Spirit

All believers are entitled to and should ardently expect and earnestly seek the promise of the Father, the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire, according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the normal experience of all in the early Christian church. With it comes the enduement of power for life and service, the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4,8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31). This experience is distinct from and subsequent to the experience of the new birth (Acts 8:12-17; 10:44-46; 11:14-16; 15:7-9). With the baptism in the Holy Spirit come such experiences as an overflowing fullness of the Spirit (John 7:37-39; Acts 4:8), a deepened reverence for God (Acts 2:43; Hebrews 12:28), an intensified consecration to God and dedication to His work (Acts 2:42), and a more active love for Christ, for His Word, and for the lost (Mark 16:20).

The Fall of Man

Man was created good and upright; for God said, “Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness.” However, man by voluntary transgression fell and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:17; 3:6 and Romans 5:12-19)

The Salvation of Man

Man’s only hope of redemption is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Salvation is received through repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, being justified by grace through faith, man becomes an heir of God according to the hope of eternal life (Luke 24:47; John 3:3; Romans 10:13-15; Ephesians 2:8; Titus 2:11; 3:5-7). The inward evidence of salvation is the direct witness of the Spirit (Romans 8:16). The outward evidence to all men is a life of righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:24; Titus 2:12)

THE SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

Baptism in Water

The Scripture teaches that all who repent and believe in Christ are to be baptized by immersion (Matthew 28:19). Baptism is a public profession of faith in Christ. It is symbolic of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ that believers are called to enter into. It is a declaration to the world that we have died to sin and have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).

Communion

The Lord’s Supper, consisting of the elements—bread and the fruit of the vine—is the symbol expressing our sharing the divine nature of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:4); a memorial of His suffering and death (1 Corinthians 11:26); and a prophecy of His second coming (1 Corinthians 11:26); and is enjoined on all believers “till He come!”

The Church and its Mission

The Church is the body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit, with divine appointments for the fulfillment of her Great Commission. Each believer, born of the Spirit, is an integral part of the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven (Ephesians 1:22,23; 2:22; Hebrews 12:23). Since God’s purpose concerning man is to seek and to save that which is lost, to be worshiped by man, to build a body of believers in the image of His Son, and to demonstrate His love and compassion for all the world.