Core Beliefs

1.        The Scriptures 

We believe that the Holy Bible, as originally written, is verbally inspired and inerrant in all that it teaches–the only infallible rule for all human conduct.  We believe that it is the true didactic center and basis of Christian union…the only infallible rule for all human conduct.  (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21)

2.  The True Triune God

We believe that there is only one living and true God, infinite in every excellence; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three personal distinctions- the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit-yet one in substance and equal in every divine perfection.  (Exodus 20: 2-3; 1 Cor. 8:6; 1 John 5:7)

We believe in the absolute Deity of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ–divine as no other man can be, being very God of very God, existing from all eternity…co-equal with the Father and the Spirit; that He never ceased to be God for one instant and that His humiliation did not consist in laying aside His Deity; that as a man He was miraculously begotten of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. (Matt. 1:20; Luke 1:26-38; John 1:1-2; 1 John 5:20)

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, equal with the Father and Son and of the same substance and nature; that He convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment, bears witness to the truth, is Agent of the New Birth and that He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses to, sanctifies, and helps the believer–indwelling every true child of God.  (John 14:16-17; Romans 8:14-27; 2 Cor. 13:14)

3.  The Creation

We believe that God created the heavens and the earth, including all life, "each after its own kind." (Gen. 1 and 2; John 1:3; Col. 1:16-17)

4.  The Devil, or Satan

We believe that there is a distinct personality called Satan, that he is the unholy god of this age, author of all darkness and sin, and is destined to the Judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire.  (Matt. 4:1-3; 2 Cor. 4:4; Rev. 20:10)

5.  The Fall of Man

We believe that man, in the person of the First Adam, was created in innocence but by voluntary transgression fell into sin…thus plunging the human race into condemnation and death, so that now all mankind is born in sin, shaped in iniquity, and prove to be willful sinners with the first expression of personal choice; in this fallen state we therefore are without excuse before God. (Gen. 3; Rom. 5:10-19)

6.  The Redemption from Sin

We believe that the only escape from the condemnation of sin is through the redemption wrought by Jesus Christ, when He voluntarily took upon Him a human body and nature, yet without sin, and by His suffering, death and resurrection made full satisfaction to the justice of God for the sins of His elect (His ‘bride’); that the blessings of this salvation are via faith alone in Christ’s amazing grace alone as taught in Scripture alone for God’s glory alone. (John 1:1-3, 14; 3:1-7; Acts 16:30-33; Heb. 10:4-14).

7.  Salvation by Grace Alone

We believe that faith alone in the amazing finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition of salvation from sin–and this salvation is wholly by grace alone; that no works, however good, make that salvation more secure.  (Acts 16:31; Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-7; Rom. 10:9-13)

We believe that all who, by His special [‘amazing’] grace, embrace Christ as their Savior and Lord are born from above, eternally secure in Christ. (John 10:28-29; Rom. 8:35-39; Phil. 1:6)

8.  The Church

We believe that the church is established by Jesus Christ.  He is the Head of the church and the church is His body for God’s service…His bride for God’s glory.

We believe that the holy catholic (‘global’) church is constituted of all born-again believers and is manifested through the local church, which is a covenant-community of the baptized (associated by the covenant of faith and fellowship of the Gospel).  Communicant members of this covenant-community observe the ordinances of Christ; non-communicant members don’t partake of Holy Communion until exercising a credible profession of faith and repentance–since communing membership (governed by the Lord’s laws) is the aim. Communing members also exercise spiritual gifts, rights, and privileges invested in the Church by His Word.  

The Church’s officers are Elders (including Pastors) and Deacons.  Wise officers seek input from God and church members, as Acts 15:28 notes [“it seemed right to the Holy Spirit and us”].  Significantly, this statement is in the context of a national General Assembly–to which our elders are invited annually–just as nationally/internationally we’re still invited to give financially for mercy needs (similar to famines in the Book of Acts).  Regionally, elders are also invited to presbytery gatherings (similar to the 1st-century elders in the regions of Macedonia, Galatia and Asia Minor). (Matt. 16:18, 18:15-17; Acts 2:41-47; Acts 20:4-38; Rom. 16:26; 1 Cor. 1:2, 6:4, 7:17, 11:16, 12:12-28; Eph. 1:22-23, 3:21, 4:11-12, 5:23-33; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Tim. 3:1-15)

9.  The Ordinances

We believe that there are two church ordinances; Baptism (which is the bloodless New Testament fulfillment of circumcision) and the Lord's Supper (which is the bloodless New Testament of the Passover Meal). Both ordinances point to the crucified, buried and risen Savior, as He promises to us we can be dead to sin and resurrected to new life–thanks to His victorious blemishless blood seen in His substitutionary atonement. The Lord's Supper should be partaken only following careful self-examination.  (Acts 8:36-39; Rom. 6:3-5; 1 Cor. 11:23-32).

10.  The Righteous and Wicked

We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked; that only such as through faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and sanctified by the Spirit of God, are truly righteous in God's esteem. All who continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked, and still under the Curse.  This distinction holds among men both during life and after death, in the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost.  (Mal. 3:18; Matt. 25:34-41; Luke 6:25; Rom. 6:17-23)

11.  The Return of Christ

We believe in Christ’s Second Coming–this time as Glorious Judge–visibly and bodily, to put all things right on a needy earth. The soul-spirit of each true Christian will return with Christ and be re-united with his or her earthly, physical DNA as the Lord fashions for us an eternal resurrection and glorified body  (Mt. 25:31-46; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Rev. 19:11-21; Phil. 3:20-21).

12.  The Resurrection

We believe in the resurrection of the bodies of the dead; that believers who sleep in Jesus will be raised at the coming of Christ; and that the wicked dead will be raised at the Judgment to receive their final doom.  (John 5:21-30; 1 Cor. 15:51-54; 1 Thess. 4:16; Rev. 7:9-17, 20:11-15). True Christians exercise their saving-faith in facts such as Phil 3:20-21 [“Our citizenship is in Heaven–and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ Who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to Himself”].