what we believe

1) Truth and Worldview - 

We believe that the existence of truth is undeniable.  We accept the testimony of the New Testament Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) as reliable and authoritative 1st century witnesses about the real historical Jesus.  In these ancient witnesses, Jesus Christ made exclusive truth claims to be the unique "Son of God,” and exclusively the way, the truth, and the life and then He backed up those claims with His sacrificial death followed by his bodily resurrection from the dead.  Therefore, our faith is first and foremost rooted in the fact of the resurrection of Jesus (which is also verified by historical evidence outside of the Bible). We believe all of the truth claims Jesus made in the gospels and we believe that all other truth claims must be weighed with these foundational truths in mind.  (Matt. 26:63-64; Mark 3:11; Luke 22:70; John 8:31-32; 14:6; 19:7; 20:31)

2) The Bible 

We believe the entire Bible is God’s Word which was written by human authors under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus validated the Old Testament Scriptures (the equivalent content of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh), which foretold of His birth, His life and ministry, His death, and His resurrection.  The early Christian Church Fathers recognized the validity and authority of the four gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and the other early Christian writings of the apostles of Jesus (the content of the New Testament) during the 1st and 2nd centuries while they were widely being copied and circulated among the followers of Jesus.  Because of the widespread persecution of Christians, the official public canonization of the New Testament Scriptures was not possible until the 4th century.  At that time, the Christian writings making up the New Testament were joined together with the Hebrew Old Testament Scriptures creating the 66 book collection we call “The Holy Bible.”  We believe the original manuscripts of the entire Bible contained no errors.  Although none of the original manuscripts remain, the textual evidence from the large body of existing manuscript copies clearly demonstrates the authenticity and reliability of the text we do have today. Therefore, we accept the entire Bible as authoritative and as our guide for doctrine and practice and believe it is intended to provide the supreme source of truth for knowing God and doing His will.  These Scriptures should be understood in their proper historical context and not taken out of context for correct interpretation and application today. (Matt 5:17-20; Luke 24:24-48; John 17:17; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 3:15-17).

2) God 

We believe that there is only one God, the Creator and origin of everything that exists, who is self-existing and eternal, separate and distinct from His creation, and is the sovereign ruler over all.  God has eternally existed in three distinct persons as revealed in the Bible: The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit.  The person of the Word is now properly referred to as Jesus Christ, the literal “Son of God,” ever since the Word “became flesh” taking on humanity in addition to His already existing deity at the incarnation.  (Genesis 1:1; 26-27; 3:22, Deut. 6:4; Isaiah 40; 45:5-12; Psalm 90:2; John 1:1-14; Acts 17:22-31)

4) Jesus Christ - We believe that Jesus is the literal and actual “Son of God,” being fully God and fully man at the same time and He is therefore the perfect revelation to the world of who God is and what God is really like.  We believe all of the claims of the Bible about Jesus including His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His sacrificial and atoning death through His shed blood on the cross, His bodily resurrection from the dead, His ascension to the right hand of the Father in heaven, and His personal future return in power and glory.  (Matthew 1:23; John 1:1-29; 8:56-59; 10:30-33; Acts 1:11; 2:22-24; Romans 8:34; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 1:1-4; 4:15.)

5) The Holy Spirit - We believe that the Holy Spirit is fully God and that He is present in the world today to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgement just as Jesus said.  We believe that the Holy Spirit regenerates, seals, and indwells those who believe in Jesus at the time of salvation in order to provide effective power for living a godly life.  
(John 3:5-8; 16:7-13: Acts 1:8; 4:31; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Galatians 5:16-18; Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 2:6-10).

6) Salvation - We believe that mankind was created in the spiritual image of God in the first man Adam, who was made in a state of innocence and lived in communion with God.  Later, when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, the image of God in them was distorted by sin and they died immediately in a spiritual sense (separated from God) and later in a physical sense (separated from their body) as a result of their free choice to disobey God.  That fallen condition has been passed on to the entire human race and all people ever since have inherited a state of spiritual separation from God (“lost” or spiritually dead) and a sinful nature… with the exception of Jesus Christ who is called the “second Adam.” Repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ as one’s substitute for sin and judgement results in a new birth by the Holy Spirit with a new nature in Jesus Christ. The gift of God though Jesus is eternal life for all who believe in and follow Him but God will banish all those who reject Jesus to a literal hell.  (Gen 3; John 1:12; 14:6, Luke 24:46-47; Acts 4:12; Romans 3:9-5:21; 6:23, 1 Corinthians 15; 2 Corinthians 5:10-11; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-9; Titus 3:4-7)

7) The New Commandment - When Jesus was asked by the religious leaders of His time about the greatest commandment in the Law, he answered by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  (Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18). According to John’s Gospel, the night before Jesus was crucified He gave his disciples a single new commandment - “love one another as I have loved you.”  In the context, Jesus had just demonstrated His love for His disciples by doing the lowest menial task of a servant as He washed their feet including the feet of Judas who He knew would betray Him.  The very next day, He laid down His life on the cross.  To love one another as Jesus loved us therefore means to love each other in an unconditional and sacrificial way and holds us to the highest possible ethic.  Jesus came to us full of both “grace and truth” and therefore love cannot be separated from the truth.  We must tell people the truth about Jesus but this command leaves no room for prejudice or hatred of any kind on our part and compels us to not only love other followers of Jesus, but also to love those who disagree with, hate or even persecute us - just as He modeled for us.  (Matt 22:34-40; Luke 6:32-36; John 1:14; 13:33-34; 1 John 4:7-12; Romans 13:8; )

8) The Sanctity of Human Life - Despite the reality of sin, all of human life is sacred and valuable since man was made in the spiritual image of God in the beginning.  We believe that all human life is sacred from conception to its natural end; and that we must have genuine concern for the physical and spiritual needs of our fellowmen, and especially for that of widows, orphans, and others living in distress.  (Psalm 139:13; Isaiah 49:1; 58:6-7; Jeremiah 1:5; Matthew 22:37-39; Romans 12:20-21; Galatians 6:10; James 1:27)

9) Evangelism, Baptism, and Discipleship - Jesus commissioned His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations by baptizing them and teaching them to observe all He had commanded them.  We believe that the ministry of evangelism (sharing and proclaiming the message of salvation only possible by grace through faith in Jesus Christ) and discipleship (helping followers of Jesus grow up into maturity in Him) is the responsibility of all mature followers of Jesus Christ and that the practice of water baptism is an important part of the discipleship process where an individual who has already received salvation in Jesus professes their faith in Jesus in a public way.  (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 10:47-48, Romans 10:9-15; 1 Peter 3:15).

10) Gender and Sexuality - We believe that God created man and woman as unique biological persons and instituted monogamous marriage between male and female as the foundation of the family and the basic structure of human society.  Therefore, we believe that marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female and that God’s plan for human sexuality is to be expressed only within that context of marriage.  (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5-6; Mark 10:6-9; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9).