Statement of Faith
The following is a concise and brief presentation of our beliefs in the fundamental truths of the Christian faith. This doctrinal statement reflects the mainstream evangelical tradition consistent with the teachings of the Bible. As an affiliation of the Southern Baptist Convention, we also affirm the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.
The Triune God
There is only one true and living God. He is self-existent and eternally exists in three distinct Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person of the triune God is fully God and is co-existent, co-equal, and co-eternal.
God the Father
God the Father is the first Person of the Trinity. He is the Creator, Sustainer, and sovereign Ruler of the universe. He is eternal and is unchanging in character, nature, and purpose. He is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. He is perfectly holy and completely just. He is the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and by His immeasurable grace gave His Son, Jesus Christ, for the redemption of the human race.
God the Son
Jesus Christ is the second Person of the Trinity. He is the one and only eternal Son of God Who became flesh to reveal God to man. He was supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He is fully God and fully man. He lived a sinless life and came into this world as the one and only Savior for the sins of a lost world. He died on the cross as the all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the world. He bodily rose from the dead and physically ascended into heaven. He is now in heaven seated at the right hand of God the Father conducting the ministry of intercession for His people. He will personally, bodily, and visibly return to earth again. He is the head of His body, the Church and will claim His bride, the Church, when He returns.
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity. He is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Spirit enables man to accept and appropriate the salvation offered by Christ. He is the One Who convicts the human heart of sin and makes man aware of His crucial need for Jesus Christ. He guides and leads human hearts to cry out to Christ and receive Christ as their personal Savior. He imparts to man the new life in Christ which is called the “new birth.”
He permanently indwells the believer. His presence in the Christian is God’s seal of ownership and the guarantee of the believer’s eternal security. The Holy Spirit implements and conducts the work of sanctification in the life of the Christian. He empowers the Christian to live the Christian life. He personally guides and directs each believer. He enables the believer to bear spiritual fruit and imparts wisdom and understanding of the truths of God.
The Bible
The Bible is the inspired written Word of God. Men of God were “moved by the Holy Spirit” to write the actual words of Scripture. Since the Bible is literally “God-breathed” it is therefore inerrant and infallible in its original manuscripts. God has supernaturally preserved His Word, therefore it is the sole and ultimate authority for the Christian life, providing guidance, comfort, encouragement, and instruction in righteousness.
Man
God created man in His own image. Man was created to personally know God and to experience daily fellowship with God. Man lost his relationship with God when he chose to disobey the holy will of God by yielding to the temptation of Satan. The result was physical and spiritual death, which totally separated him from a holy God. Every man is spiritually dead and incapable of fellowship with God, apart from the miracle of God’s saving grace. Man cannot earn, merit, or deserve a right relationship with God. Apart from a true salvation experience in Christ, man is utterly lost and his only future is eternal separation from God.
The Gospel
The gospel is God’s good news to a lost humanity. It is the message of reconciliation. God is reconciling sinners to Himself through the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God desires to restore man’s broken relationship with Himself. God invites sinful man to receive His offer of restoration. If sinful man will repent of his sins and place his faith in Christ as his personal Savior God will then replace the sinner’s broken relationship with a new relationship of joy and friendship with God. God provides this reconciliation by means of the death of Christ on the cross. Christ took sinful man’s place on the cross. He received the punishment of God’s wrath against sin. A perfect Savior, Who lived a sinless life, is the only Sacrifice acceptable to a holy God. The substitutionary death of Christ on the cross is God’s only provision for man’s dilemma of sin. Only the holy Son of God can appease the wrath of a holy God. The blessed Savior is man’s substitution and God’s satisfaction.
Salvation
The salvation of God is God’s free gift to man. The only basis for man’s salvation is the shed blood of Christ on the cross. Man does not deserve salvation, nor can he earn salvation. It is God’s free gift to man provided by Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross. In order for man to be saved from the penalty of sin, he must be convicted of his sins. Only the Holy Spirit can convict man of his sin. Man must respond to his conviction of sin by a genuine repentance of his sin. He must turn away from his sin and turn toward God. Following conviction and repentance, sinful man must personally and willfully place his full trust in Jesus Christ as his Savior. This genuine salvation experience can only be made effective by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Man’s “new birth” in Christ is instantaneous. The moment man repents and receives Christ as his Savior he is born into the eternal family of God. His eternal life begins the very moment he is spiritually born again. He is the possessor of God’s forever life.
Church
The church is the body of Jesus Christ. It is a living spiritual organism constituted of individual redeemed lives. These redeemed persons are members of our Lord’s Body and He is the head of the Body. Only those who have truly received Christ by faith comprise the true church. The church is not a physical building. The church is made up of the living stones of God, His own redeemed children. A local church or assembly is the tangible expression of the Body of Christ. The purpose of the church is to introduce and share Christ with the lost world, and to make disciples of the Lord, and to magnify and glorify God. In the local church God’s people are to be encouraged, nourished, and equipped for the work of ministry. They are to exercise their spiritual gifts to build up the Body of Christ. Since they are united in Christ by the same Spirit, they should live together in love, harmony, and holiness, with the sole motivation of bringing maximum glory to Christ.
Eternity
Man was created to enjoy the presence of God. God’s design is for man to experience His presence not only in the brief span of mortal life, but to experience His eternal presence. The Bible clearly teaches that man will live forever. He will experience eternal life with Christ, or he will experience eternal separation from Christ. The Bible teaches that those who do not obey the gospel “will suffer eternal destruction from the face of the Lord.” Man will either live with God in heaven forever, or he will live without God in hell forever. The Bible clearly teaches that heaven and hell are literal places of eternal existence.