OUR STATEMENT OF FAITH

There is one God, [1] who is infinitely perfect, [2] existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. [3]

Jesus Christ is the true God and the true man. [4] He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. [5] He died upon the cross, the Just for the unjust, [6] as a substitutionary sacrifice, [7] and all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood. [8] He arose from the dead according to the Scriptures. [9] He is now at the right hand of Majesty on high as our great High Priest. [10] He will come again to establish His kingdom, righteousness and peace. [11]

The Holy Spirit is a divine person, [12] sent to indwell, guide, teach, empower the believer, [13] and convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. [14] The Old and New Testaments, inerrant as originally given, were verbally inspired by God and are a complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men. They constitute the divine and only rule of Christian faith and practice. [15] Man was originally created in the image and likeness of God:[16] he fell through disobedience, incurring thereby both physical and spiritual death.

All men are born with a sinful nature, [17] are separated from the life of God, and can be saved only through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. [18] The portion of the unrepentant and unbelieving is existence forever in conscious torment;(19) and that of the believer, in everlasting joy and bliss. [20]

Salvation has been provided through Jesus Christ for all men; and those who repent and believe in Him are born again of the Holy Spirit, receive the gift of eternal life, and become the children of God. [21]

It is the will of God that each believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit and be sanctified wholly, [22] being separated from sin and the world and fully dedicated to the will of God, thereby receiving power for holy living and effective service. [23] This is both a crisis and a progressive experience wrought in the life of the believer subsequent to conversion. [24]

Provision is made in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ for the healing of the mortal body. [25] Prayer for the sick and anointing with oil are taught in the Scriptures and are privileges for the Church in this present age. [26] The Church consists of all those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are redeemed through His blood, and are born again of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the Head of the Body, the Church, [27] which has been commissioned by Him to go into all the world as a witness, preaching the gospel to all nations. [28] The local church is a body of believers in Christ who are joined together for the worship of God, for edification through the Word of God, for prayer, fellowship, the proclamation of the gospel, and observance of the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. [29]

There shall be a bodily resurrection of the just and of the unjust; for the former, a resurrection unto life; [30] for the latter, a resurrection unto judgment. [31]

The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent [32] and will be personal, visible, and premillennial. [33] This is the believer’s blessed hope and is a vital truth which is an incentive to holy living and faithful service. [34]

[1] Deuteronomy 6:4, [2] Matthew 5:48, [3] Matthew 28:19, [4] Philippians 2:6–11, [5] Luke 1:34–38, [6] 1 Peter 3:18, [7] Hebrews 2:9, [8] Romans 5:9, [9] Acts 2:23–24, [10] Hebrews 8:1, [11] Matthew 26:64, [12] John 14:15–18, [13] John 16:13; Acts 1:8, [14] John 16:7–11, [15] 2 Peter 1:20–21; 2 Timothy 3:15–16, [16] Genesis 1:27, [17] Romans 3:23, [18] 1 Corinthians15:20–23, [19] Revelation 21:8, [20] Revelation 21:1–4, [21] Titus 3:4–7, [22] 1 Thessalonians 5:23, [23] Acts 1:8, [24] Romans 6:1–14, [25] Matthew 8:16–17, [26] James 5:13–16, [27] Ephesians 1:22–23, [28] Matthew 28:19–20, [29] Acts 2:41–47, [30] 1 Corinthians 15:20–23, [31] John 5:28–29, [32] Hebrews 10:37, [33] Luke 21:27, [34] Titus 2:11–14

OUR CORE VALUES

1. Lost people matter to God. He wants them found. (Luke 19:10)

In the fall of 2011 our church sent a copy of the Jesus DVD to every home and business in our community. The Jesus Film Project is a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. We firmly believe that in this way God has clothed His Word in bright new sounds so that some, who perhaps have grown tired of the traditional Gospel presentations, will see His Truth in a new light.

2. Prayer is the primary work of the people of God (Phil. 4:6-7)

We still meet for prayer each week. James 5 says, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (16, NIV). This is not an idle promise of God but a reminder that He does nothing in this world without the partnership of people who pray.

3. Everything we have belongs to God. We are only stewards. (I Chron. 29:14)

God doesn’t need our gifts – we need to give. Giving is a way of expressing our conviction that what has our name attached is not really ours – He has simply entrusted it to us for a short time. When we give from a desire to honor Him the Scripture says we are “[storing] up for [ourselves] treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20, NIV emphasis added). Commenting on this verse someone has quipped, “You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead!”

4. Knowing and obeying God’s Word is fundamental to all true success. (Josh. 1:8)

King David wrote that the man who is truly successful is the one who delights in and meditates on the Law of the Lord (see Psalm 1). It is in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures – the Bible – that God has given His most complete revelation. Isaiah 66:2 says that God esteems the one who “trembles at His Word,” the one who is intent upon obeying its Truth.

5. Completing the Great Commission will require the mobilization of every fully devoted disciple. (Matthew 28:19)

Jesus’ last command to His disciples/apostles was to take the message of redemption and forgiveness through His blood to every creature. To that end He has given gifts to every believer so that all men everywhere might believe. Not all have a gift of evangelism, but all have gifts (see Romans 12:3-8) and the faithful exercise of those gifts will result in the progress of the Gospel around the neighborhood and around the world.

6. Without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we can accomplish nothing. (I Cor. 2:4-5)

Before He ascended into heaven, the Risen Lord told His Apostles to “wait for the gift My Father promised…the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4-5, NIV). He knew that, as important as good organization and timeless Truth are, they would not and could not make an impact upon the world of lost men. Only the Holy Spirit can open blind eyes and apply Truth to those who love darkness (see John 3:19).

7. Achieving God’s purposes involves faith-filled risks. This always involves change. (Heb. 11:6)

As with the saints in previous generations, “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb 11:6, NIV). In His famous parable of the talents, Jesus told of a man who entrusted his servants with some money before he left on a trip. When he returned he required an accounting from the servants. The only one to be condemned was the one who buried the money being afraid to lose it (Matthew 25:14-30). Jesus would have agreed with the famous words of President Theodore Roosevelt, “who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”