STATEMENT OF FAITH

We believe in one God, Creator and Lord of the Universe, the co-eternal Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We believe that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, died a substitutionary death on the cross to atone for our sins, rose bodily from the dead and ascended to heaven where, as truly God and truly man, He is the only mediator between God and man.

We believe the Bible is God’s authoritative and inspired Word. It is without error in all its teachings, including creation, history, its own origins, and salvation. Christians must submit to its divine authority, both individually and corporately, in all matters of belief and conduct, which is demonstrated by true righteous living.

We believe that all people are lost sinners and cannot see the Kingdom of God except through the new birth. Justification is by grace through faith in Christ alone.

We believe in one holy, universal, and apostolic Church. Its calling is to worship God and witness concerning its Head, Jesus Christ, preaching the Gospel among all nations and demonstrating its commitment by compassionate service to the needs of human beings and promoting righteousness and justice.

We believe in the necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit for the individual’s new birth and growth to maturity, and for the Church’s constant renewal in truth, wisdom, faith, holiness, love, power, and mission.

We believe that God created marriage to be the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. Through this marital relationship, God provided for the man and the woman the framework for intimate companionship, the channel for sexual expression according to Biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race. We believe that sexual intimacy is a wonderful gift of God that is only to be expressed between one man and one woman (as genetically defined), within the love and bounds of heterosexual marriage. We believe that God designed marriage to reveal the union between Christ and His church (Genesis 2:24-25; Matthew 19:4-6; Proverbs 5:15-19; 1 Corinthians 7:3-5; Genesis 1:28; Hebrews 13:4; Ephesians 5:21-33).

We believe that any form of sexual intimacy outside of marriage is both immoral and a perversion of God’s gift (Leviticus 18:1-30; Proverbs 6:32; 1 Corinthians 6:18; Romans 1:24-28; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8). Furthermore, we believe that any form of sexual immorality such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, pornography, cohabitation (regardless of the age of the individuals involved), or any attempt to change one’s gender in disagreement with one’s genetically defined gender, is sinful and offensive to God (Leviticus 18-20; Romans 1).

We believe that Jesus Christ will personally and visibly return in glory to raise the dead and bring salvation and judgment to completion. God will fully manifest His kingdom when He establishes a new Heaven and new earth, in which He will be glorified forever and exclude all evil, suffering, and death.