Beliefs

We believe God deemed it necessary to reveal Himself to mankind so that it may be possible for us to know Him truly albeit not exhaustively. As such, we believe that our Triune God gave us the Holy Scriptures, His special revelation, with every one of the 66 books being written by holy men as they were “inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:20-21).” Therefore, I believe that the Bible, in its original writings, is without error both in parts and as a whole (Matt 5:17-18; Ps 19:7). Furthermore, as the word of God, it is the final and supreme authority in all matters of which it speaks (Josh 1:7-8). Through His scriptures, our Triune God revealed unto mankind His character, His will for His people, and His plan for redemption and recreation, ultimately through the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, all of the Scriptures point to and finds their fulfillment in Jesus (Lk 24:27). Therefore, while not being exhaustive in its scope in content, it is sufficient in addressing our need for salvation (Ps 19:7, in equipping the believer for the work of ministry (2 Tim 3:16-17), and in revealing the certainty of our Christian hope when our Lord Jesus Christ will return to make all things new (Rev 21-22).

We believe that there is only one true and living God (Deut 6:4), the great “I Am” (Exo 3:14), who is altogether distinct (2 Sam 7:22), perfect (Mt. 5:48), unchanging (Mal 3:6), and infinite (Rev. 1:8) in all of His divine attributes. He reigns supreme over all rulers and authorities both on Heaven and on Earth (1 Chr 29:11-12; Ps 103:19), establishing justice and righteousness (Deut 32:4; Psa 9:7-8), with love and mercy towards all His creation (Exo 34:6-7; Jn 3:16). God is one in essence (Jn 10:30; Jn 1:1; Jn 17:21), eternally and harmoniously existing in three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – each person being fully God, same in attributes (Jn 1:1; Heb 13:8; 1 Cor 2:11),  and equally worthy of our complete devotion and worship (Mt 28:19; Acts 5:3-4; Jn 8:58; Jn 20:27-29).

We believe that all creation in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, were created by and for our Triune God (Col 1:16; Gen 1:1; Jn 1:3), good and without sin (Gen 1:31), with the exception of angels who had fallen in their rebellion (Rev 12:7-9). God created humanity in His image and gave them the mandate to multiply and rule the Earth and all that is within it (Gen 1:28). Tragically, humanity sinned against God by becoming disobedient to God’s perfect law (Gen 3). We believe that due to humanity’s rebellion against God (Gen 3; Rom 1:21-32), all physical creation fell (Rom 8:18-22), and humanity became by nature helplessly enslaved to sin and opposed to God, condemned to death and separation from Him (Eph 2:1-3; Rom 3:23,6).

However, we believe our gracious God provided one way for humanity to receive forgiveness and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ (Jn 3:16-18, 14:6, 17:3; 1 Tim 2:5), the second person of the Triune God (Mt 3:17; Mt 17:5), who, while being fully God, emptied Himself of His divine privileges and became fully man without ceasing to be fully divine (Phil. 2:6-8). Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, conceived of the Holy Spirit in order that He may perfect and able to reveal God to humanity (Mt 1:18-25). We believe Jesus perfectly fulfilled God’s law (Mt 5:17-18; 1 Pet 2:22) and died our death, receiving the punishment of God’s wrath in our place and paying the cost to free us from bondage to sin (Rom 4:25; 1 Pet 2:24) in order that we may be declared righteous by God (Rom 3:22), reconciled to God (Rom 5:10), and adopted as God’s children (Rom 8:14-17). Furthermore, with His bodily resurrection, Jesus guaranteed our hope of new life, beginning from our conversion (Rom 6:5; 1 Thess. 4:14; Col 3:1). Therefore, we believe that salvation is a free gift of God’s grace made available to anyone who chooses to place their faith completely in Christ alone instead of their own works (Jn 3:16; Eph 2:8), although living faith will produce the fruit of good works (Jas 2:20-24; Eph 2:10).

We believe that through His work of salvation, Christ redeemed the church, His bride (Eph 5:25-32), bringing her into a new covenant (Heb 8:6-13; 1 Cor 11:25), thereby reconciling people to God and to one another (Eph 2:11-22; Gal 3:28). Through faith in Christ, believers are indwelled and baptized by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19; 12:13), becoming members of His body, the church, which was established by the coming of the promised Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4) and built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph 2:19-20). As the head of this new community (Eph 5:23), Christ commanded its members to love one another as He loved them (Jn 15:12) and gave them the ordinance of communion to remember His covenant love (Lk 22:19- 20) until He returns (1 Cor 11:24-26). Jesus also commanded them to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, (Mt 28:18-20) so that as one new people of God (1 Pet 2:9), they would grow to be like the Son (Eph 4:15) as they devote themselves to teaching, fellowship, service, the Lord’s supper, and prayer (Acts 2:42-47). To that end, He gave the church the gifts of the Spirit to be lovingly exercised by its members to build up one another in the image of Christ (1 Cor 12).

Although the exact timing and manner of the last days are only known by God (Mk 13:32), we believe that our sovereign God will one day consummate all things in Christ through the visible, personal, and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 1:9-10; Col 1:15-19) who upon His second coming will conquer evil once and for all and judge the living and the dead. The unjust—including Satan and all his hosts—will be resurrected and consigned to hell, the place of everlasting punishment (Rev 20:7-15). And the just will be resurrected in their glorified bodies to receive their reward and dwell in the presence of God forever and ever. We believe that at this time King Jesus will finish His work of perfectly and fully recreating the Heavens, the Earth, and all that is within it in order that all creation may triumphantly and eternally proclaim the glories of our creator God who has made all things new (Rev 21:1-5).

We believe that the sacrament of baptism is an outward sign of an inward grace in which the believer publicly testifies to God, to the church, to oneself and the world, that he or she is now dead to self and alive in Christ—united with Him in His death and resurrection. As such water baptism is only intended for the individual who has received the saving benefits of Christ’s atoning work. Further, we believe that the precedence within the New Testament is Baptism following conversion by immersion into water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We believe that the Lord’s supper is also an outward sign of an inward grace in which the real spiritual presence of Christ is present as we partake and are nourished by the bread and the cup with reverent gratitude for His sacrificial death on our behalf, self-examination of our lives, and hopeful expectation of His return in which He will come to make all things new (1 Cor 11:23-26). As such, we believe that the Lord’s Supper is to be observed only by those who have become genuine followers of Jesus Christ.

Ecclesiological Distinctives

Elder-led
Deacon-managed
Congregation-driven

Theological Distinctives

Trinitarian Complementarianism
Sovereignty of God in Salvation
Gifts of the Holy Spirit