STATEMENT OF FAITH
The following comprise the Scriptural beliefs of this church and its members.
Scripture
We believe the Word of God as found in the sixty-six books from Genesis to Revelation is God’s divinely
inspired revelation of Himself to mankind and is to be treasured and obeyed. The Holy Spirit superintended human authors in various ways such that, through their individual personalities, vocabularies, and writing styles, they recorded God’s Word to man without error. All Scripture is complete without any mixture of error for its matter and entirely true and trustworthy. It reveals God’s judgments by which we will all be tried, and it testifies of Jesus and His work of redemption. Therefore, Scripture is and shall remain to the end of the world, our final authority in all faith, practice, and conduct, and it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.
Psalms 1:2; 19:7-10; 119:105, 160; Proverbs 30:5-6; Matthew 1:22; Mark 12:36; Luke 1:1-4; 24:44-46; John 5:39; 14:25-26; 16:12-15; 17:17; Ephesians 2:20; 3:5; I Thessalonians 2:13; I Timothy 5:18; II Timothy 3:15-17; 4:2; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 1:1-2; 2:1-4; 6:18; II Peter 1:19-21; 3:2, 15-18.
God
We believe in one eternal and self-existing God who is unchangeable in His perfections, purposes, and promises. He is the Creator of all that exists and is sovereign over all His creation. God has limitless knowledge of all things past, present, and future. God is holy, just, loving, good, all-knowing, all-wise, all-powerful, and infinite. This one God eternally exists as three Persons: Father, Son, and Spirit. Each Trinitarian Person has always existed and is fully God – equal in essence, yet distinct Persons executing harmonious roles. The attributes of God apply equally to the Father, Son, and Spirit. To God alone is due all glory, honor, and praise.
Genesis 18:14; Exodus 34:5-7; Numbers 23:19; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:4; 33:27; I Kings 8:27; II Chronicles 20:6; Job 12:13; 23:13; 28:24; 33:4; Psalm 34:8; 90:2; 135:6; 139:1-10; 145:8-9; 147:5; Proverbs 9:10; 15:3; 21:1; Isaiah 6:1-3; 14:24; 40:28; 42:8-9; 43:10; 45:5-6; 46:9-11; 48:16; 57:15; Jeremiah 9:24; 10:10-12; 23:23-24; 32:17; Ezekiel 39:7; Daniel 4:34-35; Malachi 3:6; Matthew 3:16-17; 10:29-30; 28:19; Mark 12:29, 32; Luke 5:20-25; John 5:26; 8:56-59; 10:30-33; 14:25-26; 15:26; Acts 5:3-4; 17:24-25; Romans 1:19-20; 8:38-39; 11:33-34; 16:27; I Corinthians 8:4-6; 15:24-28; II Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 1:11, 17; 3:20-21; Philippians 4:20; I Timothy 6:15-16; Hebrews 1:8-9; 9:14; 11:6; James 1:17; II Peter 1:1; I John 3:20; 4:16; Revelation 4:11.
Jesus
We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. Jesus was sent by the Father to redeem people from their sin and rule them righteously. Jesus became human through the virgin birth while simultaneously keeping all His divine essence. Jesus lived a sinless life, and He voluntarily died on a cross as the sacrificial Lamb of God to pay the debt of sin for all who repent and trust in Him. Jesus rose bodily from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father. His triumph over death through His resurrection assures victory and a future resurrection for those in Him. Jesus eternally lives as the Prophet, Priest, and King of all the redeemed. Jesus will return in power and glory to judge the world in righteousness and fulfill God’s redemptive plan. His kingdom on Earth will have no end.
Psalm 2:6-8; 110:1-4; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; 53:3-12; Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:18-23; 16:16-17; 25:31-46; Mark 10:45; Luke 1:31-35; 5:20-24; 24:36-43; John 1:1-14, 29; 5:18; 8:42, 56-59; 10:30-33; 20:28-31; Acts 1:9-11; 20:28; Romans 4:22-25; 8:34; I Corinthians 15:1-8, 19-23, 54-57; II Corinthians 4:14; 5:21; Galatians 4:4-5; Philippians 2:5-8; Colossians 1:15-19; 2:9; I Timothy 2:5; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:1-8; 2:17-18; 4:14-15; 7:21-27; 9:28; 10:12-13; I Peter 2:21-24; I John 3:5; 4:10; Revelation 2:8; 11:15.
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the Helper of the church. The Holy Spirit is not a force but a Person within the Trinity, possessing all the attributes of personality, including intellect, emotions, and will. The Holy Spirit regenerates and permanently indwells all true Christians, bearing witness that we are children of God. The Spirit illuminates His Word for Christians to understand and follow. He comforts, convicts, guides, and empowers Christians for godly living and fruitful service. The Holy Spirit distributes spiritual gifts to each Christian by which we serve God through His church. Christians are instructed to follow the leading of the Spirit so that we will increasingly be transformed into the image of Christ.
Psalm 139:7-10; Isaiah 63:10; Ezekiel 36:27; John 14:16-17; 16:7; Acts 1:8; 5:3-4; 9:31; 15:28; Romans 8:3-16, 27; I Corinthians 2:10-14; 3:16; 6:19; 12:1-28; II Corinthians 1:22; 3:18; Galatians 4:6; 5:16, 22-23; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; I Thessalonians 5:19; Hebrews 9:14; 1 John 4:13.
Creation
We believe all things were created by God according to the Genesis account in Scripture. Time, space, matter, light, life, language, DNA, cells, molecules, natural laws, moral law, and all contained within these give consistent evidence to a starting point and intelligent source. Scientific observation and experimentation have helped us further see the awesomeness of God and His creation. God’s divine revelation in Scripture accurately records for us what we could not otherwise know—our beginning. God is the source of all creation, and He has a complete plan for all He has made.
Genesis 1:1-2:25; Exodus 20:11; Nehemiah 9:6; Job 33:4; Psalm 19:1-4; 33:6; 90:2; Isaiah 43:7; Malachi 2:10; John 1:1-14; Acts 4:24; Romans 1:18-25; 4:17; Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2; 11:3; Revelation 4:11.
Satan and Demons
We believe that Satan is a created being, an anointed cherub. Iniquity was found in him, being lifted up in pride; he rebelled against God, and was cast out from his position in Heaven. Satan tempts man and is a murderer, the father of lies, and the accuser of the brethren. Satan is to be resisted by us, but not feared. We look forward to the day when he will be judged by Christ, trampled under our feet, and cast into the lake of fire. We believe that Satan was followed in his rebellion by a group of angels. These fallen angels (known as demons or devils) make up the principalities, the powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places against which we wrestle. The power of God that is in us is greater than the powers of darkness. Jesus demonstrated this by casting out devils with His word, and, as Jesus said, with the finger of God.
Genesis 3:1-15; Isaiah 14:12-19; Ezekiel 28:14-16; Matthew 8:16; 10:28; 25:41; Mark 1:13; Luke 10:18; 11:20; John 8:44; Romans 16:20; Ephesians 6:12; James 4:7-8; I Peter 5:8-9; II Peter 2:4; I John 4:4; Revelation 12:10; 19:15; 20:10.
Humans and Sin
We believe that humans were created in the image of God, as the pinnacle of God’s creation, and that their soul will last forever. Men and women were created with equal value and with complimentary roles and qualities. God created humans to find fulfillment, purpose, and pleasure in God’s Person and plan. God created Adam and Eve as the first humans, and He gave them dominion to rule over the Earth in relationship and obedience to Him. These first humans rebelled against God’s clear command and, thereby, inherited the curse of sin and death. Adam’s sin-corrupted nature has been transmitted to all men of all ages such that all humans, aside from Jesus, have sinned. Because of this, all humans are sinners both by nature and by choice. Were it not for God’s gracious salvation found in Christ alone, all humans would be condemned to eternal separation from God in the lake of fire. Humans can only find an eternal, abiding relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Genesis 1:26; 2:7; 3:1-19; 9:6; Ecclesiastes 3:21; 12:7; Isaiah 43:7; 53:6; Jeremiah 17:9; Ezekiel 18:1-20; Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:46; Romans 3:23; 5:12; 6:23; 14:12; Colossians 1:16; Ephesians 2:10; I Corinthians 11:7; Revelation 4:11; 20:14-15.
Salvation
We believe God’s salvation of underserving man from sin and death is a glorious act of divine grace and a work of complete eternal redemption. God has chosen to offer this gift freely to all who respond to the Gospel and the Holy Spirit with repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ alone. The Gospel is the good news of the substitutionary death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the complete and satisfactory payment for our sins. Mankind, dead in his trespasses and sins, neither has anything to offer nor has any contribution to give to earn or obtain his eternal salvation. This work of salvation is accomplished by God alone through His atonement and perfect work of regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification in the life of the believer. Good works, obedience to Christ, and chastisement from God, while in no serve as a way a means of salvation, will be evidences of God working in the life of a believer until the day of their final redemption with Christ.
The following are brief definitions of some of the words used in this statement:
1) Atonement for our sin was paid when Jesus died and was blamed as the full substitute for our sin on the cross. He was buried, and rose again in our place.
2) Repentance and faith are two inseparable responses to the Gospel as one, depraved in sin, sees himself hopelessly guilty before God and turns and trusts with surrender to the only answer to his sinfulness—Jesus Christ crucified and risen at the right hand of the Father.
3) Regeneration, or the new birth, is God’s work of grace that makes the believer a new creature in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.
4) Justification is God’s declaration of Christ’s own righteousness on the account of the believer.
5) Sanctification is God setting apart and conforming the believer to Christ’s image and for His purpose through an internal transformative work of the Holy Spirit.
6) Glorification is when God frees the believer from the presence of sin, gives him a resurrected body, and brings him into eternal fellowship with Him.
Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 49:1-13; 50:6; 52:14-53:12; Matthew 1:21; 4:17; 16:21-26; 27:22-28:6; Luke 1:68-69; 2:28-32; John 1:11-14,29; 3:3-21,36; 5:24; 10:9,28-29; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 15:11; 16:30-31; 17:30-31; 20:32; Romans 1:16-18; 2:4; 3:23-25; 4:3; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13; 13:11-14; 1 Corinthians 1:18,30; 6:19-20; 15:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Galatians 2:20; 3:13; 5:22-25; 6:15; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-22; 4:11-16; Philippians 2:12-13; Colossians 1:9-22; 3:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Timothy 1:12; Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7; Hebrews 2:1-3; 5:8-9; 9:24-28; 11:1-12:8,14; James 2:14-26; 1 Peter 1:2-23; 1 John 1:6-2:11; Revelation 3:20; 21:1-22:5.
Eternal Security
We believe that the salvation God authored for us is an eternal salvation. Jesus never casts anyone out of His family. Believers can never perish, shall not come into condemnation, but are already passed from death unto life. The saved are kept by the power of God, nothing can separate them from His love, and no one can pluck them out of His hand. Every one who believes on Him is born of God and whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world. These overcomers are then promised that their names will not be blotted out of the book of life. The saved are given the Holy Spirit as the earnest of their salvation and are sealed by Him unto the day of redemption.
John 5:24; 6:37; 10:27-29; Romans 8:31-39; II Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 4:30; Hebrews 5:9; I Peter 1:3-5; I John 5:1-5; Jude 1:24; Revelation 3:5.
Sanctification
We believe that the redeemed in Jesus Christ are sanctified, or set apart, positionally by the finished work of Jesus and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation and that they are progressively sanctified by God’s grace, Spirit, and Word so that believers may bring glory to God in their lives. God promises to complete His work of sanctification in the believer until the return of Jesus Christ. As such, believers are both commanded and enabled by God to separate themselves in worship and service for Him from sin and lustful living, from fellowship with unrighteousness, from communion with darkness, and from false religious worship. While Scripture instructs us to be kind, loving, and forgiving, it also admonishes us to further withdraw ourselves from every brother that walks contrary to the Gospel. While living in this world, we recognize that friendship with ungodliness is in opposition with God and that God chastens those whom He loves. God’s work of sanctification in the life of obedient followers will make them lovers of other believers, keepers of God’s commands, preservers of truth, and light in this dark world so that others see God’s work in them and glorify God.
Matthew 5:1-16; John 17:17; Romans 8:9-13; 15:7; I Corinthians 1:31; 5:9-13; 6:11; 10:31; II Corinthians 3:17-18; 6:14-18; Ephesians 4:32; 5:26; I Thessalonians 4:3; 5:23-24; II Thessalonians 3:6; II Timothy 2:21; Hebrews 10:10-14; 12:5-11; 13:12; James 4:4; I John; Revelation 3:19.
Love
We believe that we should demonstrate love for others, not only toward fellow believers, but also toward both those who are not believers, those who oppose us, and those who engage in sinful actions. We are to deal with those who oppose us graciously, gently, patiently, and humbly. God forbids the stirring up of strife, the taking of revenge, or the threat or the use of violence as a means of resolving personal conflict (other than self-defense) or obtaining personal justice. Although God commands us to abhor sinful actions, we are to love and pray for any person who engages in such sinful actions.
Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 5:44-48; Luke 6:31; John 13:34-35; Romans 12:9-10; 17-21; 13:8-10; Philippians 2:2-4; 2 Timothy 2:24-26; Titus 3:2; 1 John 3:17-18.
Church
Purpose
We believe that all true believers are united by the Holy Spirit into the Church, which is the Body of Christ, and that the church should be preparing herself and looking forward to the day she is presented in purity to Jesus as the Bride of the Lamb. We believe that this Church is presently manifested on Earth through local churches which are called-out assemblies of believers associated and disciplined by covenant of faith and in fellowship of the Gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws in accordance with His Word; and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word. We believe the true mission of the church is for the edification, perfection, exhortation, and comfort of its members in spiritual matters and the faithful witnessing of Christ to all people and nations.
Order
We believe the New Testament church was founded by Jesus. He is the Cornerstone, Foundation, Head, and Chief Shepherd of every true church. Each local church is made up of baptized believers, added and gifted by God for service within the church. Those members who Scripturally qualify and are called of God to lead the church are called elders, overseers, or Pastors. God has delegated to these leaders authority as under-shepherds under Christ to lead the local church in much the same way a man would lovingly lead his own house. They also carry a heavy weight of accountability before God and the church to know the state of the flock and watch for their souls. All these men who lead a church are merely human, but their office should be magnified. Those who lead well, especially in teaching, should be counted worthy of financial support, they should be followed and obeyed as they follow Christ, and they should be esteemed very highly in love for their work’s sake. Pastors may also appoint Deacons, or staff, to help administrate operations of the church and thus allow the Pastors to give themselves more fully to prayer, ministry of the Word, shepherding, and oversight. While churches are gifted by God with leaders, all its members are responsible for the maintaining of sound doctrine, faithful stewardship, and discipline of its members.
Mission
We believe just as disciples should multiply by teaching the Gospel, each church should multiply by sending out faithful disciples. The greatest mission of the church is to go and make disciples of all nations. It is our desire to teach those who do receive the gospel all the things that God has commanded us, equipping them to become witnesses themselves so the number of believers can multiply. To these ministries of reconciliation and discipleship we willingly commit our lives.
Autonomy
We believe that the local church has the absolute right of self-government free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations. Local churches can strive together in prayer, contending for the faith, and furtherance of the gospel so long as they preserve and respect one another’s autonomy in faith and practice.
Matthew 7:13-14; 16:18; 18:15-17; 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47-48; John 20:21-22; Acts 1:8; 2:41-47; 6:1-7; 9:31; Romans 11:13; 15:30-32; I Corinthians 3:11; 4:16; 5-6; 9:16-17; 11:1; II Corinthians 5:18-21; 8:1-6; 11:2; 16-24; Ephesians 5:23-32; I Thessalonians 5:13; I Timothy 1:3-4; 2:1-6:2; II Timothy 1:6-11; 2; 4:1-5; Titus 1:5-9; 2; Hebrews 13:7, 17; James 5:14; I Peter 2:6; 5:1-4; II Peter 3:9; I John 2:2; Revelation 1:9-3:22; 19:6-8; 21:2, 9; 22:17.
Baptism
We believe that baptism is a step of obedience to fulfill righteousness and to show forth in a like figure our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, through Whom we died to sin and rose to a new life. Biblical baptism is by immersion as it pictures death, burial, and resurrection. We baptize believers in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Following the biblical pattern, we baptize each who desires to display their faith and commitment to Christ by baptism after he or she makes a profession of faith and demonstrates their understanding of salvation and baptism. This profession is the only biblical prerequisite to baptism. We hold that only one scriptural baptism is necessary in the life of any believer and that baptism is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership.
Matthew 3:15-16; 28:18-20 Romans 6:3-10; Acts 2:41; 8:36-38.
Lord’s Supper
We believe that the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper was given to the church as a memorial of Christ’s broken body and shed blood and to help us look forward to His return. Unleavened bread represents His sinless body and the fruit of the vine represents his sinless blood. Scripture admonishes each believer to examine himself when partaking of the Lord’s Supper and for the church to practice this ordinance in unity and sobriety. This is a time for Christians to reflect on Christ, repent of sin, release others through forgiveness, and renew their commitment to Christ. No instructions were given as to how often the Lord’s Supper is to be observed, but that as often as we observe it we do so to show forth the Lord’s death until He comes.
Matthew 26:26-29; I Corinthians 5:8; 11:17-34; II Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 7:26; I Peter 1:18-19; 2:21-24; I John 3:5.
Giving
We believe that every Christian, as a steward of that portion of God’s wealth entrusted to him, deepens his love for God and the things of God through willful giving of financial offerings and alms to the Lord. Christians are instructed to give cheerfully, not of necessity, to the support of the church, the relief of those in need, and the spread of the Gospel. While the various tithes and offerings in the Old Testament are not instructed as commands in the New Testament, we believe the principles of giving our first-fruits to the Lord, being owned by the Lord, and investing our treasure and heart into the kingdom of God will lead believers to faithfully and regularly give to the Lord through their church for the work of Christ. While we understand that a Christian legally relinquishes all rights to direct the use of his giving once the gift has been made, we further believe it is important for each believer to give attention and accountability to the financial stewardship of the church through the reading of financial reports and involvement of members’ meetings.
Genesis 14:18-20; Leviticus 27:30; Proverbs 3:9-10; Malachi 3:7-12; Matthew 6:1-4; 19-34; Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:42; Acts 4:32-37; I Corinthians 16:1-2; II Corinthians 8:1-14; 9:1-15; Galatians 6:6; Ephesians 4:28; I Timothy 5:17-18; I John 3:17.
Return of Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ who first came to His own is coming back for His own. He has gone to prepare a place for us and shall return to receive us unto Himself for all eternity. In that moment, this corruptible will put on incorruption, this mortal will put on immortality, and we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is, so shall we ever be with the Lord. We look forward not only to our resurrection with Him but also to our ruling and reigning with Christ in His Millennial Kingdom. We believe that we should be preparing for the time when Jesus Christ will come again and make all things new. We believe God will fulfill the future events of the Rapture, Tribulation, Judgment Seat of Christ, Marriage Supper of the Lamb, Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ, Great White Throne Judgment, and the New Heaven and New Earth.
Matthew 24-25; John 1:10-12; 14:1-3; Acts 1:11; Romans 14:10-12; I Corinthians 3:11-15; 6:1-3; 15:52-54; II Corinthians 5:10; I Thessalonians 4:13-17; 2 Peter 3:10; I John 3:2; Jude 1:14; Revelation 5:10; 7:14; 6-22.
Eternity
We believe that everyone will be resurrected into eternity: the saved to eternal life with Christ and the lost to eternal damnation and separation from God. The Scriptures tell us that, for the saved, “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” and that, for the unsaved, the dead are in hell until death and hell are cast into the lake of fire.
Isaiah 66:22-24; Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:46; Acts 24:15; Revelation 20:12-15; 21:8.
Life
We believe God Himself breathed life into the first human being, and since then, He has desired for each of us to experience the abundant life of knowing Him. This abundant life is found in Jesus Christ. We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. We believe that the direct taking of an innocent human life is a moral evil, regardless of the intention. Life is a gift of God and must be respected from conception until natural death, as God alone is the giver and taker of life. Thus, we believe that an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering (i.e., euthanasia) constitutes a murder contrary to the will of God. Discontinuing medical procedures that are extraordinary or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be a legitimate refusal of over-zealous treatment.
Exodus 20:13; 23:7; Job 3:16; Psalm 51:5; 139:14-16; Isaiah 44:24; Jeremiah 1:5; 20:15-18; Matthew 5:21; Luke 1:44; John 17:3; Acts 17:28; I John 2:25; 5:11; 5:20 49:1, 5.
Marriage & Family
We believe that God has ordained the marriage of one man and one woman as the foundational institution of human society. We believe that men and women are equal in position and value before God and one another and that God has ordained distinct and complimentary roles for men and women. The husband is to lead and love his wife as Christ does the church. The husband is to listen to and learn his wife, so they can enjoy companionship together. The wife is to follow the Scriptural leadership of her husband in the same way the church submits to the headship of Christ. Children are a heritage from the Lord. Parents are responsible for loving, providing for, and teaching their children spiritual and moral values. Parents are to lead and develop them through consistent lifestyle example and appropriate discipline with nurture and admonition and without wrath. Children are to obey their parents while in the home and to honor them as adults.
Genesis 1:26-28; 2:22-25; Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Psalm 127:3-5; Proverbs 19:18; 22:15; 23:13-14; Mark 10:6-12; I Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians 5:21-6:4; Colossians 3:18-21; Hebrews 13:4; I Peter 3:1-7.
Human Sexuality
We believe that God created only two genders, male and female, and that confusion and disorder is caused when there is an unnatural attempt to distinguish otherwise. We also believe that sexual intimacy is an honorable gift from God as a part of His plan for a husband and wife to be in marital unity spiritually, emotionally, and physically. The only scriptural marriage is the joining of one man and one woman. God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a scriptural marriage. We believe that all forms of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, pedophilia, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s design for sex and that those in bondage of such can repent and be rescued through the loving salvation and liberty found in Christ.
Genesis 2:24; 19:5-13; 26:8-9; 34:1-31; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:18-32; 2:4; 3:19-31; 7:2; I Corinthians 5:1; 6:9; 7:10; Galatians 5:1, 13-26; 6:1; Ephesians 5:22-23; I Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4; 1 John 1:9; 4:10.
Civil Government
We believe that God has ordained and created all human authority consisting of three basic institutions: 1) marriage, 2) the church, and 3) the state. God has given each institution specific Biblical responsibilities and balanced those responsibilities with the understanding that no institution has the right to infringe upon the other. Marriage, the church, and the state are equal and sovereign in their respective Biblically assigned spheres of responsibility under God. We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the interests and good order of human society; that leaders are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed, except in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the only Lord of the conscience.
Romans 13:1-7; Ephesians 5:22-24; I Timothy 2:1-3; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 2:13-14.
Lawsuits & Civil Authorities
We believe the church possesses resources necessary, in many cases, to resolve non-criminal, personal disputes between other members and their church. Scriptures give a rebuke to Christians who took their personal matters to open courts when they should have been able to address those matters themselves with the help of discerning members of their church. Christians will rule and judge the world with Christ, so we should be able to judge justly among our own selves now. We believe all abuse and criminal matters must be brought to civil authorities promptly. All reports and accusations of such must be addressed by the church with responsiveness, sobriety, humility, love, honesty, and righteousness toward all involved parties. Victims especially, are to be loved, respected, and protected.
I Corinthians 6:1-8; Ephesians 4:31-32.
The Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our faith. The Bible itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe. We do believe, however, that the foregoing Statement of Faith accurately represents the teaching of the Bible and, therefore, is binding upon all members. All teaching and literature used in the church shall be in complete agreement with the Statement of Faith.
