1. THE BIBLE. The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is the record of God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. (Matt. 5:7-18; 2 Tim. 3:15-17; 2 Pet. 1:19-21)
2. THE NATURE OF GOD. There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. To Him, we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being. (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; John. 1:1-3; 4:24; Acts 5:3-4)
3. MAN AND SIN. Mankind was created by the special act of God, in His image, and is the crowning work of His creation. In the beginning, mankind was innocent of sin. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. (Gen. 2:4-7; Acts 17:26- 31; Rom. 1:19-32; 3:10-18, 23; Eph. 2:1-22)
4. SALVATION. Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, sanctification, and glorification. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual perfection through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed. (John. 1:11-14; 3:3-21, 36; Acts 4:12, 16:30-31; Rom. 6:1-14; Phil. 2:12-13; Rev. 21:1 to 22:5)
5. THE CHURCH. A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ, committed to His teachings, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. (Matt. 16:15-19; 18:15-20; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:8-11, 21; 5:22-32; 1 Pet. 5:1-4)
6. THE ORDINANCES. Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming. (Mark 14:22-26; Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; Rom. 6:3-5; 1 Cor. 10:16, 21; 11:23-29)
7. LAST THINGS. God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised, and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord. (Mark 8:38, 9:42-49; John 14:1-4; Acts 1:11; 1 Thess. 4:14-18; 5:1 ff.; Rev. 20:11- 22:17)
8. EVANGELISM AND MISSIONS. It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. (Matt. 28:18- 20; Acts 1:8; Rom. 10:13-15)
9. GENDER: We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary sexes together reflect the image and nature of God Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person. (Gen. 1:26-27).
10. MARRIAGE AND SEXUALITY: We believe God’s plan for human sexuality is to be expressed only within the context of marriage, that God created man and woman as unique biological persons made to complete each other. God instituted monogamous marriage between males and females as the foundation of the family and the basic structure of human society. For this reason, we believe that marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female. Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5-6; Mark 10:6-9; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9.
11. REDEMPTION AND RESTORATION: We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Matthew 18:15-17. We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity. Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with scripture nor the doctrines of the church.
For a more detailed expression of our beliefs see The Baptist Faith and Message.
