GOD

We believe there is one living and true God, the self-existent, sovereign, transcendent, perfect, infinite and eternal Creator of the universe. He is revealed in the unity of the Godhead as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each having a distinct ministry in relation to His creation and His people.

1. God the Father is the supreme Ruler of the universe. He providentially directs the affairs of history according to the purposes of His grace.
   
2. God the Son is the Savior of the world. Born of the virgin Mary, He declared His deity among men, died on the cross as the only sacrifice for sin, arose bodily from the grave, and ascended back to the Father. He is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for believers until He returns to rapture them from the world.
   
3. God the Holy Spirit is the manifest presence of deity. He convicts, guides, comforts and teaches spiritual truths according to the written Word, permanently indwells believers, and gifts every believer at conversion for the purpose of ministry.
   

THE BIBLE

We believe the Bible, the complete writings of the Old and New Testaments, is the literal Word of God, verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit, inerrant as originally given by God, and infallible as the standard of our faith and practice.

MAN

We believe man was originally created in the image and likeness of God but became a sinful creature by personal rebellion against God and perpetuated a sinful nature to all his descendants. Man is universally sinful by nature and by choice. He is void of spiritual life and incapable of saving himself. He stands under the righteous judgment and wrath of God, condemned to a literal, eternal, and fiery hell.

SALVATION

We believe salvation is the free gift of God by grace through faith; it is totally the act of God apart from any work or merit of man.

1. We believe in God's sovereignty and in man's responsibility. God chooses all who come to Him, yet man must choose to come to God. These truths are entirely consistent in Scripture. In His sovereignty, God purposed, planned, and executed salvation in eternity. Man has the responsibility to receive this salvation or to reject it and suffer God's judgment.
2. We believe in the atonement for sins by the blood of Jesus Christ. This atonement is sufficient for the sins of all men yet efficient only for the sins of those who believe.
3. We believe in regeneration. Regeneration is the act of God by which the human spirit passes from spiritual death into life in Christ, born again with a new nature.
4. We believe in sanctification. God sets apart every believer as a saint at conversion. All are commanded to pursue practical holiness by applying the truths and principles of the Word of God and following the leadership of the Spirit of God.
5. We believe in eternal security. Because believers are kept by the power of God and not their own works, salvation can never be lost; thus all believers shall spend eternity in the glorious and heavenly presence of God.

THE SECOND COMING

We believe that Christ will literally return from Heaven in a personal, visible and glorious fashion. We believe that His return is the blessed hope, for which all believers should continually watch and pray, and that it signals the consummation of the age and the final disposition of all creation. We also believe that the time of His return is unrevealed but always imminent.

THE CHURCH

We believe that the New Testament church is a local congregation of born-again, baptized believers, united together to proclaim the good news and exalt the Lord Jesus. A New Testament church has Christ as its only Head and is free to govern itself apart from ecclesiastical interference.

1. We believe in the two Ordinances of the Local Church. Baptism is the immersion in water of a believer as a public profession of his personal faith in Christ. The Lord's Supper is the sharing of the bread and the cup by the assembled church as a memorial to the broken body and shed blood of Christ.
2. We believe in the eight Baptist Distinctives, as summarized by the following acrostic:

B - The BIBLE as our final authority. No insight, testimony, or decree of man can ever supersede the Bible.

A - The AUTONOMY of the local church. The local church is an independent body accountable to no one but our Lord; no person or organization can dictate what a local church can do.

P - The PRIESTHOOD of the believer. Every believer may enter the presence of God directly through only one Mediator, our great High Priest, Jesus Christ. There is no other human mediator.

T - TWO ordinances. An ordinance is a command of Christ, explained in the New Testament and practiced by the churches. Believer's baptism by immersion is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Communion (the Lord's Supper) is symbolic of Christ's body broken for our sins and His blood shed for our redemption.

I - The INDIVIDUAL'S soul liberty. We believe that every individual has the liberty to believe, right or wrong, as his own conscience dictates. While we seek to persuade men to choose the right, a person must not be forced into compliance.

S - Membership as exclusive for SAVED and baptized individuals. Membership is strictly a matter of obedience; it bestows no grace.

T - The TWO offices. The pastor and the deacons guide the church; there is no additional hierarchy of offices.

S - The SEPARATION of church and state. The church and state are two separate authorities ordained by God. One should not attempt to control the other.