Articles of Faith

Articles of Faith

We believe that the Scripture of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God; and the only rule of faith and practice.

We believe that the Scriptures teach that there is but one living and true God; and there are three persons in this one God - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and this Triune God is the only object of religious worship and adoration, and that all worship paid anything less in the name of God is idolatry and abomination in His sight.

III

We believe that God created man good and happy; that he sinned and fell from that condition; that by the fall he lost his original righteousness and became sinful and depraved; and as a natural consequence, that his posterity by ordinary generations are involved in all the consequences of his fall.

We believe that man, by nature, has no power to recover himself from his lost and ruined condition and, unless God Himself had provided a way of Salvation, would have been ruined and miserable forever, because all have sinned.

We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly by grace, through the mediatorial office of the Son of God, who took upon Himself our nature, yet without sin, honored law by His personal obedience and made atonement for our sins by His Death; being risen from the dead, is now enthroned in heaven, and uniting in his wonderful person the tenderest sympathies with Divine perfection, in every way qualified to be a suitable, compassionate and all-sufficient Savior.

We believe that fallen man has nothing, and can do nothing, of himself, to recommend him to the favorable notice of the Divine Being, and that all his hopes of pardon, justification, redemption, and sanctification are derived alone from the merits of Christ.

VII

We believe that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, is the only Mediator between God and man; that He first became our surety and in the fullness of time our sacrifice, and that the efficacious plea He makes before the throne in our behalf is built upon His own all-adorning sacrifice.

VIII

We believe the Holy Spirit - the third person in the Trinity - is the great agent in convincing man of his lost and condemned condition, and in making the Gospel plain and acceptable.

We believe that all who are sanctified by the Spirit are freely justified by the righteousness of Christ, which comes to all that believe.

We believe that all who are called to be saints through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth shall never finally be lost.

We believe that Christian churches are to be formed of believers in Christ who give evidence of a change of heart, and have been properly baptized.

XII

We believe that the government of the church is not left in the hands of any one man, or number of men, distinct from the body, but that it is left with the whole church.

XIII

We believe that the first day of the week, called the Lord's Day, is sanctified or set apart for the public worship of God, and that it is the duty of Christians to abstain from all unnecessary visiting, trifling conversation, and labor, except so much as is devoted to works of necessity and mercy.

XIV

We believe that God has appointed the preaching of the Gospel for the edification of His church and the advancement of His kingdom; that it is the duty of church members to contribute to the support of the ministry as God in His providence may give them ability.

We believe that God calls men, by His Spirit, to preach the Gospel, and that it is the duty of the individual thus called to study to show himself approved unto God a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

XVI

We believe that Jesus Christ has appointed two positive institutions or ordinances to be observed in His church - baptism and the Lord's Supper; that baptism is immersion in water, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and believers only are capable of rightfully receiving the ordinances, that baptism precedes the Lord's Supper and none but ordained ministers have any right to administer them.

XVII

We believe that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust; that the just will rise to everlasting life and the unjust to everlasting shame and contempt.

XVIII

We believe that the Gospel with all its obligations, privileges, and blessings, has been committed to the church of whom it is especially enjoined to make known to every creature, while a risen and ascended Savior pledges His presence to the end of the world.

Doctrinal Statement

We believe that love one for another as Jesus loves the believer manifests our discipleship, proves our love for God and symbolizes our authority as New Testament churches. Love is therefore the great commandment of the LORD Jesus Christ upon which all others are dependent. (Matt. 22:35-40; John 13:34,35; John 15:12; 1 John 4:7-21; 1 John 5:1-3; Rev. 2:4, 5)

We believe in the infallible, verbal inspiration of the whole Bible and that the Bible is the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice. (Psalm 119:160; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17)

We believe in the personal triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in divine perfection. (Matt. 28:19)

We believe in the Genesis account of Creation. (Gen. 1; 2)

We believe that Satan is a fallen angel, the archenemy of God and man, the unholy god of this world, and that his destiny is the eternal lake of fire. (Isa. 14:12-15; Ezek. 28:11-19; Matt. 25:41; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 6:10-17; Rev. 20:10)

We believe in the virgin birth and sinless humanity of Jesus Christ. (Matt. 1:18-20; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22)

We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ. (John 10:30; John 1:1, 14; 2 Cor. 5:19)

We believe the Holy Spirit is the divine Administrator for Jesus Christ in His churches. (Luke 24:49; John 14:16, 17; Acts 1:4, 5, 8; Acts 2:1-4)

We believe that Man was created in the image of God and lived in innocency until he fell by voluntary transgression from his sinless state, the result being that all mankind are sinners. (Gen. 1:26; Gen. 3:6-24; Rom. 5:12, 19)

We believe that the suffering and death of Jesus Christ was substitutionary for all mankind and is efficacious only to those who believe. (Isa. 53:6; Heb. 2:9; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18; 2 Peter 3:9;
1 John 2:2)

We believe in the bodily resurrection and ascension of Christ and the bodily resurrection of His saints. (Mat. 28:1-7; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Cor. 15:42-58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18)

We believe that the depraved sinner is saved wholly by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and the requisites to regeneration are repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 13:3-5; John 3:16-18; Acts 20:21; Rom. 6:23, Eph. 2:8, 9) and that the Holy Spirit convicts sinners, regenerates, seals, secures, and indwells every believer. (John 3:6; John 16:8, 9; Rom. 8:9-11; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20; Eph 4:30; Titus 3:5)

We believe that all who trust Jesus Christ for salvation are eternally secure in Him and shall not perish. (John 3:36; John 5:24; John 10:27-30; Rom. 8:35-39; Heb. 10:39; 1 Peter 1:5)

We believe that God deals with believers as His children, that He chastises the disobedient and that He rewards the obedient. (Matt. 16:27; Matt. 25:14-23; John 1:12; Heb. 12:5-11; 2 John 8; Rev. 22:12)

We believe that Jesus Christ established His church during His ministry on earth and that it is always a local, visible assembly of scripturally baptized believers in covenant relationship to carry out the Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ, and each church is an independent, self-governing body, and no other ecclesiastical body may exercise authority over it. We believe that Jesus Christ gave the Great Commission to the New Testament churches only, and that He promised the perpetuity of His churches. (Matt. 4:18-22; Matt. 16:18; Matt. 28:19, 20; Mark 1:14-20; John 1:35-51; Eph. 3:21)

We believe that there are two pictorial ordinances in the Lord's churches: Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Scriptural baptism is the immersion of penitent believers in water, administered by the authority of a New Testament church in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Lord's Supper is a memorial ordinance, restricted to the members of the church observing the ordinance or members of the same faith and order. (Matt. 28:19, 20; Acts 8:12, 38; Rom. 6:4; 1 Cor. 5:11-13; 1 Cor. 11:1, 2, 17-20, 26)

We believe that there are two divinely appointed offices in a church, pastors and deacons, to be filled by men whose qualifications are set forth in Titus and 1 Timothy.

We believe that all associations, fellowships, and committees are, and properly should be, servants of, and under control of the churches. (Matt. 20:25-28)

We believe in freedom of worship without interference from the government and affirm our belief in civil obedience, unless the laws and regulations of civil government run contrary to the Holy Scriptures. (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-15)

Church Covenant

Having been led, as we believe, by the Spirit of God, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, and on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, we do now in the presence of God, angels and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another, as one body in Christ.

We engage, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love; to strive for the advancement of this Church, in knowledge, holiness and comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the Church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the Gospel through all nations.

We also engage to maintain family and secret devotion; to religiously educate our children; to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances; to walk circumspectly in the world; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements and exemplary in our deportment; to avoid all tattling, backbiting, and excessive anger; to abstain from the sale and use of intoxicating drink as a beverage, and to be zealous in our efforts to advance the kingdom of our Savior.

We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember each other in prayer; to aid each other in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior, to secure it without delay.

We moreover engage that, when we remove from this place, we will as soon as possible unite with some other church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God's word.