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GOD
We believe that there is but one true and living God, He is Almighty,
Sovereign, Eternal, Unchanging, Inexpressibly Holy, Gracious, Merciful,
Infinite, Perfect and Just. God is Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent
and exists in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Being the Maker
and Ruler of all things He deserves all praise and glory forever.
THE SCRIPTURES
We believe that God's Greatness and Holiness are such that without His
aid man can neither understand God nor find the way to a right relationship
with Him. In His mercy, however, God has made Himself known. He has done
this partially through creation, but explicitly through the Old and New
Testaments of the Bible. We, therefore, accept all that was written in
the Bible as not merely containing, but being the inspired and infallible
Word of God and the final and sufficient authority in all matters of Christian
faith, doctrine and conduct and the true basis of Christian union.
THE TRINITY
We believe that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, of
one substance, power and eternity, God the Father, God the Son and God
the Holy Spirit. The Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding;
the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit eternally
proceeding from the Father and the Son. This doctrine of the Trinity is
the foundation of all our communion with God and dependence upon Him.
MAN THE SINNER
We believe that God created man, perfect in His own image, but being tempted
by the Devil, man, by his own free choice, disobeyed God and became a
sinner, guilty, and totally depraved before God. Man's whole nature is
now perverted by sin and his fellowship with God is broken, thereby incurring
physical, spiritual and eternal death.
JESUS THE SAVIOUR
We believe God alone can deal with man's sin and bring about a reconciliation
to Himself. To achieve this God became man in Jesus Christ. Jesus was
eternally existent with the Father in his preincarnate Glory. He was conceived
of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless, human life
and taught entirely without error. He suffered and died in the place of
sinners, bearing their sin, its guilt and punishment. By His death and
the shedding of His blood "He made one sacrifice for sin forever".
Thus He sets all believers free from the domination of the devil and corruption
of their own sinful nature and removes from them sin's lasting consequences.
SALVATION
We believe that Salvation is by the Grace of God. God, in His Grace, forgives
and reconciles to Himself all who turn to Him in true repentance and who
trust in Christ's atoning death. Salvation is by faith alone in the all-sufficient
sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. God imputes to all who believe the
righteousness of Christ Himself and adopts them as His own Children.
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was shown to be the Son of God by
His miracles and by His bodily Resurrection from the dead. He has ascended
in power and glory to the presence of God, where He now pleads on behalf
of those who call upon Him in truth.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that God, the Holy Spirit, must work in man before he can enter
into Salvation. He leads the sinner to an awareness of his sinfulness
and brings him to repentance and trust in Christ. He brings to birth in
him a new and eternal life. The Holy Spirit convicts and regenerates the
sinner and sanctifies, illuminates and comforts those who believe in Christ.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to develop in the believer's life the
fruits of love and holiness.
THE SECOND COMING
We believe in the personal, imminent, bodily and glorious return of the
Lord Jesus Christ; in the resurrection of the just and unjust; in the
eternal blessedness of the redeemed and in the judgement and conscious
eternal punishment of the wicked.
SATAN
We believe that Satan exists as an evil person, that he is the originator
of sin, the archenemy of God and man, the deceiver and enslaver of mankind
and is set for the ultimate damnation of every person. We believe that
Satan and his angels will be committed to the eternal lake of fire.
THE LORD'S DAY
We believe that the first day of the week is the Lord's Day and that,
in a special sense, it is the divinely appointed day of worship and spiritual
exercise. It should not be desecrated but should be kept holy in accordance
with the Word of God.
THE ONE CHURCH
We believe that all who have been redeemed with the precious blood of
Christ and upon whom God has bestowed His righteousness as a free gift,
belong to Christ. They alone are rightly called Christians. They alone
are members of the one universal and eternal Church of Christ.
THE LOCAL CHURCH
We believe that each local Church is a fellowship of believers, called
out from the world, separated unto the Lord Jesus, voluntarily associated
for the ministry of God's Word, the mutual edification of its members,
the propagation of the Gospel and the administration of the ordinances.
We believe it is an independent body, exercising its own divinely awarded
gifts, precepts and principles under the Lordship of Christ, the great
Head of the Church. The local Church has no need of, nor should acknowledge,
any other authority than His. We believe in the entire separation of Church
and State.
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