What We Believe

We hold the Christian faith which is common to all believers (Titus 1:4; Jude 3). Our faith is composed of the following beliefs concerning the Bible, God, Christ, the work of Christ, salvation, and the church:

The Bible

Our belief is based on the Holy Bible, which is the word of God written under His inspiration word by word (2 Tim. 3:16) and which contains the complete divine revelation.

God

God is uniquely one (Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:4b; Isa. 45:5a), yet a Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, who coexist simultaneously, from eternity to eternity, and are each fully God (Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14).

Christ

Eternally Christ is the only begotten Son in the Godhead (John 1:1, 18). In time He became a genuine human being through incarnation (John 1:14). He is like us in all respects, yet He is without sin (Heb. 4:15; 1 John 3:5; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 2:22). Christ is complete God and perfect man, possessing both the divine nature and the human nature.

The Work of Christ

In dying on the cross for our sins, Christ accomplished an eternal redemption for us (Rom. 3:24; Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:12) and brought us back to God (1 Pet. 3:18). After His resurrection He ascended bodily to the Father, who exalted Him to His right hand as Lord of all (Acts 5:31; 10:36). Today He is in glory as the ascended Lord and as the Son of Man (Acts 7:56), still human and always God. We eagerly await His return when He will come back as the Bridegroom for His bride, the church (John 3:29; Rev. 19:7), and as the King of kings to rule over all the nations (Rev. 11:15; 19:16). With all believers we share the blessed hope of being glorified by God (Rom. 5:2; Col. 1:27) and of dwelling with Him eternally, having Him as our full enjoyment while He has us as His eternal expression (Rev. 21:1—22:5).

Salvation

Every human being is constituted a sinner by birth and by action (Rom. 5:19, 12). To be saved from the righteous judgment of God, a person must repent to God and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38; Acts 16:31; 26:20; John 3:15-16) to be forgiven of his or her sins and to be redeemed, justified, and regenerated (Acts 10:43; Rom. 3:24; Acts 13:39; John 3:6). Through regeneration we become the children of God (John 1:12) and members of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27). It is our great privilege as co-laborers with God to preach this gospel to all peoples.

The Church

Finally, we believe that for the accomplishment of His purpose and to make known His multifarious wisdom, God produced the church (Eph. 3:10), which is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:24), composed of all persons irrespective of time and space who are believers in Christ. It is God’s intent that this mystical, universal Body be practically manifested on the earth in time and space as local churches, each of which encompasses all of the believers in a given city (Acts 2:44; 8:1).