We are a community of faith and loving service that engages culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ so that lives will be transformed and our communities renewed for the glory of God.
(Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 10:3-6; Prov. 11:30)
Church Covenant
- Support this church by our regular, faithful attendance, prayers, and tithes and offerings;
- Participate in the ministry of this church the through exercise of our respective spiritual gifts;
- Maintain the reputation of the church by godly living, both in public and private;
- Extend the Kingdom through personal, intentional witnessing and the support of missionary work at home and around the world;
- Watch over one another in Christian love so as to keep one another from falling into sin and reclaiming those who do fall through, humble, loving correction as taught in the Scriptures;
- Place our membership in another church of like faith and order if God should move or call us from this community
Articles of Faith
While we affirm and support in principle the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention, we have chosen to set forth our own summary articles of faith below.
Scriptures
The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the divinely inspired Word of God and are alone the fully sufficient, authoritative rule for saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. They are inerrant in their original writings, infallible, and God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21)
The Trinity
There is one God who exists eternally as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These persons are distinct in personality but share the same essence being co-eternal in being and nature and co-equal in power and glory (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; John 1:1-2,14,18; 8:58; 10:30; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Hebrews 10:16)
God the Father
God the Father is a personal being, perfect in wisdom, holiness, power and love. He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to ransom sinful men and women by satisfying the wrath and justice of God on the Cross (Romans 3:21-26). His mission is to magnify the riches of his mercy by redeeming the brokenness and sin of all who trust in Jesus Christ and in renewing the whole world (Romans 9:22-24).
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ the only Son of God and the second person of the Trinity eternally existed with the Father and served as the agent of creation. The Father sent the Son who who was born of the virgin Mary and became man without ceasing to be God(John 1:1-5; Luke 1:35). He came to reveal God and redeem sinful man dying on the cross as our vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice. He arose bodily from the dead leaving an empty tomb thereby securing our forgiveness and justification (Romans 3:24; 1 Peter 2:24; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:3–5). He ascended into heaven where he sits exalted at the right hand of the Father until he returns to judge the living and the dead (1 Peter 4:5; Romans 14:9; 2 Timothy 4:1).
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He is the active agent in regeneration and sanctification. He baptizes believers into Christ and indwells, empowers, equips believers with gifts and seals them unto the day of redemption (John 16:8–11; 2 Corinthians 3:6; 1 Corinthians 12:12–14; Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13-14; 5:18).
Creation
The universe, the world, and all they contain were created by the supernatural work of God. God created the world for His own purpose and glory, and, in the beginning, it was very good and God was pleased with what He had made (Genesis 1:1-2, 25; Acts 17:24).
Humanity and the Fall
God originally created man in His own image, and free from sin; but, through Adam's sin the entire race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God. Man is totally depraved and unable of himself to remedy his lost condition (Genesis 1:26, 27; Romans 3:22, 23; 5:12; Ephesians 2:1–3, 12).
Salvation
Salvation is the gift of God brought to man through the substitutionary, vicarious death of Jesus Christ on the Cross for forgiveness of sins. It the work of God's grace received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone apart from any works which we ourselves perform. Its attending blessings are justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance and glorification (Romans 3:21-31; 5:1-4; 6:19; 8:30; 15:4-5; Ephesians 1:5; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 6:11; 1Thessalonians 4:3-7; Philippians 2:12-13; 1 Timothy 6:11; Hebrews 12:14)
Repentance and Faith
The biblical response to the gospel message is repentance from sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 20:21; 26:20). Repentance is a work of God's grace in which the Holy Spirit convicts a person of the depth of their sin and leads them to turn humbly turn from it to God. Saving faith is belief in the truthfullness of all that God has revealed in His Word; accepting and resting upon Him alone for justification and eternal life. It is brought about by the work of the Holy Spirit on the heart (Ephesians 2:1-10).
Eternal Security and Assurance for believers
All the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever (John 6:37–40; 10:27–30; Romans 8:1, 38, 39; 1 Corinthians 1:4–8; 1 Peter 1:5). It is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word, which clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion for the flesh (Romans 13:13, 14; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:11–15).
The Church
The church, which is the body and espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons (Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:25–27; 1 Corinthians 12:12–14; 2 Corinthians 11:2). The establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures (Acts 14:27; 18:22; 20:17; 1 Timothy 3:1–3; Titus 1:5–11). We believe in the autonomy of the local churches, free of any external authority and control (Acts 13:1–4; 15:19–31; 20:28; Romans 16:1,4; 1 Corinthians 3:9, 16; 1 Corinthians 5:4–7, 13; 1 Peter 5:1–4). The Lord Jesus Christ is the only head of the church (Ephesians 1:22) and it's scriptural officers are Elders and Deacons (1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9).
Baptism
Baptism is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus, obligatory upon every believer, wherein he is immersed in water in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, as a sign of his fellowship with the death and resurrection of Christ, of remission of sins, and of his giving himself up to God, to live and walk in newness of life (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41; Acts 18:8).
The Lord's Supper
The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of Jesus Christ, to be administered with bread and wine, and to be observed by His churches till the end of the world. It is in no sense a sacrifice, but is designed to commemorate His death, to confirm the faith of Christians, and to be a bond, pledge, and renewal of their communion with Him, and of their church fellowship(Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26).
