We are fundamental, dispensational, premillenial, pretribulational evangelicals with a local church emphasis.
Fundamental: We believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God in its original manuscripts, and that all doctrines of the Church should be derived from it through a conservative, hermeneutical system of thought.
Dispensational: We believe God has different purposes he accomplishes through certain means of interaction with humanity during certain periods of time, called dispensations. For instance, the dispensation of the Law began with Moses giving the law, and ended with Christ “making us dead to the law.” The new age begun after that point in time is the dispensation of Grace, the current dispensation. There are seven dispensations: that of Innocence, that of Human Conscience, that of Human Government, that of Promise, that of the Law, that of Grace, and that of Kingdom reign. The last and yet future one is the one addressed by the next two terms.
Premillenial: We believe this rapture will occur before Christ’s thousand year reign over the earth.
Pretribulational: We believe Christ will rapture His saints (all believers) before the seven year tribulation period that immediately precedes the millennial reign.
Evangelical: We are conservative protestants who believe it is a calling and responsibility of every believer to obey the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19.
Local church emphasis: we do not refer to a higher ecclesiastical structure, such as that of the Catholic Church. The local congregation can associate and fellowship with other congregations, but it is autonomous in that there is no governing body above it.
We believe the following doctrines are essential to the Christian faith and we adhere to these doctrines.
All Scripture contained in the Old and New Testaments is verbally, plenarily, and inerrantly inspired by God. It is the authoritative guide for all Christian understanding, life and ministry. We believe in the exact equivalent method translation from the original languages.
There is but one God eternally existent in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each is infinite, eternal, and almighty. That Jesus Christ, the Son, is fully God and fully man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and He lived a sinless life. He died, shedding His blood in His substitutionary death for sinners, then was buried, arose from the grave, ascended into heaven, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father.
The Holy Spirit, Who is Lord and giver of life, convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, and unites man to Jesus Christ by faith. We believe the Holy Spirit seals and fills all believers.
That man was created in the image and likeness of God. It was by man’s free volition that he disobeyed God, incurring physical and spiritual death (separation from God). Each human being is born with a sin nature. Because of this each human is a sinner by nature and is in need of a divine salvation. That salvation is a gift from God. This was accomplished by Christ’s substitutionary death; all who believe in Him are justified by the shedding of His blood. Because salvation is given by grace, the believer’s salvation is eternally secure.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is sent upon all who believe in Jesus Christ. This takes place in each believer at the moment of salvation. Continual infilling may follow. Each gift given by the Holy Spirit is for the edification of the Body of Christ, and is still present today.
We believe that the fulfillment of the Great Commission is the responsibility of all believers.
That the church is the body and the bride of Christ. It is dedicated to the worship and service of God, and the observance of the sacraments or ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The primary task of the church in all ages is to teach all nations and to make disciples through the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. The marital union is established by God as a metaphor for the relationship between Christ and all born again believers who collectively make up the church. As such, marriage is strictly between one man and one woman as instituted by God in the Garden of Eden between Adam and Eve.
That Salvation comes only through Jesus Christ and is given by grace though faith to all who believe in and accept Christ as the Savior of our souls. Salvation is independent of any human merit and is a gift from God to all those who believe. There is no other way to Heaven except through faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior.
That Christ will return to rapture His church. Immediately following this event will be the seven-year tribulation period. Concluding this, Christ will come again to the earth and establish His rule for a 1,000 year period. The Great White Throne judgment of the unsaved, coupled with Satan being cast into the lake of fire, will then allow Christ to establish a New Heaven and a New Earth. This is the consummation of all things.
