Our Beliefs
Authority of God
We believe there is only one God, the God found in His inspired Word, the Bible.
All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Salvation
We seek an eternal relationship with God, which includes spending eternity with Him after our life on this earth is over. God, through His Word, defines sin which keeps us from being with Him. On our own we are absolutely without hope. Apart from the work of God, we would have no opportunity for salvation and could not ever do enough to earn it. From the beginning, God had a plan laid out so mankind could attain salvation. This salvation is found in faith in Jesus (Eph. 2:8). That faith is more than just an acknowledgement of who Jesus is and involves a complete submission to Him. This submission includes repentance (Acts 2:38) from not believing in Jesus and repentance from the sins in our lives. It includes a confession (Rom. 10:8-9) of who He is, and it involves a baptism (Acts 2:38, 1 Pet. 3:21) in which we find forgiveness and the gift of the holy Spirit. We believe that each of these is part of God’s saving work in us.
Faith
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Ephesians 2:8
Repentance
And Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38
Confession
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
Romans 10:8-9
Baptism
Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal of a good conscience to God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
1 Peter 3:21
And Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38
Church
Though the landscape of the world is filled with many different groups, we believe that there is only one church (Eph. 4:4, 1 Cor. 12, Matt. 16:18) Our desire is to be part of that one church. This is why we seek to go back to the church described in scripture and seek to be like them.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;
Ephesians 4:4
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1 Corinthians 12
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
Matthew 16:18
Unity
One of the core values of the church is unity. Just as there is only one church, that one church is meant to have a closeness and bond within it. Because of the differences that exist between people, unity can be challenging to maintain, and yet, we believe it is vital for God’s people to do so. Our unity isn’t based on ignoring problems but instead on speaking the truth in love (Eph. 4:15). We believe there are issues we must be in agreement on, but in other areas, we seek to extend grace and treat opinions as God calls us to in places like Romans 14. A phrase often associated with our view of scripture is “in matters of faith, unity; in matters or opinion, liberty; in all things, love.”
...but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is Christ,
Ephesians 4:15
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Romans 14
Worship
Because we seek to use scripture as our guide, our worship seeks to conform to that as well. When we gather, we engage in singing, praying, studying, and remembering the sacrifice of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper.
Gender
Because we believe the Bible is the word of God, our beliefs often differ from the culture around us. Right now, there is a lot of confusion about issues such as gender and what it means to be a man or a woman. Our answer for these issues comes straight from the creation of both man and woman by God in Genesis 1-2. When God created them, He created them male and female, and then He gave them marriage, which is described in the Bible as between a man and a woman. In the New Testament, we learn that marriage isn't just a passing idea to God. It's actually compared to the bond between Christ and the church in Ephesians 5.
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Genesis 1-2
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Ephesians 5