I. The Scriptures

  We believe the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is the record of God's revelation of Himself to man.  It is a perfect example of divine instruction.  It has God for its author, Salvation for its end, and Truth, without mixture of error. It reveals the principles by which God judges us and is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center for Christian Union, and is the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried.  The standard by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.

II. God

  There is one and only one living and true God.  He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal being.  The Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe.  God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections.  To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience.  The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

III. Man

  Man was created by the special act of God, in His own image, and is the crowning work of His creation.  In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his creator with freedom of choice.  By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race.  Through the temptation of Satan, man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence.  Thereby man inheriting a nature and an environment inclined toward sin, and as soon as an individual is capable of moral judgement and action, becomes transgressors and are under condemnation.  Only the Grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purppose of God.  The sacredness of Human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every man possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.

IV. Salvation

  Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer.  In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.

A. Regeneration, or new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creaturesin Christ Jesus.  It is a change of heart wroght by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of Garce.

B. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God.  Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.  Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ.  Justification brings the believer into a relationship of peace and favor with God.

C. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believe is set apart to God's purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual perfection through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him.  Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person's life.

V. God's Purpose of Grace

  Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners.  It is consistent with the free will of man.  It is a glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, and that He is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable.  It excludes boasting and promotes humility.

  All true believers endue to the end.  Those whom god has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the State of Grace, but shall persevere to the end.  Believers may fall fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, bring reproach on the cause of Christ, and temporal judgements on themselves, yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

VI. The Church

  A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ, committed to His teachings, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.

  This church is an autonomous body, operating through democratic process under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  In such a congregation, members are equally responsible.  Its Scriptural officers are pastors and deacons.

  The New Testament speaks also of the church as the body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages.

VII. Baptism and The Lord's Supper

  Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Baptism is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.  Baptism is also a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead.  Being a church ordinace, it is a prerequisite to the privileges of church membership.

  The Lord's Suppoer is a symbolic act of obedience whereby anyone who is a redeemed child of God, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

VIII. The Lord's Day

  The first day of the week is the Lord's Day.  It is a Christian institution for regular observance.  It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should employ in exercises of whorship and spiritual devotion, both public and private, and resting from secular employments, work of necessity and mercy bing excepted.

IX. The Kingdom

  The Kingdom of God includes both His general sovereignty over the universe and His particular Kingship over men who willfully acknowledge Him as King.  Particularly the Kingdom is the realm of salvation into which men enter by trustful, childlike commitment to Jesus Christ.  Christians ought to pray and to labor that the Kingdom may come and God's will be done on earth.  The full consummation of the Kingdom awaits the return of Jesus Christ and the end of this age.

X. Last Things

  God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end.  According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness.  The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment.  The righteous in their resurrection and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.

XI. Evangelism and Missions

  It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations.  The new birth of man's spirit by God's Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others.  Missionary effort on the part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Chirst.  It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by personal effort and by all other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.

XIII. Stewardship

  God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him.  Christians have a spiritual debt to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel, and a binding stewardship in their possessions.  They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time, talents, and material posessions; and should recognize all these as entrusted to them to use for the glory of God and for helping others.  According to the Scriptures, Christians should contribute of their means cheerfully, regularly, systematically, and liberally for the advancement of the Redeemer's cause on earth.

XIV. Cooperation

  Members of New Testament churches should cooperate with one another in carrying forward the missionary, educational, and benevolent ministries for the extension of Christ's Kingdom.  Christian unity in the New Testament sense is spiritual harmony and voluntary cooperation for the common ends by various groups of Christ's people.  Cooperation is desirable between the various Christian denominations, when the end to be attained is itself justified, and when such cooperation involves no violation of conscience or compromise of loyalty to Christ and our beliefs in His word as revealed in the New Testament.

XV. The Christian and the Social Order

  Every Christian is under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in his own llife and in human society.  Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of rightousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ.  The Christian should oppose, in the spirit of Christ, every form of greed, selfishness and vice.  He should work to porvide for the orphaned, the needy, the aged, the helpless, and the sick.  Every Christian should seek to bring industry, government and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love.  In order to promote these ends, Christians should be ready to work with all men of good will in any good cause, always being careful to act in spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ and His Truth.

XVI. Peace and War

  It is the duty of Christians to seek peace with all men on priciples of righteousness.  In accordance with the spirit and teachings of christ they should do all in their power to put an end to war.

  the true remedy for the war spirit is the gospel of our Lord.  The supreme need of the world is the acceptance of His teachings in all the affairs of men and nations, and the practical applications of His law of love.

XVII. Religious Liberty

  God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are contrary to His word or not contained in it.  Church and state should be seperate.  The state owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends.  In providing for such freedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be favored by the state more than ohters. Civil government being ordained of God, it is the Duty of Christians to render loyal obedience therto in all things not contrary to the revealed will of God.  The church should not resort to civil power to carry on its work.

  The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means alone for the pursuit of its ends.  The state has no right to impose taxes for the support of any form of religion.  A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of men, and the right to form and hold opinions in the realm of religion without interference by the civil power.