SCRIPTURE:

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The Holy Bible was written by men under divine inspiration and serves as God’s self-revelation to humanity. It is a flawless treasure of sacred instruction, having God as its author, salvation as its purpose, and truth—without any trace of error—as its content. For this reason, all Scripture is completely true and wholly trustworthy. It sets forth the principles by which God judges humanity and, therefore, remains throughout all ages the true foundation of Christian unity and the ultimate standard for evaluating all human behavior, beliefs, and religious teachings. Every part of Scripture ultimately points to Christ, who is Himself the heart of God’s revelation.

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GOD:

There is one—and only one—living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, and Ruler of all things. God is infinite in holiness and in every perfection. He is all-powerful and all-knowing, and His perfect knowledge encompasses everything—past, present, and future—including the future choices of His free creatures. We owe Him our highest love, reverence, and obedience. This eternal, triune God reveals Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—three persons with distinct personal attributes, yet one in nature, essence, and being.

A. GOD THE FATHER:

God the Father rules with providential care over the universe, His creation, and the course of human history, all according to the purposes of His grace. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, and perfectly wise. God is truly Father to all who become His children through faith in Jesus Christ, and He shows a fatherly kindness and concern toward all people.

B. GOD THE SON:

Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and fulfilled the will of God, taking on human nature with all its limitations and needs, fully identifying Himself with humanity—yet without sin. He upheld God’s law through His perfect obedience, and through His substitutionary death on the cross, He secured redemption from sin for all people. He rose from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the same Jesus who had walked with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God, the one Mediator who is fully God and fully man, accomplishing reconciliation between God and humanity. He will one day return in power and glory to judge the world and bring His redemptive mission to completion. Even now, He dwells within all believers as the living and ever-present Lord.

C. GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God and is fully divine. He inspired the holy men of old who wrote the Scriptures and, through His illumination, enables people to understand the truth. He exalts Christ, convicts individuals of sin, righteousness, and judgment, calls them to the Savior, and brings about regeneration. At the moment of new birth, He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He nurtures Christian character, comforts believers, and grants spiritual gifts through which they serve God in His church. He seals believers until the day of final redemption, and His indwelling presence guarantees that God will bring them to the full likeness of Christ. The Holy Spirit enlightens and empowers both believers and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

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MAN:

Humanity is God’s special creation, made in His own image. He created people as male and female, the crowning work of His creation, and the gift of gender is part of the goodness He designed. In the beginning, humans were innocent and endowed with the freedom to choose. By that free choice, humanity sinned against God, introducing sin into the human race. Through Satan’s temptation, people disobeyed God and fell from their original innocence, causing all their descendants to inherit a nature and environment inclined toward sin. As soon as individuals are capable of moral understanding, they also become transgressors and stand under condemnation. Only God’s grace can restore people to fellowship with Him and enable them to fulfill His creative purpose. The sacred worth of every human life is shown both in our creation in God’s image and in Christ’s sacrifice for humanity. Therefore, every person—of every race—possesses full dignity and is deserving of respect and Christian love.

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SALVATION:

Salvation is the redemption of the whole person and is offered freely to all who receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Through His own blood, He secured eternal redemption for all who believe. In its fullest sense, salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

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A. REGENERATION

Regeneration, or the new birth, is the work of God’s grace in which believers are made new creatures in Christ. It is a transformation of the heart brought about by the Holy Spirit through the conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds with repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable acts of God’s grace.
Repentance is a sincere turning away from sin toward God. Faith is trusting in Jesus Christ and committing one’s whole self to Him as Lord and Savior.

B. JUSTIFICATION

Justification is God’s gracious and complete acquittal of all sinners who repent and trust in Christ, based on the principles of His righteousness. Through justification, the believer enters into a relationship of peace and favor with God.

C. SANCTIFICATION

Sanctification begins at the moment of regeneration and is the ongoing work by which the believer is set apart for God’s purposes. Through the presence and power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the believer grows toward moral and spiritual maturity. This growth in grace is to continue throughout the believer’s entire life.

D. GLORIFICATION

Glorification is the final stage of salvation and represents the eternal, perfected state of all who have been redeemed.

 

GOD’S PURPOSE OF GRACE:

Election is the gracious purpose of God by which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is fully compatible with human free will and includes both the means and the end of God’s saving work. Election displays the sovereign goodness of God and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchanging. It leaves no room for boasting and instead fosters humility.

All true believers will persevere to the end. Those whom God has united with Christ and sanctified by His Spirit will never fall away from the state of grace, but will remain steadfast until the end. Though believers may fall into sin through neglect or temptation—grieving the Spirit, diminishing their spiritual strength and comfort, and bringing reproach on Christ’s cause or temporal consequences upon themselves—they will still be kept by God’s power through faith and ultimately brought to salvation.

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THE CHURCH:

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a self-governing local congregation of baptized believers, united by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel. They observe the two ordinances established by Christ, live under His commands, use the gifts, rights, and responsibilities given to them in His Word, and seek to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation functions under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes, and every member is personally responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. The biblical offices of the church are pastors and deacons.

The New Testament also describes the church as the Body of Christ, made up of all the redeemed of all ages—believers from every tribe, language, people, and nation.

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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. It is an act of obedience that symbolizes the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, representing death to sin, the burial of the old life, and resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It also bears witness to the believer’s hope in the final resurrection of the dead. As a church ordinance, baptism is a prerequisite for the privileges of church membership and participation in the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience in which members of the church, by partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, remember the death of the Redeemer and look forward to His promised return.

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EVANGELISM AND MISSIONS:

It is both the duty and the privilege of every follower of Christ and every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to strive to make disciples of all nations. The new birth of a person’s spirit by the Holy Spirit produces a love for others. Therefore, missionary effort flows naturally from the regenerated life and is explicitly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded that the gospel be proclaimed to all nations. Every child of God is called to actively seek to lead the lost to Christ—through personal witness, a Christlike lifestyle, and other methods consistent with the gospel.

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FAMILY:

God has established the family as the foundational institution of human society. It consists of persons related by marriage, blood, or adoption.

Marriage is the lifelong covenant union of one man and one woman. It is God’s unique gift, designed to reflect the relationship between Christ and His church, to provide intimate companionship, to serve as the proper channel for sexual expression according to biblical standards, and to allow for the procreation of the human race.

Husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in His image. The marriage relationship reflects how God relates to His people. A husband is called to love his wife as Christ loved the church, bearing the God-given responsibility to provide for, protect, and lead his family. A wife is called to submit graciously to her husband’s servant leadership, just as the church submits to Christ, and—being equally created in God’s image—she is responsible to respect her husband and assist him in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to model God’s pattern for marriage and teach their children spiritual and moral values. Through consistent example, loving instruction, and discipline, parents guide their children to make choices grounded in biblical truth. Children, in turn, are called to honor and obey their parents.