What We Believe
1. The Bible: The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of
Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation
for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is
totally true and trustworthy. …It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is,
and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme
standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried.
2. God: He is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things,
past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the
highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or
being.
3. Man: Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and
female as 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 whereby his posterity inherits a nature
and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action,
they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man
into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God.
4. Salvation: Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all
who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption
for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification,
and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
5. God’s Purpose of Grace: Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He
regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of
man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of
God’s sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting
and promotes humility.
6. The Church: A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local
congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the
gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights,
and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the
earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes.
7. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper: (a.) 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
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. It is a
testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. (b.) The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic
act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of
the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
8. 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 include
exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord’s Day
should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
9. 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.
10. 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
resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with
the Lord.
11. 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 Lord
Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every
child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a
Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.
12. The Family: God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society.
It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.
Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is
God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man
and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual
expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.
Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents
are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children
spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving
discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.
(Edited from the Baptist Faith and Message 2000)