God the Father Genesis 1:1; Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; John 3:16, 4:24, 10:30; Romans 1:19-20; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 4:6 There is only one true, holy God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – each of whom possesses equally all the attributes of deity and the characteristics of personality. In the beginning God created out of nothing the world and all the things therein, thus manifesting the glory of His power, wisdom and goodness. By His sovereign power He continues to sustain His creation. By His providence He is operating throughout history to fulfill His redemptive purposes. We learn about God through His creation; His Word, the Bible; His Spirit and His Son. God loves us more than we can imagine. Jesus Christ Matthew 1:22-23; John 1:1,14,18; Acts 10:37-43; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Ephesians 2:4-8; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:15-21; Hebrews 1:1-3 Jesus Christ is the one and only Son of God. Co-equal with God the Father and God the Spirit, He came to earth and became man. He was completely God while at the same time being fully human. He revealed to us who God is. His miraculous acts, sinless life, and life-changing teachings all confirm the fact that He is God’s Son. His purpose for coming to Earth was to show God’s love by dying on a cross, thus taking the sins of all mankind upon Himself, and paying the penalty that our sins deserve. His bodily resurrection from the grave and His promise to return someday are testimonies to the fact that He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus desires the deepest of relationship with every person. Holy Spirit John 14:16-17; John 16:7-13; Acts 2:38; Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Ephesians 3:16-20; Ephesians 5:18 The Holy Spirit is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son. He dwells in each member of God’s family as a Helper and Guide. It is through the work of the Holy Spirit that a person comes to salvation. At the point of salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to live in our physical bodies as His home. He uniquely endows each believer with gifts for the building up of the body, provides help to every Christian to do what is right, strength to serve Jesus, and direction for living life God’s way. Every Christian, by faith, is to allow God’s Spirit to help him on a daily basis. The Bible John 17:17; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21 The Bible, composed of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament, is the verbally inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings. They are the unique, full and final authority on all matters of faith and practice, and there are no other writings similarly inspired by God. Mankind Genesis 1:27; 3:1-24; Romans 3:23; Galatians 5:16-17; 6:8 We are created in the spiritual likeness or image of God. God gave us free will: we have the ability to choose to love as God loves, to choose to do right in the likeness of God’s righteousness, and to choose to value what God values. God created us because He wants a family who will love Him because we want to love Him, and not because we have to love Him. The first man, Adam, chose to sin, and now every person lives in a damaged creation with a damaged spiritual nature. As a result, every person will eventually choose to sin and subsequently become separated from God. Salvation Isaiah 59:2; John 3:16; John 14:6; Acts 2:37-39; Romans 3:10,11,23; Romans 6:3-4; Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Ephesians 2:1-10; Titus 3:3-8 We need salvation because we have sinned (broken God’s laws). Sin separates us from God who desires relationship with us. It is impossible for any man to restore that broken relationship with God by any amount of personal goodness, religious deeds, or by belonging to a church. We cannot earn, merit or achieve a right relationship with God by our own efforts. The death of Jesus was not an accident. It was God’s plan from the beginning to save us from our sins through the death of Jesus Christ. The Bible calls God’s act of love, grace. His grace is His gift to us. The way we receive His gift is by entering into a covenant relationship with Jesus by placing our trust and faith in Him. When we decide that we will follow Jesus for the rest of our lives, we demonstrate our trust in Jesus by obeying His commands: to repent (change from our sinful ways to his ways), to confess He is God’s Son, our Savior and to be immersed (baptized) in water for forgiveness demonstrating the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus at which time we are reborn as His child. The Church Matthew 16:15-18; Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12:1-6; 1 Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:4-10 The Church is God’s spiritual family. It is made up of all those who have chosen to place their trust and faith in Jesus and who are His followers (disciples). The Church is not a building or one particular group of believers. To belong to the Church, is to belong to Jesus. The Bible uses the analogy that Jesus is the Head of the Church, which is His body. God’s will is for the Church to gather regularly to worship, to use its various gifts and abilities to serve, to love and encourage those who are in the body, and to work diligently to maintain the unity of the body. As the members of His Church love one another and maintain unity of purpose and relationship, the world around us will recognize that we belong to Jesus. The Church or body is to seek to do the will of God, which also includes loving and saving the world through Jesus Christ. Human Destiny Matthew 25:31-46; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Hebrews 9:27 When God created you and me, He created us with a soul which will never cease to exist. Those who choose to follow Jesus as Lord, and have a growing relationship with Him, will spend eternity with God in Heaven. Those who reject Jesus by refusing to follow Him will spend eternity in Hell. Heaven, like salvation and grace, is a gift of God. Hell is the due consequence for those who have not accepted God’s offer of forgiveness. Heaven and Hell are real places. Faith and Practice 1 Corinthians 10:24, 31; 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Scripture is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice. This church recognizes that it cannot bind the conscience of individual members in areas where Scripture is silent. Rather, each believer is to be led in those areas by the Lord, to whom he or she alone is ultimately responsible. We believe the Statement of Faith to be an accurate summary of what Scripture teaches. All members shall refrain from advocating doctrines that are not included in the Statement of Faith in such a way as to cause dissension.