I. The Scriptures
The perfect treasure of divine instruction, the Holy Bible was written by persons divinely inspired and is the record of God’s revelation of Himself to us. Its Truth reveals God’s principles and standards for an Abundant Life. With God as its Author, it is the true center of Christian union with Jesus Christ as its interpreter.
II. God
There is one living true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinitely Holy and Perfect. 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.
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God the Father
God the Fatherr reigns with providential care over His universe, creatures and the flow of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, loving and wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in his attitude toward all.
God the Son
Christ is the eternal Son of God. Conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, Jesus Christ perfectly revealed, did the will of God and came to earth so we could live life more abundantly. Christ took the demands and necessities of human nature upon himself while identifying Himself completely with all humankind; yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His death on the cross made provision for redemption of all people from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, partaking of the nature of God and of humankind, and in whose Person is the reconciliation between God and humankind. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.
God the Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. He inspired holy people to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables us to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts of sin, righteousness and discernment. He calls us to the Saviour and effects regeneration. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the assurance of God to bring the believer into the fulness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.
III. Humankind
Humankind was created by the special act of God, in His own image, and is the crowning work of His creation. In the beginning humans were innocent of sin and endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice.
By free choice people brought sin into the human race. Only the grace of God can bring us into His holy fellowship and enable us to fulfil the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created us in His own image. Christ died for all of us; therefore every person possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
IV. Salvation
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole person and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Salvation includes regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.
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Regeneration
Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace as believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart brought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin to which the believer responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Repentance
Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. 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.
Sanctification
Sanctification is the experience beginning in regeneration, by which the believer 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 the believer. Growth in grace continues throughout the regenerate person’s life.
Glorification
Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.
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 our free agency; a glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness; and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility.
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Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but will persevere to the end. Believers may 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 judgments 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.
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This church is an autonomous body of Christ which includes the redeemed of all ages, operating through democratic processes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In such a congregation, members are equally responsible. Its Scriptural officers are pastors, elders and deacons.
VII. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience and symbolizes the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior; the believer’s death to sin; the burial of the old life; and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.
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As a church ordinance, Christian baptism is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.
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.
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 is employed in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private.
IX. The Kingdom
The kingdom of God includes both His general sovereignty over the universe and His particular kingship over those who willfully acknowledge Him as King. Particularly the kingdom is the realm of salvation into which believers enter by trustful, childlike commitment to Jesus Christ.
Christians pray and work 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 people in righteousness. The righteous in their resurrected 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. God’s Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others.
Missionary effort on the part of all rests upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life and is expressly and repeatedly taught by Christ. It is the duty of every child of God to win the lost to Christ by personal effort and by all other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.
XII. Education
The cause of education in the kingdom of Christ is co-ordinate with the causes of missions and general benevolence receiving liberal support of churches. In Christian education there is a proper balance between academic freedom and academic responsibility.
XIII. Stewardship
God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual.
Christians have a spiritual responsibility to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel and a binding stewardship in their possessions. They serve God with their time, talents, and material possessions; 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 enjoy contribution of their means cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately, and liberally.
XIV. Co-Operation
As occasion requires, Christ’s people organize such associations and conventions as may best secure co-operation for the purpose of furthering God’s kingdom. Such organizations have no authority over one another or over the churches. They are voluntary and advisory bodies designed to elicit, combine, and direct the energies of our people in the most effective manner. Christian unity in the New Testament sense is spiritual harmony and voluntary co-operation for common ends by various groups and denominations of Christ’s people.
XV. The Christian and the Social Order
Every Christian seeks to make the will of Christ supreme in his own life and in human society. Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of righteousness among humankind can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God in Christ Jesus.
The Christian opposes in the spirit of Christ every form of greed, selfishness, and vice. Every Christian seeks to bring society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love. In order to promote these ends Christians are ready to work with all people of good will in any good cause, always being careful to act in the 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 people on principles of righteousness. In accordance with the spirit and teachings of Christ they do everything 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 people and nations, and the practical application of His law of love.
XVII. Religious Liberty
God alone is Lord of the conscience. Church and state are separate. The state owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for such freedom no particular group is favored by the state more than others. Civil government being ordained of God, it is the duty of Christians to render loyal obedience in all things not contrary to the revealed will of God. The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work. The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means alone for the pursuit of its ends. The state does not impose penalties for religious opinions of any kind or taxes for the support of any form of religion. A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal. This implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of everyone and the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power.
XVIII. 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.
As both are created in God’s image, the husband and wife are of equal worth before God. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church and carries the privilege of providing, protecting and leading his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to her husband’s Godly leadership, respects him and serves as his helper 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 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.