1. We believe in the only true and living God, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.
Isaiah 45:5; 1Corinthians 8:6; 1John 5:7
We believe there is one God and that He has revealed Himself as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is God and is also called the Word. He is the visible manifestation of the invisible God.
2. We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (King James Version) are of Divine Authority and the only rule of faith and practice.
2Peter 1:21; 2Timothy 3:16
We believe that the Word of God is inspired by God. It is God breathed. Men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the Scriptures and God Himself superintended the writing of the Word so that there is no error. While God used the personalities and the styles of the authors He so directed the writing that the written Word is God’s revelation to us. The original inspired Word of God was written in Hebrew, Chaldee, and Koine Greek.
3. We believe in the doctrine of election by grace and that Christ was God’s plan of salvation for all mankind from the foundation of the world.
1Peter 1:2; Ephesians 1:4
We believe that before creation God planned the way of salvation for man. God foreknew that man would sin and would need a Savior. In His sovereignty He designed that Jesus would go to the cross and die for our sins and rise from the dead. In His sovereignty God also made provision for man to have freedom to accept or reject Christ as Savior. Those who accept Christ through repentance and faith become part of what is called the elect, or the chosen. God has chosen all who believe in Christ as Savior. Man becomes elect because of the grace, the unmerited love of God, that is applied to the soul when man trusts Jesus as Savior.
4. We believe in original sin.
Romans 5:12; Genesis 2:17
We believe that in the Garden of Eden man sinned against God. We further believe that sin separated man from God and that the nature of sin was passed to all generations.
5. We believe that man cannot of his own free will and ability recover himself from the fallen state he is in by nature.
Romans 9:15; John 6:44-45; Titus 3:5
We believe that man cannot save himself from the consequences of sin. There is no work that man can do that is good enough to earn relationship with God. Man is not saved by works but by the grace of God and that salvation is not earned but is the gift of God.
6. We believe in a particular redemption by the blood of Christ and that sinners are justified in the sight of God only by the imputed righteousness of Christ.
Acts 20:28; Romans 3:24; Ephesians 1:7; Revelation 5:9; James 2:23
We believe that man is redeemed by the blood of Christ. Redemption is specifically applied to the individual as the individual repents and trusts Christ. Sinners are made as though they had never sinned in the sight of God by the righteousness of Christ. When one receives Christ as Savior, the sinner is forgiven and the righteousness of Jesus is applied to the repenting sinner.
7. We believe calling, regeneration, and sanctification to be the work of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:29-39; 2Thessalonians 2:13
The Holy Spirit is the means by which God calls sinners to repentance. The calling of the Spirit to salvation is called conviction of the Holy Spirit. It is a special and unique invitation to a person to come to Christ, repent, and be saved. Without this calling one cannot come to Christ for salvation. Regeneration is the supernatural work of the Spirit in saving the sinner. When the sinner repents and asks Christ into the heart, the Spirit moves into the spirit of the individual and makes the person brand new. In regeneration the Spirit of God indwells the heart of man. Sanctification is a setting apart of an individual from a life of sin to a life of holiness. It is a cleansing and a purification of the heart, mind, and behavior. We believe that when a person has been called to salvation and has been saved and made new by the power of the Spirit that the change in the heart will be manifested by a change in lifestyle.
8. We believe the saints will persevere in grace and never finally fall away.
John 6:39, 10:28; Philippians 1:6; Romans 8:35-39; 1John 3:9
We believe that man is saved by the grace of God and is kept saved by the grace of God. Man does not do anything that is good enough to earn salvation nor does man do anything that is good enough to keep salvation. We further believe that when one is saved that salvation is for eternity. Though there is failure and sin man will never lose salvation because the saved are kept by the grace of God. We believe that man is preserved by the power of God and also that man perseveres in faith through the power of God.
9. We believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper and the washing of the saints’ feet are ordinances of Jesus Christ and that baptism is immersion and that is the only apostolic mode, and that true believers are the only proper subjects.
Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:5,9,10; Acts 8:29-39; Romans 6:4; Ephesians 4:5; Matthew 26:27; Mark 14:22-23; Luke 22:19-29; John 13:14-15; 1 Timothy 5:10
We believe in two ordinances; baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We further believe that the washing of the saints feet is an example of love and service to Christ and one another and is practiced in conjunction with the Lord’s Supper. We believe that baptism is immersion in water and pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. It also pictures how the saved person has died to the old life and the old life is buried and the person is raised to walk in newness of life. We also believe that only those who have been saved through repentance and faith are qualified to be baptized. We further believe that the authority for baptism lies in the hands of the New Testament Church.
10. We believe in the resurrection of the dead, and in general judgment, and that these bodies shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberties of the children of God.
John 5:28-29; 1Corinthians 15:51-52; 1Thessalonians 4:16
We believe that Christ will come again and that He will come bodily and visibly. We further believe that the dead shall be raised and that man will stand before God in judgment. We also believe that the Christian will be raised with a body like the body of Jesus and will be delivered from the corruption of sin and will enjoy for all eternity the fullness of the existence God has planned for His children.
11. We believe that no minister has the right to administer the ordinances of Jesus Christ except those who have been regularly baptized, and called of God, and come under the imposition of the presbytery.
Acts 13:2-3; Titus 1:5
We believe that those who carry out the ordinances of Christ are to be those who have been saved, baptized, called to ministry, and ordained by a New Testament Church.
12. We believe that the joys of the saints and the punishment of the wicked will be eternal.
Matthew 25:46; 2Thessalonians 1:8-9
We believe that there are two eternal destinations. Those who have received Christ as Savior will experience the joys of God for all eternity. Those who have rejected Christ as Savior will experience for eternity the consequences of sin.
13. We believe the above principles set forth the doctrine of the general atonement; and a special application to the believer.
We believe that Christ died for everyone and that man has a choice in salvation. We further believe that salvation is personal and unique to each believer.
The New Testament Church
The New Testament Church is a local visible body of scripturally baptized believers who fellowship together as the body of Christ, with the mind of Christ, through the Spirit of Christ.
