Our Affirmation of Faith is as follows with the Scripture passages referred to under each article being interpreted according to the contextual, literal and/or normal meaning of the Word of God:
What We Believe about the Bible
We believe the Bible to be the complete Word of God; that the sixty-six books were verbally inspired by the Spirit of God and therefore entirely free from error. The Bible is the sole authority in all matters of faith and life. God has promised to preserve His Word to all generations.
References: 2 Timothy 3:16; Psalm 12:6, 7
What We Believe about God
We believe in one God, Creator of all, holy, sovereign, eternal, co-existing in three equal Persons; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
References: Genesis 1:1; Exodus 3:13-14; Romans 1:7; 1 John 5:7;
Genesis 17:1; Romans 13:1
What We Believe about Christ
We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, in His eternal existence with the Father in pre-incarnate glory, in His virgin birth, sinless life as a man, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, triumphant ascension, mediatorial ministry and personal return.
References: John 1:1; John 17:1-8; John 20:28
What We Believe about The Holy Spirit
We believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit, who glorifies Christ by convicting of sin, of righteousness and of judgment; who regenerates, sanctifies, illuminates; and who comforts those who believe in Jesus Christ.
References: John 15:26; John 16:13; Acts 5:3-4; Titus 3:4-5
What We Believe about Satan
We believe that Satan (Devil) is a created angel who is fallen, defeated, an evil personality, the originator of sin, and the arch-enemy of God and humans.
References: Matthew 4:1, 8; Ephesians 6:11-18; 1 Thessalonians 2:18; Matthew
25:41; 1 Timothy 3:6; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8-9; Isaiah 14:12-14
What We Believe about Humanity
We believe that God created human beings in His own image - male and female. They sinned, becoming guilty before God, resulting in total depravity, thereby incurring physical and spiritual death in Hell.
References: Genesis 3:1-24; Psalm 51:5; Jeremiah 17:9-10; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 4:3-4; Ephesians 2:1-3; Colossians 1:21
What We Believe about Salvation
We believe that salvation is by the sovereign, electing grace of God. By the appointment of the Father, Christ voluntarily suffered a substitutionary, atoning death that satisfies God’s judgment. Salvation is by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in His all-sufficient sacrifice and resurrection. Those whom God has called are kept eternally secure by the power of God and shall be divinely preserved and glorified in the image of the Lord. We also believe that salvation is a free gift of God for “whosoever will” believe in Jesus Christ.
References: Romans 3:19-28; Ephesians 2:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Titus 3:4-8; 1 Peter 1:8-9
What We Believe about Future Things
We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ; in the bodily resurrection of the just and unjust; in the eternal blessedness in Heaven of the redeemed and in the judgment and conscious, eternal punishment of the wicked in Hell.
References: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14; 2 Peter 3:3-13; Revelation 20:11-15
What We Believe about the Local Church
We believe that a church is a body of water-immersed believers, called out from the world, separated unto the Lord Jesus Christ, voluntarily associated for the ministry of the Word of God, the mutual edification of its Members, the propagation of the faith and the observance of the ordinances. We believe it is a self-governing, independent body, exercising its divinely bestowed gifts, under the Lordship of Christ, the Head of the Church. We believe the Church has two offices: 1) Pastor, Bishop or Elder; and 2) Deacon.
References: 1 Timothy 3:1-15; Titus 1:5-9
What We Believe about Church Ordinances
We believe that there are only two ordinances for the church regularly observed in the New Testament: 1) Baptism, which is the immersion of the believer in water, whereby obeying Christ's command identifying with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. 2) The Lord's Supper, which is the memorial wherein the church of believers together partakes of the two elements, the bread and the cup, which symbolize the Lord's Body and shed blood, proclaiming His death until He comes.
References: Romans 6:3-4; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
What We Believe about Marriage
We believe the Scriptures define marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, and that sexual intimacy was designed and given by God, to be legitimately enjoyed only within the bounds of marriage. We believe further that Christians should neither marry unbelievers, nor enter into any other spiritually detrimental alliances with them. Following the interpretive approach of both Jesus Christ (Matt. 19 and Mark 10, on divorce) and the apostle Paul (1 Cor. 11 and 1 Tim 2, on male-female order), we hold as truth that the creation narrative in Genesis 1-2 reveals both facts about creation and paradigms for human life. The pattern established by God indicates that the appropriate counterpart for a man is a woman (and vice versa), not multiple women or another man (and vice versa), and this pattern is confirmed by Scripture as a whole.
References: Genesis 2:24-25; Matthew 19:4-6; 2 Corinthians 6:14
What We Believe about Relationship to Government
We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the interest and good order of society. Those in authority are to be prayed for, and conscientiously honoured and obeyed, except only in the things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His Word.
References: Romans 13:1; 1 Peter 2:13-17; 1 Timothy 2:1-2