Statement of personal faith

We believe the Holy Scriptures teach the following:

• We believe in one true, almighty, all-knowing, eternal God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, Who are One. This triune God has always been, is, and will always be the one and only true God. There were none before Him and shall be none after him.
• We believe that God is the Creator and Lord of all things.
• We believe that the Holy Bible, consisting of 66 books, is the divinely inspired Word of God and the final authority that God has given us in doctrinal matters. The Bible is without error in all its teaching, including creation, history, in its own origins and salvation.
• We believe everything the Bible teaches about every Christian doctrine and every topic that is in any way addressed in Scripture.
• We believe that the Bible defines every aspect of the Christian's personal walk with God, and that that walk includes ministry of each Christian in the Church.
• We believe that the Bible defines every aspect of the functioning of the pattern for the weekly church service, the government of the Church, how revelation is received and kept pure, how the Scripture is to be interpreted, and many other details of the pattern of the Church that is God's Temple in this hour.
• We believe the Bible is the supreme authority in all matters of faith and practice and everything that the Bible addresses, including those parts of the Bible that address any branch of history or any branch of science.
• We believe that we are commanded in Scripture: "See that you build all things according to the pattern."
• We believe that the Church of Scripture is the method by which God will prepare the Church to be Christ's bride.
• We believe that the Church of Scripture will be Christ's bride without any spot or wrinkle when God finishes His work in it.
• We believe that salvation from humanity's sin and depravity requires forgiveness from God. This forgiveness results in the New Birth. Forgiveness and being born again are, and can only be, attained through the faith of Jesus Christ, God's Son, and in His efficacious death on the cross of Calvary and His resurrection from the dead. Without being born again, no one can see, or enter the Kingdom of God.
• We believe that everyone who has the faith of Jesus Christ is born again, and that no other action, gift, baptism, or any other such thing is needed for a person to be born again. We believe that when a person is born again they are a member of the Church--the Church is the called out Body of Christ made up of the ministries of all the believers.
• We believe that righteousness is a free gift from God and that it is part of our salvation.
• We believe all believers are saved to righteousness, and to holiness--both righteousness and holiness are free gifts of salvation.
• We believe that he who does righteousness is righteous and lives in harmony with the teachings of the Holy Bible, discerns the Body of Christ from the counterfeits, and submits to those in authority (both spiritual and civil).
• We believe that only God working through the believer can accomplish righteous works--the believer's part is to yield themselves to the Spirit of God.
• We believe that God's pattern is that all believers be baptized in water, confirming their faith and obeying the command of the Lord. Water baptism is not an act that causes people to be born again but rather a free gift to those who are born again, and this gift gives the Christian more power from God to die to self and live to God. We believe that water baptism is another one of God's free gifts that come with salvation.
• We believe that God provides that infilling of the Holy Spirit as a free benefit to every believer, and that the ability to speak in tongues comes with this infilling as one of God's ways for the Christian to build himself of herself up in the spirit. The Scriptural pattern for receiving this gift is by the laying on of hands, but God also works in other ways to impart this gift. We believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is another one of God's gifts that is available to all who are saved.
• We believe that the nine Gifts of the Spirit are given as the Spirit of God wills, and these Gifts of the Spirit are given by the laying on of hands of the presbytery, thus enabling the believer to enter into a Spiritual ministry. (1 Corinthians 12:8-10)
• We believe that water baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the Gifts of the Spirit are given by God to empower the Christian to live a fruitful and godly life, full of good works.
• We believe that good works can only be done by God working through us as we yield to Him. Our own righteousnesses are as filthy rags.
• We believe that water baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the Gifts of the Spirit are NOT the methods by which Christians are born again, or works to be done so we can be saved, or gifts of God to prove that we are saved, holy, or superior. All of these are gifts from God and if these gifts prove anything about us as Christians, they prove that we are needy and helpless on our own.
• We believe that whatever is not of faith is sin. It is sin if we do anything that God has not asked us to do or if God is not doing the work through us by His power.
• We believe that there is a life hereafter: heaven for the righteous, hell for the wicked and rebellious. God Himself is the only One Who makes this judgment.
• We believe in the ever-unfolding revelation of Jesus Christ, His salvation, and His coming Kingdom.
• We believe that Jesus Christ will, in God's appointed time, return to the earth to raise the dead, judge and rule over the nations with His Church, the Body of Christ, in His everlasting Kingdom.
• We believe that God's Spirit, is presently moving in the universal Church, for the coming together of the Body of Christ and the establishment of His coming Kingdom as described in Genesis 49:10, John 17:21 and other scriptures.
• We believe the Bible's message of life and fulfillment, and we believe that God has determined that He will bring us to the fullness of the life He has for us and to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and that He will accomplish this through His Church, which is His Temple that is built according to His pattern.
• We believe in the pattern of unity in the Church headship, which the Bible teaches, as opposed to the establishment of independent entities of headship.
• We believe that the Bible lays out a pattern for the structure and government of the Church. We believe that the Holy Scriptures teach that both the universal and the local Church in Scripture have a government consisting of elders and deacons. The elders and deacons of the universal church are also called apostles. An alternate name for an elder is "bishop," meaning overseer. There is no independent, singular, preeminent, or chief elder in the order of either the local or universal Church in Scripture. Apostles are to receive a living, while local elders receive a double measure of honor while they work for their living in the same pattern as a father in the home. There is no local pastor in the Church in Scripture. The elders are set to oversee and rule the local Church but as servants--not to lord it over anyone. In both the local and universal Church, each elder is in submission and under the government of every other elder.
• We believe in the five apostolic ministries of Ephesians 4:11. (This has nothing to do with any group or organization that carries the name, apostolic, but has everything to do with the order established in Scripture and which has been restored to the Church, and which is also counterfeited in this day.)
• We believe the five apostolic ministries are given to the Church until the Church comes in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect (totally complete) man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ just as Scripture states. (We are aware that there are counterfeit apostles, gifts, and ministries, but we believe that the counterfeits do not make the real any less real.)
• We believe that the Bible does not encourage rationalized speculation or spiritualized speculation, reasoning based on unfounded assumptions and presuppositions and leveraged logic, all of which try either to expand knowledge beyond the revelation in the Word or try to rule out certain aspects of the revelation in the Word.
• We believe that the double-minded person will receive no revelation from God, that is, those who try to understand Scripture by the power of their own mind will not receive the revelation from the Lord.
• We believe in the pattern for the role of apostles in receiving revelation as it is shown in Scripture.
• We believe that God will reveal His truth, as it is written in the Bible, to all who come to Him so believing. However, God knows our weakness and the deceptiveness of human minds, so He has appointed multiple ministries in offices (apostles) in His Church who walk in unity with and submission to each other and receive the apostle's doctrine. No apostle has authority to teach his own doctrine--they all teach the apostle's doctrine. The apostle's doctrine is the correct understanding of Scripture. The apostles are not infallible, but they are set by God to govern and equip the universal Church. The apostles do not receive revelation outside of Scripture, but God is gradually removing the veil of the flesh to reveal that the Bible means exactly what it says.
• We believe in local congregations overseen by elders and deacons as shown in Titus 1:5 and other scriptures. Elders are to teach the apostle's doctrine and no other doctrine. They are also responsible to oversee and encourage the ministry of every member of the Body of Christ.
• We believe that every member has and is a ministry in the Body of Christ as described in 1 Corinthians 12:11 and other scriptures.
• We believe in being led by the Spirit of God as described in Roman 8:14 and other scriptures.