We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.

 

 

We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 

 

We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the conception of His body by the Holy Spirit and His birth by the

virgin Mary, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death, in His bodily resurrection, in His

ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.

 

 

We believe that salvation is wholly of grace through faith. God justifies and regenerates the sinner. Repentance and

sanctification always flow out of true faith. Justification is a judicial act absolving from punishment and restoring to

divine favor. Regeneration is the impartation of divine life effecting a change in the believer's nature. By the

operation of the Holy Spirit through the Word, he is given a disposition to obey God. The Holy Spirit witnesses to this

experience.

  

We believe in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, that He personally dwells within and guides those who are

true believers, and empowers them for service, giving to them various gifts and producing within their lives the fruits

of Christian character. We believe that the Holy Spirit simultaneously baptizes each believer into Christ, at the

moment they are regenerated, and also at that moment He comes to dwell within the believer. The filling of the Holy

Spirit should be a continuous and repeated action.

        

We believe sanctification is the work of grace begun by the Holy Spirit at the moment of regeneration and continues

progressively until physical death. We believe it is not instantaneous or subsequent to salvation in our daily

experience. We believe the old nature is not eradicated until after death, but that we must constantly guard against

its influence in our lives.

            

We believe that at the return of the Lord the bodies of the righteous dead will be raised and the living believers will

be changed so that both will have literal, spiritual and immortal bodies like to Christ's own glorious body.

 

Man, His Creation: We believe that man was created by God and not by an accidental, spontaneous, or self-

propagated occurrence action, method, or process; that he was created in the image and likeness of God,

possessing personality and holiness, and that he was a free moral agent possessing the power of choice, and that

the purpose of his creation was to glorify God. Due to his will being marred by the Fall he is now in need of

regeneration by the Holy Spirit in order to make the choice to trust in Christ for salvation. His will is free and yet

bound by its fallen nature to chose what its nature dictates.

    

We believe in the oneness of the church of Christ, composed of all Spirit-regenerated believers, and that these

believers both living and dead, shall be caught up together at His second coming.   

 

We believe the Christian ordinances are outward rites appointed by Christ to be administered in each church, not as

means to salvation, but as visible signs of the facts and realities of salvation. We believe in water baptism and that it

is to be administered to believers only. We recommend immersion as the mode of baptism, but grant our pastors

permission to use other modes when requested by the candidates. The Lord's Supper in an ordinance instituted for

observance by His followers until He returns. It consists in partaking of the consecrated emblems of bread and wine,

and symbolizes the death and suffering of Christ for the remission of our sins and our continual dependence upon

Him for our sustenance. The Lord's table should be open to all that are in right relationship with God, regardless of

denomination. Both ordinances are means of grace given to the Church by God and are only effective from

obedience in faith. God strengthens and encourages His people through them.

 

We believe that marriage is a sacred institution ordained of God in the time of man's innocence and that it is the

mutual union of one man and one woman and morally binding so long as both shall live, and that therefore it cannot

be dissolved by a decree of a civil tribunal, except on evidence that one party is guilty of adultery or in the case of

desertion by an unbelieving spouse. In the case of either situation the innocent party is free from further matrimonial

obligations and justly entitled to marry again, but the guilty party has no such right. We deny the right of marriage to

both parties who have been divorced for causes other than adultery or abandonment. Any person sustaining a

marriage relation contrary to that above recognized as justifiable shall be ineligible to enter into the office of the

ministry of The Christian Union. 

 

We believe that the Scriptural teaching concerning the financing of the Lord's work is through tithes and offering of

God's people.