We, as New Testament Baptists, believe in the historical Baptist belief that a scriptural church is a democracy of believers meeting in some local place, sovereign and autonomous in deciding matters of church policy and affiliation, and composed only of persons who profess to have been born again and have been immersed in water upon their confession of faith in our Lord Jesus as their personal Savior.

 In common with Baptists of all ages and nations, we believe:

 1.  THE HOLY SCRIPTURES:  We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the verbal plenary inspired word of God, the final authority for faith and practice, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God-breathed.  (II Tim. 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20-21; Matthew 5:18; and John 16:12-13).

2.  THE GODHEAD:  We believe in one Triune God eternally existing:  manifested in three personal distinctions known respectively as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, and co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections.  (Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29; John 6:27; Luke 1:31-32; I Pet. 1:2-3).

3.  THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST:  We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man (John 1:1-3, 14; Luke 1:35).

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice, and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead. (Romans 3:24-25; I Peter 1:3-5, 2:24; Eph. 1:7).

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and is now  exalted at the right hand of God, where as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate.  (Acts 1:9-11; Heb. 7:25, 9:24; Rom. 8:34; I John 2:1-2).

4.  THE PERSON AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:  We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Person who convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and of judgment; and that He is the Super-Natural Agent in regeneration,  baptizing all born-again believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption.  (John 16:8-11; II Cor. 3:8, I Cor. 12:12-14; Romans 8:9; Eph. 1:13-14).

We believe that He is the Divine Teacher who guides believers into all truth; and that it is the privilege and responsibility of all born-again believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit. (John 16:13; I John 2:20, 27; Eph. 5:18).

5.  THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN:  We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, and by the direct act of God; but that in Adam's sin the entire human race fell, inherited a sinful nature and became alienated from God, and that man is totally depraved and of himself utterly unable to remedy this lost condition.  (Gen. 1:26-27;  Romans 3:22-23; Eph. 2:1-3, 12).

6.  SALVATION:  We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins.  (Eph. 1:7, 2:8-10; John 1:12; I Peter 1:18-19).

7.  THE ETERNAL SECURITY AND ASSURANCE OF THE BELIEVER:   A) We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God's power and thus secure in Christ forever.  (John 6:37-40, 10:27-30; Romans 8:8, 28-30; I Cor. 1:4-8; I Peter 1:5).

  B) We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's Word; which, however, clearly forbids use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh.  (Romans 13:13-14; Gal.  5:15; Titus 2:11-15).

8.  THE BELIEVER'S TWO NATURES:  We believe that every saved person possesses two natures, with provision made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit; and that all claims to the eradication of the old nature, in this life, are unscriptural. (Romans 6:13, 8:12-13; Gal. 5:16-25; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:10; I Peter 1:14-16; I John 3:5-9).

9.  SEPARATION:  We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord; that everything we do should be to the honor and glory of the Lord (II Timothy 3:1-5; Romans 12:1-2, 14:13; I John 2:15-17; II John 9:11; II Cor. 6:14, 7:1; Col. 3:17).

10. MISSIONS:  We believe that it is the obligation of the saved to witness by life and by word to the truths of Holy Scriptures, and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all mankind (Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; II Cor. 5:19-20).

11. THE MINISTRY AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS:  We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowment of all His gifts; and that the gifts of evangelists; pastors and teachers are sufficient for the perfecting of the saints today; and that God does hear and answer the prayer of faith, in accord with His own will for the sick, needy, and afflicted.  (I Cor.12:4-11; II Cor. 12:12; Eph 4:7-12; John 15:7; I John 5:14-15).

12. THE SPIRITUAL CHURCH:  We believe that the Church is the body and bride of Christ who is the bridegroom, and is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons of this present church age.  Jesus Christ is head of this organism.  (Eph 1:22-23, 5:25-27; I Cor. 12:12-14; II Cor. 11:2).

13. THE LOCAL VISIBLE CHURCH:  We believe that the visible church is a congregation of true believers in Jesus Christ who have, upon confession of faith in Christ our Lord, been prepared for immersion as set forth in the New Testament, and have carried forth the act of this commandment of the Lord to all believers.  By doing this, the believer wishes to voluntarily associate with other believers for the purpose of worship, fellowship, witnessing, and faithful stewardship.  (Acts 14:27, 2:17, 20:28-32; I Tim. 3:13; Tit. 1:5-11).

We believe that every individual is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith.  We believe that every church is autonomous and must not yield to any interference by an ecclesiastical or political authority.  Therefore, the Church and State must forever be separate entities, as each having different functions, and each with responsible duties, free from dictation or the patronage of the other.

14. ORDINANCES:  We believe that the ordinances committed to the Visible Church are Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism is the immersion, in water, of a believer in Christ, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and symbolizes the fact of the death of an individual to the old life, the burying of that old life, and his spiritual resurrection to newness of life, and identification with Christ.  The Lord's Supper is a commemoration of His Sacrificial death, and symbolizes the fact that the believer is continuously fed and nourished by Christ.  (Matt. 3:6, 3:13-17, 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; John 3:23, 6:35; Acts 8:36-38; Col 2:12; Matt. 26:26-30; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19-20; John 6:63; Acts 2:41-42; I Cor. 11:23-29).

15. THE PERSONALITY OF SATAN:  We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin, and the cause of the fall; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and Man; and that he shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire.  (Job 1:6-7; Isaiah 14:12-17; Matt. 4:2-11; Matt 25:41; Rev. 20:10).

16. THE SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST:  We believe in the "Blessed Hope", the personal imminent, pre-tribulation and pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones; and in His subsequent return to earth, with His saints, to establish His Millennial Kingdom. (I Thes. 1:10, 4:13-18, 5:9; Zechariah 14:4-11; Rev. 3:10, 19:11-16, 20:1-6).

17. THE ETERNAL STATE:  We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. (Matt. 25:46; John 5:28-29, 11:25-26; Rev.20:5-6, 20:12-15).

We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when, with the soul and body reunited they shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment.  (Luke 16:19-26; Matt. 25:41-46; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Mark 9:43-48; Rev. 20:11-15).

We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord. (Luke 23:43; Rev. 20:4-6; II Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; I Thessalonians 4:16-17).