PREAMBLE
Placing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for Salvation, and holding 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 profession of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour, and believing in those great distinctive principles for which Baptists have ever stood.
SCRIPTURES: We believe the Bible to be the Word of God; written by men who were moved by the Holy Spirit so that their writings are Supernaturally and verbally inspired, infallible, and inerrant. They are the final rule of faith and practice. We further believe that God's Word is preserved in the Textus Receptus from which the old KING JAMES VERSION BIBLE is properly translated.
SOVEREIGN: We believe in one God, manifested in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; that our triune God is sovereign in all ways and in all things.
JESUS CHRIST: We believe in Jesus Christ who is God the Son; that He was pre-existent with the Father, begotten by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, thus becoming God in the flesh - sinless in His nature, infallible in His teaching and perfect in all ways and in all things. His blood atonement was made for the sins of all men through His substitutionary death on the cross. We believe in His bodily resurrection, His bodily ascension into Heaven, His perpetual intercession for believers, His pre-tribulation return for His saints both dead and alive, and His eternal reign as Deity, Lord and King.
HOLY SPIRIT: We believe in the deity and person of the Holy Spirit; that He came from the Father to convince and convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and to regenerate, sanctify, in-dwell, comfort, and empower those who are truly saved.
SATAN: We believe in the person of Satan, his fallen state and eternal condemnation.
SINS: We believe that sin is anything contrary to the will, the desire, or the decrees of God, both named and unnamed in Scripture; that man was created in the image of God, but fell through sin. With this sin came physical death and separation from God; that this sin nature was passed to all mankind and that there are none righteous. We further believe in a literal, eternal Hell for those who die in this sinful state.
SALVATION: We believe that Jesus Christ shed His blood and died for our sins, as a substitutionary sacrifice and that all who, by faith, receive Him as personal Saviour asking His forgiveness of sin are saved by grace. We believe that both repentance and the blood are absolutely necessary. We further believe in the priesthood of the believer and his eternal security, that is, "once saved always saved."
SECOND COMING: We believe in the physical and personal, visible return of Jesus Christ; that this will happen before the tribulation which precedes the Millennium; that at this event, the dead in Christ shall bodily raise from the dead, and then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with Him. We further believe in Christ's return to earth after the Tribulation to rule with the Saints during the Millennium.
As a bond of unity among us, this church accepts for it's members the following covenant:
Having been led by the Holy Spirit to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, and on profession of our faith in Him, having been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we do now most, solemnly and joyfully enter into this covenant with one another as one body in Christ. We promise that we will watch over and counsel one another in the spirit of brotherly love, that we will remember one another in our prayers, and that we will aid each other in sickness and distress.
We further agree, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love; to strive for the advancement of this church in knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines; to give it a sacred pre-eminence over all institutions of human origin; and to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief, of the poor, and spread of the Gospel through all nations.
We further covenant to maintain family and secret devotion; to religiously educate our children; to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances; to love carefully in this present world; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our deportment; to avoid all tattling, backbiting, and excessive anger; to abstain from everything that will cause our brother to stumble or that will bring reproach upon the cause of Christ; and to strive to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, that amidst evil and good report we will humbly and earnestly seek to live to the honor and glory of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.
We moreover engage that when we remove from this place we will, as soon as possible, unite with some other church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God's Word, in an Independent Baptist Church, where possible.
