1.
We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only
infallible, authoratative Word of God.
2.
We believe
that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit.
3.
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.
4.
We believe
that salvation is wholly of grace, but conditioned solely on
repentance toward God and acceptance of Christ by faith. When the
sinner has met these requirements. God justifies and regenerates
them. 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. This experience is witnessed to by the Holy Spirit.
5.
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 unto them various gifts and producing within their
lives the fruits of Christian character.
We believe that all believers the moment they are
regenerated are simultaneously baptized by the Holy Spirit into
Christ 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.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is clearly spelled
out in
I
Corinthians 12:13 Any teaching contrary to
this statement of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not acceptable.
Therefore the practice of "speaking in tongues" is not evidence of
the baptism of the Holy Spirit and is not to be practiced within the
local churches of the Christian Union.
6.
Sanctification
is that 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.
7.
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 unto Christ's own
glorious body.
8.
His creation:
We believe that man was created by God and not by an accidental or
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 is a free moral
agent possessing the power of choice, and that the purpose of his
creation was to glorify God.
His fall: We believe the Biblical teaching about
the fall of man and that because of his fall, death passed upon all
men and sin entered into the world; therefore, condemnation rests
upon each person who has reached the age and development with which
comes accountability before God, and he is forever lost, except he be
born again.
9.
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.
10.
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 to our pastors permission to use other modes when requested by
the candidates.
The Lord's Supper is an ordinance instituted by
Christ for observation 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 believers who are in right
relationship with God, regardless of denomination.
