Our Beliefs
We do not claim allegiance to any creed, statement of faith, or body of traditions beyond the Scriptures themselves. We believe the Bible is the perfect and complete revelation of God’s will and character to humanity. Only in its pages can we truly come to know His mind and heart.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16-17)
We aim to speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent. We believe that genuine fellowship with God and unity among His people can only come from abiding within His word.
“Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” (2 John 9)
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deut 29:29)
God is most fully glorified and His church most effectively built up when we emphasize what the Bible emphasizes, letting God speak for Himself.
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Pet 4:10-11)
We humbly offer some comments on the Scriptures in this section to help provide you with an idea of how we understand what God has revealed on different matters. But our goal whenever we approach the Bible is not to express “what it means to us.” We rather make it our aim to understand what it means to God - what exactly He intends to communicate through His word. Growing in that understanding is a life-long pursuit. We hope you will join us as we pursue a deeper understanding of God’s heart and mind together.
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” (2 Pet 1:3-4)
Salvation
We believe that salvation is 100% the gift of God and cannot be earned by any amount of human effort. We cannot save ourselves. Jesus’ blood alone can pay the price for our redemption. Atonement for our guilt is only available through His sacrifice on the cross, and His resurrection is our only hope for life beyond the grave.
Yet, we must respond to God’s grace and submit to Jesus as our Lord and Savior in order to receive this gift of salvation. We must “obey the gospel” to experience its transforming power (2 Thess 1:8; 1 Pet 4:17).
Just as God’s power parted the waters of the Red Sea, making it possible for Israel to walk through and escape Egyptian bondage, Jesus has provided a pathway for our eternal salvation. If we are willing to respond in faith, confessing Jesus as Lord, repenting of our sins, and starting a new life in baptism, we can experience freedom from sin and a renewal of our fellowship with God.
Responding to the gospel is not some great accomplishment on our part. All the glory for crossing the Red Sea went to God, not the people of Israel. Yet, they still had to walk through. In the same way, we cannot be passive bystanders to God’s work of salvation and expect to experience its transforming power. We cannot claim Jesus as our Savior unless we also submit to Him as our Lord.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
“...if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10)
“He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” (Mark 16:16)
“Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” (Acts 2:38)
“For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10)
“Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3-4)
“Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’” (John 3:5)
“…God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (1 Pet 3:20-21)
God
We believe in one God who has existed eternally in three persons - the Father, Son, and Spirit. Although they each function in different roles and have manifested themselves in various ways throughout time, they all possess the same divine character. They are perfectly unified in the creation and redemption of mankind. And all three are equally deserving of glory, honor, and praise.
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deut 6:4)
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:26-27)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1-3)
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” (John 1:14, 18)
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Col 1:15-19)
“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’” (Matt 28:18-19)
“And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.’” (Luke 1:35)
“But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? …Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.’” (Acts 5:3-4).
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?… Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own” (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19)
The Church
We believe Jesus only built one church. This church is not an earthly structure, institution, or network, but a heavenly reality of all souls redeemed by Jesus’ blood and united in fellowship with God. Denominational structures, titles, and creeds are a corruption of Jesus’ desire for perfect unity among His people.
True unity results from all members of Christ’s body submitting to Him as our only head and listening to the words of the Spirit as our only guide. Perfect unity will never be fully accomplished here on earth as we each continue to grow in our understanding and submission to God's will. However, we must be committed to eliminating all man-made traditions and innovations that hinder our path to unity. We must never stop striving for perfect fellowship in the truth of God's word, while maintaining a heart of love, gentleness, humility, and forbearance.
God intends for His people to form local assemblies where we can function as a body, flock, and family. This strengthens the fellowship we share in the Lord and allows us to regularly serve, encourage, and help each other grow to the glory of God.
“For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest… But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect” (Heb 12:18,22-23)
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17:20-23)
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph 4:1-6)
“…to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Eph 4:12-14)
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Heb 10:24-25)