God – We believe in one God, eternally existing in three Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – con-substantial, co-eternal, and co-equal in power and glory, each having identical attributes and perfections. We believe in the universal sovereignty of God. He is the Creator of all that is and ordains all that comes to pass, according to His sovereign good pleasure and perfect wisdom, yet without becoming the author of sin.
The Scriptures – We believe in the verbal and plenary inspiration of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, in the original manuscripts. We believe the Scriptures to be the inerrant and infallible Word of God and, therefore, the supreme and final authority in faith and life.
Christ – We believe in the absolute Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ; in His virgin birth; in His literal incarnation; in His perfect humanity (void of sin); in His miracles; in His vicarious substitutionary and atoning death on the cross through the shedding of His blood for remission of sins; in His literal bodily resurrection; in His literal bodily ascension; in His present High Priestly ministry of intercession and sole mediatorship; and in His personal, imminent, literal return.
The Holy Spirit – We believe in the personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit, and in His ministry of revealing Christ, convicting of sin, reproving unrighteousness, baptizing the repentant person into the Body of Christ at conversion only, of regenerating, of sanctifying and filling and empowering for service.
Satan – We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man, and that he will be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire.
Man – We believe that man was created in the image of God, directly and without any process of evolution. We believe that, in Adam’s sin, the whole human race fell into a state of sin. All human beings come into the world with a sinful nature, being alienated from God, in a state of spiritual death and subject to physical and eternal death. Man is totally depraved, meaning that every part of his nature is corrupted by sin, and he is, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition.
Salvation – We believe that salvation of sinners is wholly of grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in virtue of His redemptive work on the cross, and that neither baptism, the Lord’s Supper, nor any other rite, ceremony or work can avail one whit for the sinner’s salvation. We believe that regeneration is a work of the Spirit of God in the human heart constituting the sinner a new creature in Christ and issuing forth in repentance and faith. Repentance and faith are inseparable graces. All who personally receive Jesus Christ as Savior, are justified on the basis of Christ’s shed blood, born of the Spirit and thereby become children of God.
Perseverance – We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Work, which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh. We recognize that there will be those who profess Jesus as Lord who are not, nor ever were genuinely born again. We recognize the need for all to do a self examination according to biblical truth to see whether or not we are genuinely in the faith.
Church
- We believe that the invisible, universal church is a spiritual organism and includes regenerated persons from Pentecost to the second coming of Christ. We believe that her supreme mission is her worldwide commission as set forth by Christ and His apostles. We believe that Christ is the Head of His church. We believe in the autonomy of the local church, free from any other external authority or control.
- We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord.
- We believe in the “Priesthood of all Believers.” That every regenerated human being has direct relations with God and is responsible to God in all matters of faith; that each church is autonomous; and that church and state must be kept separate as having functions each fulfilling its duties free from the dictation or patronage of the other.
- We believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the ordinances established by Christ for the church in this present dispensation. We believe that baptism is to follow conversion, being a public testimony of one’s faith in Christ. It is to be practiced by immersion in water, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, publicly identifying with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and portraying death to sin and resurrection to newness of life. We believe that the Lord’s Supper was established as a means of showing forth in symbol Christ’s death for us until He comes again and expresses the believer’s relationship to Christ. We believe that the Lord’s table should be open to all regenerated persons living in fellowship with, and obedience to Jesus Christ, and in fellowship with other believers.
Resurrection – We believe in the literal resurrection of the body. We believe in the endless bliss of believers in God’s presence and in the endless, conscious punishment of the nonbeliever.
Second coming – We believe in the literal, physical, premillennial return of Jesus Christ to judge the world and to establish His kingdom.
Church Constitution – FBC_Constitution