PREAMBLE
We, as Bible-believing Christians, having placed our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, and having been immersed in water upon profession of our faith, do hereby band ourselves together as a local Conservative Baptist Church and adopt, ordain, and establish for our government the following Declaration of Faith, Covenant, and Constitution with Bylaws.
DECLARATION OF FAITH
A document which describes and defines what we believe.
DECLARATION OF FAITH
- BIBLE: We believe that the Bible, consisting of both the Old and New Testaments, is God’s infallible, inerrant Word, written by men who were uniquely moved by the Holy Spirit, and that it is our sole and final authority in all matters of faith and practice. We affirm our belief in the verbal and complete inspiration of the Scriptures in their original writings. (2 Tim 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21; Rom 15:4)
- GOD: We believe in one God, Creator of heaven and earth, eternally existing in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. (Deut. 6:4; 1 Tim. 1:17; Matt. 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2)
a. God the Father is perfect in holiness, infinite in wisdom, and measureless in power. We rejoice that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus the Christ. (1 Sam. 2:2; Ex. 34:6; Gal. 1:3-4)
b. God the Son, Jesus the Christ, is God’s only begotten Son, born of a virgin, sinless in life, who atoned for the sins of the world by His substitutionary death on the cross. We believe in His bodily resurrection, His ascension into heaven, His high priestly intercession for His people, His lordship, and His personal, visible, pre-millenial return to the world according to His promise. (Col. 1:12-18; 1 John 4:9-10; I Cor. 15:3-6; Heb. 4:14-16; Acts 1:9-10)
c. God the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. His works in the believer include, but are not limited to, salvation, baptizing into the body of Christ, indwelling, sealing eternally, progressive sanctification, gifting, filling, teaching, enabling, and glorifying. (John 16:8-13; Eph. 1:13-14; 1 Cor. 12:12-14; Rom. 15:16; Gal. 5:22-23; John 16:13-14)
- HUMANITY: We believe that humanity, male and female, was originally created in the image and after the likeness of God. We believe that all life is sacred and of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We believe that at creation humanity was free from sin, but subsequently fell into sin by a voluntary act of personal disobedience to the revealed will of God, lost spiritual life, and became dead in sins and corrupt in nature. These effects of sin have been transmitted to the entire human race—Jesus the Christ being the exception—and, thus, every person born into the world is alienated from the life of God and incapable of remedying his lost and depraved condition apart from divine grace. (Gen. 1:26, 3:1-24, 6:5; Psalm 51:5; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 3:10-18, 5:12; Eph. 2:13)
a. Family: In God’s design for humanity, life begins at fertilization. He established the institution of family through the union of one man and one woman in a marriage covenant for life. His design for the continuance of humanity is through the procreation and discipleship of children within the marriage union. Marriage is the foundational unit for a stable society. Marriage is to be an example of the relationship between Jesus Christ and His Church. (Psalm 51:5; 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:5, Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:31, 34-36, 41, 44; Genesis 2:23-24; Matthew 19:4-6; I Timothy 3:2; Genesis 1:27-28, 9:1; I Corinthians 7:2; Ephesians 5:22-32)
- SALVATION: We believe that through faith in the crucified, risen Christ, man is justified, regenerated and brought into the family of God. It is wholly an act of God, totally apart from the works of man. Man cannot gain it by his actions, nor can he lose it by his actions. (Rom. 5:1; Titus 3:5; Eph. 2:8-9; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; John 10:27-29)
- THE CHURCH: We believe that the church is the body of Christ, which is made up of every born-again believer since Pentecost, regardless of race, sex or national origin, and will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. The local church is an organized body of believers voluntarily associated together for the worship of God, the fellowship of believers, and the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ throughout the world. This local church observes the Biblical ordinances of believers’ baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper. The scriptural offices of the church are described in 1 Timothy 3. The local church is independent and autonomous and is free from all outside ecclesiastical or political interference. (Acts 2:41-47; Eph. 4:16; 1 Cor. 11:23-32; 1 Tim. 3:1-14; Acts 4:19, 5:29)
- SATAN: We believe that Satan is a fallen angel, the author of sin and the cause of the fall. He is the open and declared enemy of God and man. He will be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire. (Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:11-17; Rev. 20:10)
- SECOND COMING: We believe in the personal, visible return of Christ to remove His church from the earth and afterward to descend with the church to establish his millennial kingdom upon the earth. (1 Thess. 1:10, 4:13-18; Rev. 3:10, 19:11 & 20:6)
- FUTURE LIFE: We believe in the conscious existence of the dead, the resurrection of the body, the judgment and reward of believers, the judgment and condemnation of unbelievers, the eternal life of the saved, and the eternal punishment of the lost. (Phil. 1:21-23; Luke 16:19-31; John 5:28-29; Rom. 14:10-12; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 20:11-15; John 3:16; Matt. 25:46; Rev. 20:15)