What We Believe

What We Believe

This congregation is a group of people who are drawn together by a common faith in Jesus Christ.  Following the teaching of the Lord, we are known only as "Christians" (Acts 11:26), and when spoken of as a group, we seek to be only His church, thus one of the "churches of Christ" (Romans 16:16).  The Bible is our only source of authority in doctrine, worship, and organization.  The Bible repeatedly warns about the danger of changing the divine message (Galatians 1:6-9).  As imperfect people, we pray to God for forgiveness (Acts 8:24), confess our shortcomings (James 5:16), and rely on each other for encouragement and support (Hebrews 10:23-25).

We are an independent and self-governing congregation under Christ alone as Head (Ephesians 1:22-23), with no denominational affiliation or earthly headquarters, though we recognize a special closeness to other churches of Christ.  We deplore the denominational divisions of today and pray for the time when all professed Christians will rid themselves of all humanly devised barriers and come into the unity of the faith that is in Christ, so that the world may believe that God sent Him (John 17:20-21).

Those who are not yet Christians are taught to believe in Jesus Christ with the whole heart (John 8:24), to repent of sins (Luke 13:3), to confess their faith in the Lord (Matthew 10:32-33), and to be buried with Christ in baptism for the forgiveness of their sins (Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, Galatians 3:26-27, Mark 16:16,1 Peter 3:21).  Since baptism must be preceded by faith and repentance, we do not practice infant baptism.  And since the baptism instituted by Jesus and practiced by the early church was immersion, we follow that practice today (Colossians 2:12).  Thus, baptism truly symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and this becomes to the penitent believer his burial of the former sinful self and resurrection to the new life in Christ (Romans 6:1-7).  Following baptism, we encourage one another to live in righteousness (1 Peter 2:24).

 

As a congregation, we exist for the purpose of following Him who came to minister and to give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:42-45).  Therefore, to the extent that we can, we are active in mission work and benevolence.  Our marching orders are the Lord's worldwide commission to teach and preach the good news (Matthew 28:18-20).  Our hope is His everlasting kingdom (2 Peter 1:11) and the resurrection of the dead (1 Peter 1:3-4).  Our message is "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2).  Christ is our only creed, and the Bible is our only rule of faith and practice, "For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake" (2 Corinthians 4:5).