One Book and Many Books

If you were to open a Bible for the first time, the thing that might immediately attract your attention is that there are two major divisions in it: "The Old Testament" and the "New Testament". If you have been exposed to the Bible all of your life, you know that the first and longer division concerns events and personalities through which God was working prior to the time of Christ. The second part of the Bible deals with the events surrounding the life of Christ and the subsequent beginnings and early experience of the church.

We are people of the covenant. The Bible is the record of the covenant relationship with God. It is a covenant perfectly fulfilled and expressed in Jesus Christ. The old covenant has not been replaced by the covenant of grace but it has been fulfilled. All that was expressed in the old covenant is embodied in the new. But more than that, the old covenant finds its highest meaning in the new covenants of Christ. When you open your Bible and see the two divisions of old and new testaments, remember that the terms are not meaningless designations of two parts of the Bible. Rather, they represent a major theme of biblical revelation.                                                 

What We Believe

We believe the Scriptures as the source of doctrine. We look not to creeds, but to the Bible for spiritual guidance.

We believe that the ultimate source of authority is Jesus Christ, the Lord: that the Bible is the inspired revelation of God's will and way.

We believe that salvation from sin is the free gift of God through Jesus Christ, conditioned upon trust in and commitment to Christ, the Lord.

We believe the Church is a fellowship of baptized believers, banded together for worship, nurture, and service. A Church as a government properly reflects the equality and responsibility of believers under the Lordship of Christ.

We believe that baptism and the Lord's supper, the two ordinances of the Church, are symbolic of redemption, but their observance involves spiritual realities in  personal Christian experiences.

The Church is the instrument in which God's family takes part in establishing the Kingdom of God in the lives of people in our community and the whole world. the Church is to bring God's presence into relationships, families, workplaces, and into the marketplace to make a difference in our world. 

An effective church develops spiritually maturing Christians.  The Church is committed to provide the functions that will move it's members toward spiritual maturity.  Paul wrote to Timothy of the characteristics that should be found  in leaders forathe spiritual growth of the Church; in his letter to Titus he included qualities for leaders and all Christians.  These qualities apply to all believers in Christ who have committed to grow spiritually to become morel like him; being temperate, being sober minded, being generous, free from addictions, able to teach.