Doctrinal Statement

  1. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit, inerrant in its original manuscripts.
  2.  We believe that the only true and living God is one God, existing in three eternal persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
  3.  We believe that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, has been manifested in the flesh, has once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, on Calvary’s Cross, was buried, rose again, ascended into Heaven.
  4. We believe that only through faith in His substitutionary death can any lost soul be justified before God.
  5. We believe that all who receive Him are eternally saved.
  6.  We believe that all men outside of Christ are lost.
  7. We believe that everlasting, conscious punishment in hell will be the portion of all who die outside of Christ.
  8. We believe that there is one true Church, the body of Christ, consisting of all who have received Him.
  9. We believe that as members of that Church our purpose is to take the Gospel wherever He directs, and to strengthen, wherever He permits, all others who name His name and who seek to walk in obedience to His Word.
  10. We believe that He is soon coming in the air, quickly to take His Church out of this world before the coming Great Tribulation, which will involve the whole earth, begins.
  11. We believe that His ancient people, Israel, will turn in true faith to Him at the end of the Great Tribulation, that He, the Lord Jesus Christ, though once wounded and rejected by them, will then show Himself to be their God by establishing His everlasting earthly kingdom with Israel at the head of the nations.
  12. We believe there is a supernatural, created being “called the Devil and Satan” (Revelation 12:9) who deceives individuals and nations by persuading them to reject God’s revelation of Himself in His Word.
  13. We believe that after the first thousand years of God’s earthly kingdom the Devil will be cast into the lake of fire forever and that all lost souls of all ages will then be resurrected to be judged at the Great White Throne and to be cast into the same lake of fire.
  14. We believe that God will then destroy this earth by fire, so that His redeemed ones may enjoy Him forever in a “new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1) where He will “wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

It goes without saying that wherever the Word of God might prove to contradict our “we believes”, we bow before the supreme authority of the Court beyond which there is no appeal.

Our “shorter catechism”, which contains what we have found to be the most important subjects pertaining to life and happiness can be reduced to five simple words, all beginning with S.

First there is Salvation. According to the Bible there is only one kind pertaining to the human soul. That is “eternal salvation” (Hebrews 5:9, 9:12, 10:9-14). God is the Author of this salvation. He is also the Purchaser of it. He is also the Giver of it. To all who receive it, because salvation is the gift of Himself, He is also the Seal of it, for He comes to dwell forever in all who trust His finished work. Of this greatest of facts His Word gives clear and incontrovertible testimony, upon which even the weakest heart may rest with full assurance.

Then there are Sin and Sorrow. These two things go hand in hand in every Christian life. Wherever there is sin of any kind it is sin against a gracious and loving, living Saviour, and it can never lead to happiness, for some day we shall see that we have hurt Him, and we shall know sorrow. When sin comes, sorrow ends only when there is an active response to the promise in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.

Finally there is the Saviour and Satisfaction. The Scripture says, “He satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness” (Psalm 107: 9). It is common for Christians to imagine that meeting-going brings satisfaction. Another idea is that Christian activity brings satisfaction. Many Christians could easily be carried off captive by the erroneous notion that “traveling so much and being with each other all the time” brings satisfaction. Other Christians might succumb to the subtle suggestion that living on a woodland estate in Gelderland, Holland or in a mansion on the edge of Philadelphia brings satisfaction. Yet according to God’s Word, nothing and no one but the Saviour is the prerequisite for satisfaction.

It is the Saviour Who satisfies: His presence when birds sing songs at dawning, His nearness when evening shadows fall, His understanding when no mortal understands, His faithfulness when earthly friends have failed, His grace when you need it most of all, His peace when the sea is lashed by storms, His strength when your own is all but gone, His Word when your soul cries out for light, His calm when the world foretells defeat, His voice when the devil roars and roars, His vision that He gave you in the night, His fulfillment more wondrous than a dream, His wounds that He bore to make you His, His smile, ah, the sweetest smile that’s known, His life that He gives to sinners vile, His love that will never, never cease!