Our corporate core
values and statement of faith reflect our commitment to hold fast and hold
forth the commandments and principles of our eternal, unchangeable, and
sovereign God as they apply to our individual and family relationships.
We believe that:
- There is one God
revealed to us in three co-equal, co-eternal persons; God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
- Jesus Christ, God the
Son, fully God and fully man, was born of a virgin, lived a perfect sinless
life, was crucified and died a substitutionary death, was buried, was
resurrected alive, lives forever, and is coming back to establish an earthly
kingdom.
- The Holy Spirit convicts
man of his sin and convinces him of his need for a Savior. The Holy Spirit
seals and indwells the Christian believer to teach, warn, comfort, encourage,
and give assurance of salvation.
- The first man (Adam) was
created perfect by God, but fell into sin in the Garden of Eden as a result of
Satan’s deceit and man’s own prideful desires. Because of his sin, Adam was
cast out of the Garden, and his perfect relationship with God was destroyed.
- Because of Adam’s
original sin, every man and woman is born with a sin nature, and is condemned
to die, physically and spiritually. Man can be saved from spiritual death by
God’s grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ alone, God’s only Son, and the
only redemption provided for man. Only after salvation is man’s personal
relationship with God restored.
- God communicates with
man through His written Word, the Bible, inerrant and immutable, and through
His Holy Spirit who indwells every believer. The Bible is wholly sufficient
for understanding man’s origin, purpose, and relationships with God and other
men. Man communicates with God through prayer and worship.
- Man and woman were both
created by God, equal in value, but with different roles. The man is the head
of the wife and family. The husband must love his wife as Christ loves the
church and gave himself sacrificially for it. The wife must submit to her
husband’s authority and leadership. Children must honor and obey their
parents.
- We should value each
other as God values us, remembering that the price He paid to redeem us was
His only Son. There is no room for partiality or discrimination based on sex,
race, color, stature, physical health or wealth.
- Marriage is the first
institution ordained by God, uniting one man and one woman as husband and
wife; one flesh, one family. This definition specifically excludes homosexual
relationships as families, but includes single parent families.
- God hates divorce, so
great effort should be made to keep marriages together, and to restore broken
family relationships. There is, however, great grace available to those who
have suffered divorce and are repentant.
- The husband-wife
relationship is the primary relationship in the family. This priority does not
change when husbands and wives become parents. Children are a great heritage
from the Lord. It is the parents’ responsibility to teach them the
commandments of God and train them in righteousness. However, parents should
not neglect the priority husband-wife relationship.