Leadership Training for Churches

1. The Holy Scriptures

We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the verbally inspired Word of God, authoritative, inerrant, and God-breathed (II Tim. 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20-21; Matt. 5:18; John 16:12-13)

2. The Godhead

We believe in one triune God, existing in three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, eternal in being, identical in nature, equal in power and glory and having the same attributes and perfections. (Deut. 6:4; II Cor. 13:14)

3. The Total Depravity of Man

We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, became alienated from God, and is totally unable to retrieve his lost condition. (Gen. 1:26-27; Rom 3:23-26; Eph. 2:12)

4. The Personal Work of Christ

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man; that He accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice; that our redemption is made sure to us by His literal resurrection from the dead (John 1:1-2; Luke 1:35; Rom. 3:24-25; 4:25; I Peter 1:3-5; that the Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven, exalted at the right hand of God, where, as the High Priest for His people, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor and Advocate. (Heb. 9:24; 7:25; Rom. 8:34; I John 2:1-2)

5. The Personality and Work of the Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, indwells all believers in the present age, baptizes them into the body of Christ, seals them unto the day of redemption, and that it is the duty of every believer to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9; I Cor. 12:12-14; Eph. 1:13-14; 5:18). We believe that speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism nor of the filling of the Spirit and that the deliverance of the body from sickness or death awaits the consummation of our salvation in the resurrection. (Acts 4:8; Rom. 8:23; I Cor. 13:8)

6. Salvation

We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whose precious blood was shed for the forgiveness of sins. (Eph. 2:8-10; John 1:12; Eph. 1:7)

7. The Eternal Security of Believers

We believe that all believers are kept secure forever. (Rom. 8:1; 38-39; John 10:27-30; I Cor. 1:4-8)

8. The Church

We believe that the Church, which is the body and bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons of this present age, irrespective of their affiliation with Christian organizations, (Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25-27; I Cor. 12:12-14)

9. The Personality of Satan

We believe in the personality of Satan, who is the open and declared enemy of God and man. (Job 1:6-7; Matt. 4:2-11; Isa. 14:12-17)

10. The Second Coming of Christ

We believe in the personal, visible return of Jesus Christ for His Church, those cleansed by His precious blood which hope is a vital incentive to holy living and faithful service. Christ will one day establish His glorious and literal kingdom of righteousness and peace Matt. 26:64; Lk. 21-27; I Thess. 4:13-18; Heb. 10:32; Titus 2:11-14; Rev. 19:11-16.

11. The Eternal State

We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do, at death, immediately pass into His presence and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in the glory; but the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the final judgment of the great white throne at the close of the millennium, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. (Luke 16:19-26; 23, 43; II Cor.5:8; Phil. 1:23, II Thess. 1:7-8; Jude verses 6-7; Rev. 20:11-15)

12. The Responsibility of Believers

We believe that all believers should seek to walk in such manner as not to bring reproach upon their Lord and Saviour and that separation from worldly practices is commanded of God (Rom. 12:1-2; 14:13; II Cor. 6:14-7:1); that it is the obligation of every believer to witness by life and by word to the truths of Holy Scriptures and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all the world (Acts 1:8); that it is the responsibility of all believers to remember the work of the Lord in prayer and to support it with their means as the Lord has prospered them. (I Cor. 16:1)

13. Church Ordinance

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper to be observed until His return. (Matt. 28:19-20; I Cor. 11:23-26)