THE DOCTRINE:
We believe in the whole Bible as the Word of God and preach the old-fashioned Gospel without addition or modification. This is our doctrinal position:
We believe:
1) The inspiration and authority of the Holy Scripture.
2) The deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
3) The universal need of salvation from sin and from eternal condemnation, through the mercy and grace of God.
4) The efficacy of the offering on the Cross of Calvary for the redemption of the world.
5) The bodily resurrection of the Savior.
6) The ascension into Heaven of the glorified Son of God.
7) The personal mission of the Holy Spirit for the regeneration and sanctification of believers.
8) The living Church of Christ on earth, composed of all true believers in Christ, baptized in the one Spirit into one body, the missionary agent for the evangelizing of the world.
9) The premillennial return of the Lord Jesus, the hope of the Church.
10) The eternal security in Christ of the true believer.
THE CROSS:
One all-important aspect of the Gospel, as we seek to preach and teach it, is the “Word of the Cross”. It can be traced all through the New Testament. In the words of our Lord:
“If any man desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me!” – Luke 9:23.
Any work done on any other basis, i.e. the basis of “uncrucified” wisdom and power and love and effort and ingenuity and eloquence and emotions and skills etc., etc., of well-intentioned “MAN”, is not what God is after. He relegates all that back to the “cross”, i.e. to death.
The privilege to see people coming to a personal, saving faith in Jesus Christ is great! It is a tremendous joy! At the same time it is only too easy to let the new convert drift after that. So, as we seek to disciple him, what is it we want him to ‘see’ and grasp above all?
It is that reality of the cross of Christ. New believers must learn from the start that God has only one place for the human “EGO”: the cross! As they learn to “let go”, and “let God”, the Holy Spirit will truly establish them in Christ. It is a work of grace that will manifest itself through them in resurrection power, in their own lives, in their families and in their congregations.
The Thrust:
The thrust of the work is not just the Gospel outreach, and the discipling of individuals, but the coming into being of simple NT churches, i.e. congregations who function according to the NT pattern. Much of our literature, website and personal ministry is geared to that end.
The congregations, as they come into being, are invariably characterized by the lack of a clergy/laity setup. New believers are baptized as soon as possible and taught to take their places as fully responsible members of the “Body of Christ”. There is no organizational basis, but as they learn to trust only God’s grace, they find Christ is in the midst of their gatherings, and his Holy Spirit teaches them through his Word, preparing them for usefulness in his work.