The Church
We believe that the church, as set forth in the New Testament, has a twofold aspect: universal and local. We believe that the church, the body of Christ (Eph. 1:19-23
; Col. 1:18), is composed of all elect in Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:26-29), and that it is essentially an organism rather than an organization (Eph. 2:11-22). We believe a local church to be an organized body of immersed believers (Acts 2:41, 47) who meet regularly for the purposes of worship (John 4:23-24; Phil. 3:3), fellowship (Acts 2:42), observance of the ordinances (Acts 2:41), proclamation of the gospel (Matt. 28:19-20; Luke 24:46-47), and the edification of the saints (Eph. 4:11-12); that each local church is to be autonomous (I Cor. 5:1-6), although churches may voluntarily cooperate with each other (Acts 15:2, 4-5, 23-25); that a local church has as its Biblical officers, at minimum elders (Acts 20:17, 28; Tit. 1:5-7; I Tim. 3:1-7), and deacons (Phil. 1:1; I Tim. 3:8-13); that other officers may be added as needed by the Elders of the church provided such officers are not contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture; and that the ordinances of the church are Baptism (Matt. 28:19; Acts 2:41, 10:46-48) and the Lord’s Supper (I Cor. 10:16-22, 11:17-34).
Baptism
We believe that baptism is the public confession of Christ as Savior and Lord. It is a symbol of one’s union, by faith, with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection, and therefore is to be administered by immersion to only those who have given evidence of faith in Christ as their personal Savior (Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38-41, 8:36-39; Rom. 6:3-5; Col. 2:12). We believe that baptism is the official entrance into local church membership.
The Lord’s Supper
We believe that the Lord’s Supper should be observed by all believers in obedience to the command, “Do this in remembrance of me” (I Cor. 11:24-25). It consists in the partaking of the consecrated emblems of bread and wine, and symbolizes the broken body and shed blood of Christ which was given for the remission of our sins, and our continual dependence upon him for our sustenance (John 6:25-59). The Lord’s Table should be open to all immersed believers who are in a right relationship with God (Matt. 26:26-30; Luke 22:19-20; I Cor. 10:16-22; 11:23-26).