We believe that the Bible is the final authority of the believer for faith and practice and should be interpreted normally, literally, grammatically, historically and contextually. We believe in the plenary and verbal inspiration of the Scriptures, whereas the Holy Spirit superintended the divinely prepared human authors of Scripture so that using their own backgrounds, personalities and styles, they composed and recorded without error God’s revelation to man in the words of the original autographs (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21).
We believe that there is one living and true God (Deut. 6:4) who is an infinite, all knowing Spirit (John 4:24), perfect in all His attributes, one in essence, eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14) – Each equal in essence thus equally deserving worship and obedience (1 Cor. 8:6; John 5:21-23; Matt. 12:31).
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, while eternally existing as God, became a man, born of a virgin having been conceived by the Holy Spirit, in order to reveal God and redeem sinful man (John 1:1-2; 3:16; Phil. 2:7). We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through his substitutionary death on the cross and was raised from the dead, confirming our redemption, in the same body in which he suffered (Rom. 3:24-25; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; 2 Cor. 5:21).
We believe that man was created by God in His own image but fell into sin through disobedience “so that death passed upon all men, for all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23; 5:12). We believe that the only way to heaven is through Jesus and the experience of new birth (John 3:16). This salvation is the gift of God’s grace and is received by faith alone (John 3:1-7; Eph. 2:8-9).
We believe that the Holy Spirit, the third person of the triune Godhead, permanently indwells and regenerates all believers, baptizes them into the body of Christ, and empowers them for works of service (Eph. 1:13; John 14:16; 1 Cor. 12:13). We believe that the Bible commands believers to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18) and that the Spirit has bestowed spiritual gifts on all believers for the purpose of glorifying God and building up the body of Christ, His church (Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-11; Eph. 4:11-13). We do not believe that any singular gift is the witness of the presence of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:27-31).
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; the saved unto the resurrection of eternal life and the lost unto the resurrection of damnation and eternal punishment (I Corinthians 15:51-57; Revelation 20:11-15).
We believe communion and baptism are the divine sacraments of the church. Communion provides an opportunity for the believer to “proclaim the death of Christ” (1 Cor.11:17-32). Water baptism, distinguished from baptism of the Holy Spirit (see Matt. 3:11-17; 1 Cor. 12:13), is an outward step of obedience, confirming what God has done for us inwardly through the new birth (Acts 2:38-41; 6:1-4).
We believe God’s plan for human sexuality is to be expressed only within the context of marriage, that God created man and woman as unique biological persons made to complete each other. God instituted monogamous marriage between male and female as the foundation of the family and the basic structure of human society. For this reason, we believe that marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5-6; Mark 10:6-9; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9).
We believe that human life is sacred from conception to its natural end; and that we must have concern for the physical and spiritual needs of our fellow men (Psalm 139:13; Isaiah 49:1; Jeremiah 1:5; Matthew 22:37-39; Romans 12:20-21; Galatians 6:10).
We believe that church membership is not a Scriptural principle of requisite. However, we do invite those who (1) are born again and (2) who feel led by the Holy Spirit to fellowship and minister at Grace to unite with us in membership (Heb. 10:25). We recognize that all believers regardless of church affiliation comprise the body of Christ (Eph. 4:25).