What We Believe About: The Church

Section XI

We believe in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all regenerated persons are members. The church was created in Christ Jesus to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. We believe in the local church, consisting of a company of believers in Jesus Christ, baptized on a credible profession of faith, and associated for worship, ministry, and fellowship. We believe that God laid upon the members of the local church the primary task of making disciples, starting with the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world, then the need for baptism, and then obedience to the teachings of Jesus Christ. (Psalm 16:11; John 15:11,16:22,17:13; Ephesians 1:5-6, 22-23; 2:19-22; Acts 1:8; 2:42-47; Romans 15:8-9; Matthew 28:18-20; Hebrews 10:23-25)

We believe that Christ committed two ordinances to the local church: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of the believer in water into the name of the Triune God as a testimony of salvation, not a means of it. We believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ for the commemoration of His death and is open to all believers. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered on a regular basis until the return of Jesus Christ.