The Church

We believe...

• The church was a mystery, not revealed in the Old Testament, and only hinted at in the gospels (Matt. 16). Its full development was left to the apostle Paul in his epistles (Ephesians 3:3-5).

• The church is not an organization, but an organism of which Christ is the head (Ephesians 4:15-16).

• The church is not Israel; Israel is a nation. The church is explicitly not a nation, being made up of all who have believed on Jesus from every nation and tongue the world over during the Dispensation of Grace (Romans 10:19).

• The church is made up of all who have believed upon, or placed the care of their souls in, the hands of Jesus Christ for His eternal care (John 3:16; 5:24) from the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) to the day of the rapture, which is imminent (expected at any moment, 1 Cor. 15). 

• Each member of the church, at the point of belief, is granted from Christ at least one spiritual gift to be used to edify the other members, as well as the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and a new nature which is submissive to, rather than at war with, God (1 Corinthians 12:7, John 14:16, 2 Corinthians 5:17).

• The purpose of the church is to serve as ambassadors, demonstrating the values of the coming millennial kingdom, and representing the ruler of that kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:20) in a world under Satan's control (1 John 5:19).

• The means by which the church accomplishes this task is three-fold: 

  • 1) To glorify (exult) God through public worship and the effect of progressively sanctified lives in the community (Hebrews 13:15, Ephesians 3:9-10); 

  • 2) To edify the saints in the body and teach of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13); and

  • 3) To present the gospel of God's grace through Christ to the unbelieving. (Mark 16:15)

  This threefold purpose of the church can be summarized as: Exult God; Edify the Saints; Evangelize the World.

The church is not called to renovate society (currently under the power of Satan); therefore, we reject the social gospel, the social justice gospel, liberation theology, or any introduction of Marxist ideas into the church.