What We Believe
One God, Three Parts
About God
God is an uncreated spirit who is the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He has always existed in three personalities: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God (Genesis 1:1, 26,27; 3:22; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Corinthians 13:14).
About the Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is the Son of God and co-equal with the Father. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all men by dying on a cross. He became alive again after being dead three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He’s the Head of the church and the only way to God and eternal life. He went to heaven and now “sits at the right hand of God” and will return to earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Matthew 1:22,23; John 1;1–5, 14:6–30; Hebrews 4:14,15; 1 Corinthians 15:3,4; Romans 1:3,4; Acts 1:9–11; I Timothy 6:14,15).
About the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son as God. He is present in the world to make men aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation. He provides the Christian with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth and guidance in doing what is right. The Christian seeks to live under His control daily (2 Corinthians 3:17; John 16:7–13, 14:16,17; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 2:12, 3:16; Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 5:1).
About Communication from God
The Bible is God’s message to all people. It was written by human authors under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the supreme source of truth for Christian beliefs and living. The original documents did not contain any errors. God has provided an avalanche of evidence to support what he claims in the Bible. We believe God also communicates through the Holy Spirit, prayer, circumstances and His church, but these will never conflict with the truth he’s already communicated in the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20,21; 2 Timothy 1:13; Psalm 119:105,160, 12:6; Proverbs 30:5).
About Salvation
Salvation is being right with God. It means having your sins forgiven rather than punished. It means that God’s Spirit lives within you and helps you become a real person. It means you will enjoy living with God forever in heaven after you die. Salvation is God’s free gift to everyone who puts his or her faith in Jesus (Matthew 5:3–11; Romans 5:1; 6:23; Titus 3:5; John 14:1–2).
About Becoming a Christ-Follower
Man can never make up for his sin by self-improvement or doing good deeds. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God’s offer of forgiveness can man be saved from sin’s penalty, which is death. Therefore to become a follower of Christ, one needs to admit to God that he is a sinner in need of God’s grace and forgiveness. He needs to pledge in faith that he wants to stop sinning and start living like Christ. Through faith he must accept that Jesus paid the penalty for his sin by dying on the cross and that he is being saved because Jesus came back from the dead. And just like the Bible says, he must be “buried with Christ in baptism” and raised to live a new life as a Christian. In the Bible, every time a person accepted Christ, he was baptized, which means to submerge under water, as soon as possible. Since the Bible is our guide manual, we follow the same practice (Acts 2:38; 8:34f; 22:16; Romans 5:1–2; 6:1–7; Ephesians 2:8,9; Colossians 2:12; John 14:6; Titus 3:5; Galatians 3:26–27).