“All things were created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16).

We exist to Glorify God through knowing, loving, and enjoying Christ Jesus by the Spirit. Christ is prophet, priest, and king. The gospel transforms got-tos into get-tos (Mt. 11:28–30; John 14:15). This distinctive isn’t one of many; it’s not “Jesus and” but “Jesus, and so.”

“Therefore, having received an unending Kingdom, let us hold grace, by which we may offer acceptable worship to God with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12:28; also Rom 12:1–2, 1 Peter 2:9, Phil 4:18, etc.).

We are worshiping beings. Worship is theocratic (God-governed), not democratic (people-governed). God supplies our needs based on what He wants for us, not what we want for us. And we respond to God by making our sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise upon the altar of the world.

“For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25).

Jesus Christ is the supreme legislator, judge, and commander in chief of heaven and earth, things visible and invisible (Col. 1:16). The opposite of heaven is not hell but earth. The temple is heaven on earth. At the incarnation, God tabernacled in human flesh (John 1:14). The cross is triumphant (Col. 2:13–15). The ascension is enthronement (Acts. 1:9–11; Daniel 7:13–14). Christians are not practical deists. Our faith is necessarily a public faith, the mission a global conquest, and this is carried out by wielding the sword of the Scriptures (Psalm 2; Ephesians 6:17; Revelation 19:11–16). Christ rules by His Word until, at the end, “God…will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere’ (1 Corinthians 15:28). The final scene in Revelation is New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God (Revelation 21:1–2). Heaven on earth. And because we are a praying people, we say by faith: ‘Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’

“Has the word of God gone out from you, or has it come to you only?” (1 Corinthians 14:36).

We joyfully affirm a Book of Confessions as a testimony to the work of the Spirit of Christ through the ages. We believe salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone, and that this is a truth taught by God in His Word (Ephesians 2:1-10). Knowing the Church continues to work out its salvation with fear and trembling, we seek to imitate and imbibe the spirit of our Protestant forebearers: Reformata, semper reformanda (“reformed, always reforming”).

“Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and the head of Christ is God” (1 Corinthians 11:3).

We’re not egalitarian; we gladly embrace authority structures and the mutual edification that exists between them. Love and glory in the Godhead are evidenced in the virtues of masculinity and femininity, and these are virtues are embodied in men and women respectively. Men are created to rule, sacrifice, be responsible, and initiate. Women are created to submit, obey, give thanks, and respond. But masculine and feminine virtues aren’t absolute. Men are also called to submit to other men (pastors, bosses, governing authorities, etc.). And women are called to rule (mothers to their children, etc.). We believe the rightly-ordered Christian household is the “nursery of church and commonwealth”. The doctrine of sphere responsibility and the principle of subsidiarity outline these ordered relationships.

“One generation will laud your works to another, and will declare your mighty deeds” (Psalm 145:4).

The ordinary means of gospel growth in the world is household ministry (1 Timothy 2:8-3:16). This is characterized by older men and women who humble themselves in order to love and nourish younger men and women, while the younger men and women humble themselves in order to honor and support older men and women (Titus 2; 1 Timothy 5). Children’s programs aren’t substitutes for the role of fathers in discipling their children (Dt. 6:4-9; Eph. 6:4). We expect our fathers to be mindful of their grandchildren as they raise their children (Prov. 13:22).

“These are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ” (Colossians 2:17; see Ephesians 5:16).

God has ordered the days and years, and created mankind according to this pattern (Genesis 1:14). Every culture has a calendar, and every calendar is a catechism. We strive to make the best use of time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16). The Lord’s day serves as a weekly holiday (“holy day”), a holy resting and feasting in the Lord, and the reminder that Jesus is Lord (Psalm 118:24). And a yearly Christian calendar (with feast days centered on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ) protects against pagan feast days by fixing our eyes on Jesus.

“And they beheld God, and they ate, and they drank” (Exodus 24:11).

Public worship is a covenant renewal ceremony (Ex. 24) emphasizing two things: word and sacrament. Although we gladly use the word ordinance, the word sacrament is embedded with the covenantal terms and obligations which mark these practices. In the public gathering, we read, sing, pray, and teach the Bible, and we endeavor by faith to practice the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper with gravity and gladness.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly by teaching in all wisdom, and by admonishing with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with thankfulness, singing in your heart to God” (Colossians 3:16).

For the explanation of this distinction, visit our "Music" page.

“You were at that time apart from Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, not having hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).

Baptists hold to a particular view of the covenants, and especially the New Covenant, distinct from our Protestant brethren. Every covenant is sealed in blood. The New Covenant was foreshadowed in the various covenants of promise (Ephesians 2:13), and ultimately sealed and made effective by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:29). So, we reject the teaching that an individual once in the New Covenant can ever be taken out of it. And we believe an appropriate view of the covenants is connected to a right use of the Law (see LBC 19).