Grace
Church is an autonomous, Bible believing, non-charismatic,
New Testament church and believes the following statements
to be a summary of those doctrines which are essential to
the practice and propagation of true Biblical Christianity.
The Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, is the verbally
inspired Word of God, inerrant in the original writing,
therefore the sole authority for Christian faith and life.
The only true and living God is a Triune God, eternally
existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God
is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. God is the
Creator and Ruler of all things, God has been revealed to
man by His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was born of a
virgin, wholly God and wholly man, lived a sinless life,
died as a substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of mankind,
was buried, arose bodily from the grave, ascended into
heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father
interceding on behalf of those who put their trust in Him.
The Holy Spirit is a Person, one with the Father and Son in
the Godhead, whose work is to glorify God in Christ
convicting men of sin and regenerating as well as sealing
those who believe on Him.
Man is a special creation of God. God directly created man
in His own image and not through some evolutionary process.
Man in particular was created for the purpose of mutual love
and fellowship between him and his Creator. Mankind fell
through the willful sin of the first man, Adam, bringing sin
and death into the world. Therefore, through Adam, all men
have inherited a sin nature and are sinners in need of
salvation.
Salvation is a gift given through repentance toward God and
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Man is unable to save
himself from the power or penalty of sin. Each man must be
saved on the basis of the work Christ has done in dying and
shedding His blood for mankind’s sins and rising for his
justification. This salvation is received instantly and
appropriated by simple faith in Jesus Christ as personal
Savior. A true Christian is one who has been "saved" or
"born again," regenerated by the Holy Spirit when he truly
accepted Christ as his Savior. The reality of this
experience, as well as one’s personal salvation, will be
evidenced by a genuine love for Christ and His Word and by a
life characterized by Christ-like motives and principles.
Believer’s baptism is by immersion in obedience to the
command of Christ.
The individuals who die in their sins spend eternity in
Hell, and the individuals who receive Jesus Christ as Savior
spend eternity in Heaven.
Every believer has direct access to God by prayer through
the Lord Jesus Christ.
The local church is a body of genuinely saved, baptized
believers. In the ultimate sense, the Body of Christ is
composed of all who have been saved and will be with Christ
in Heaven. The local church is organized for the purpose of
effective witness to the unsaved; for baptizing, teaching,
exhorting, and edifying those who are saved; for Christian
fellowship; and for worship of God, through song, testimony,
prayer and observance of the Lord’s Supper.
Jesus Christ will one day return to call His children home.
It is not possible to know the date of His coming;
nevertheless, every Christian should live in earnest
expectation of His coming at any time. When He comes, both
the dead and living believers will be caught up to meet Him,
receiving their resurrection bodies, and will appear before
the judgment seat of Christ to be judged, not for salvation,
but for rewards. The coming of Christ will also be
associated with a period of judgment and great tribulation
on the earth. The wrath of God will be poured out on unsaved
men because of their rejection of God and His Christ. Then
Christ will come to the earth in power and glory to reign
for a thousand years.
Following the millennium, the unsaved dead will be raised,
judged according to their works, and separated forever from
God in the Lake of Fire. Satan, who is a real personality
and the source of all evil in the universe, will also be
consigned forever to the Lake of Fire.
We believe in the separation of church and state, but not
the separation of God and government.
We believe in honoring God in giving the tithes and
offerings.
