The great gospel blessing which Christ secures to such as believe in Him is justification, that judicial act of God accompanied by the pardon of sin and the imputation of divine righteousness, not because of any work of righteousness on our part, but solely through faith in the Redeemer s blood. The believer who has exercised personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is completely justified and in possession of eternal life, which is eternally secure. We believe the Scriptures teach that the local church is a congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word. Its Scriptural officers are pastors, sometimes called bishops or elders, and deacons, whose qualifications, claims, and duties are defined in the epistles to Timothy and Titus. Baptism is performed under the authority of the local church to show forth our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior.
Baptism pictures our death to sin and resurrection to a new life.
It is a prerequisite to the privileges of church membership. The Lord s Supper, or communion, commemorates the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the bread representing His body that was broken for us, and the fruit of the vine representing His blood that was shed for us. We believe the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord s Supper is to be observed under the authority of the local church. We believe that the believer who is obedient in tithing pleases God, and that tithing is a reminder to the believer that God is the true owner of all that we have. The souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord where they consciously await the first resurrection, at which time the spirit, soul, and new body are reunited to be forever glorified with the Lord.