PEAK CITY FULL GOSPEL BAPTIST CHURCH

STATEMENT OF FAITH

  1. THE SCRIPTURES.  
    We believe that all Scripture was given by the inspiration of God. We understand the whole Bible is inspired in the sense that holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the words of Scripture. This divine inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of the writings - historic, poetic, doctrinal, and prophetic - as appeared in the original manuscripts. Therefore, we believe the whole Bible in the originals is without error. All Scriptures focus on the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and work in His first and second coming. Therefore, no portion of the Bible, including the Old Testament, is properly read, or understood, until it leads to Him. We believe that all Scriptures were designed for our practical instruction. 1. THE SCRIPTURES. We believe that all Scripture was given by the inspiration of God. We understand the whole Bible is inspired in the sense that holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the words of Scripture. This divine inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of the writings - historic, poetic, doctrinal, and prophetic - as appeared in the original manuscripts. Therefore, we believe the whole Bible in the originals is without error. All Scriptures focus on the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and work in His first and second coming. Therefore, no portion of the Bible, including the Old Testament, is properly read, or understood, until it leads to Him. We believe that all Scriptures were designed for our practical instruction.
  2. GOD.
    We believe there is only one living and true God who is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. We owe God the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal qualities, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
    1. GOD THE FATHER.
      We believe God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and t h r o u g h o u t history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all-powerful, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
    2. GOD THE SON
      We believe Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus revealed and did the will of God, taking on Himself the demands and needs of human nature and identifying Himself completely with humanity yet without sin. Jesus honored the divine law by His personal obedience. In His death on the cross, Jesus provided for the redemption of humanity from sin. Jesus was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. Jesus ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, partaking of the nature of God and of man, and in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. Jesus Christ will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. We believe Christ now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.
    3. GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
      We believe the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God who inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination, the Holy Spirit enables the believer to understand truth. The Holy Spirit exalts and glorifies Christ, and convinces us of sin. The Holy Spirit calls people to the Savior and effects regeneration. The Holy Spirit cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and gives the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. The Holy Spirit seals the believer to the day of final redemption. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the Christian is the assurance of God to bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. We believe the Holy Spirit enlightens and empowers the believer and the Church in worship, evangelism, and service.
  3. MAN.
    We believe man was created by the special act of God in His own image and is the crowning work of His creation. In the beginning, man was innocent of sin and was endowed by His Creator with freedom of choice. Through the temptation of Satan, man transgressed the command of God and fell from his original innocence. Whereby, man inherited a nature and a desire towards sin. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. We believe the sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and Christ died for humanity. Therefore, every person possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
  4. SALVATION.
    We believe salvation involves the redemption of the whole person and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense, salvation includes regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.
    1. REGENERATION.
      We believe regeneration or the new birth is a work of God's grace, by which believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Savior. Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer into a relationship of peace and favor with God.
    2. SACNTIFICATION
      We believe sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God's purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual perfection through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit indwelling in them. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerated person's life.
    3. GLORIFICATION
      We believe glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.
  5. THE CHURCH.
    We believe the Church is a company of persons divinely called and separated from the world, and baptized on a profession of their faith in Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we are united in covenant for worship observing the ordinances of Christ and performing Christian service. We believe this is done under the supreme authority of Jesus Christ, whose Word is our only law and rule of life in matters of religious faith and practice.
  6. BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER.
    We believe Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper. We believe the Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
  7. LAST THINGS.
    We believe God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth. The wicked will be consigned to Hell, and the righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will remain forever in Heaven with the Lord.
  8. EVANGELISM AND MISSION.
    We believe it is the duty and privilege of every baptized believer in the body of Christ to help make disciples of all nations. The new birth of an individual's spirit by the Holy Spirit results in the birth of love for others. Missionary effort by all believers is expressed and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we should continually seek to win the lost to Christ by personal effort and by all other methods in harmony with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
  9. EDUCATION.
    We believe the cause of religious education in the Kingdom of Christ is in harmony with the causes of mission and general benevolence and should receive along with these the liberal support of the Church. Religious education edifies the Church by building disciples and helping believers experience a life in Jesus Christ. We believe an adequate system of religious education is necessary in order for the Church to provide a complete program of spiritual development.
  10. STEWARDSHIP.
    We believe God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual. All that we have and all that we are, we owe to Him. Christians have a spiritual debtorship to the whole world - a holy trusteeship in the gospel and a binding stewardship in their possessions. Therefore, we are under obligation to serve Him with our time, talents, and material possessions; and should recognize all these as entrusted to us to use for the glory of God and for helping others. According to the Scriptures, Christians should contribute cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionally, and liberally for the advancement of the Redeemer's cause on earth.
  11. MARRIAGE.
    We believe God created marriage in the beginning as a blessing for both man and woman, before any sin or rebellion entered the world. We also believe God created marriage to be between one man and one woman, who enter into a covenant relationship to complement one another, to serve one another, and to sanctify one another for as long as they both shall live. Accordingly, we reject any attempt to redefine marriage as a union between people of the same sex or between more than one man and one woman.