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Here
is a summary of the doctrines of Scripture that guide the everyday
ministry of our church and Christian school:
The
Bible is the infallible Word of God, supernaturally inspired and
preserved by God to be the only authority and standard for doctrine and
practice.
One true God
exists eternally in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
and is the creator and sustainer of the universe.
The person Jesus
Christ in the flesh is both God and man. He was born,
lived a sinless life, was crucified for our sins, conquered death and
the grave through His bodily resurrection, ascended into heaven, and will
come again for His own.
The person of the Holy
Spirit is God who indwells, baptizes, and seals all believers at the
moment of their salvation and enables them to live a consistent, godly,
separated life.
Man
was created in the image of God but subsequently fell into sin,
resulting in spiritual death. Salvation
is provided wholly by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
The visible church
is a congregation of baptized believers practicing Biblical principles,
believing its doctrine, observing the ordinances
of baptism and communion, and exercising its autonomy.
The future
life of mankind will be a conscious existence of eternal life for the
saved in Christ and eternal punishment for those who are lost in
their sin.
If you would like more information
about the beliefs of our church and how we came to accept them, please
feel free to contact our pastoral staff at 301-868-1600.
A more complete presentation of these
beliefs with their appropriate scriptural support follows in:
The
Statement of Faith of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.
The members of the
Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, in harmony with our historic
position, believing the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the
Bible to be our infallible rule of faith and practice and feeling our
responsibility to make known the divine message of the Bible, present
the following articles as a statement of those basic truths taught in
the Bible which are common to our Christian faith and practice.
The
Bible
The Word of God, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments,
verbally inspired in all parts and therefore wholly without error as
originally given by God (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:21)
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God
The One True God existing eternally
as three persons -- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:22;
Matthew 28:19; II Corinthians 13:14)
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Jesus
Christ
His pre-existence and deity (John 1:1-13), incarnation by virgin birth
(John
1:14; Matthew 1:18-23), sinless life (Hebrews 4:15), substitutionary
death (II Corinthians 5:21), bodily resurrection (Luke 24:36-43),
ascension into heaven and present ministry (Hebrews 4:14-16), and coming
again (Acts 1:11).
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Holy
Spirit
His personality (John 16:7-15), and deity (Acts 5:3-4), and His work in
each believer: baptism and indwelling at the moment of regeneration (I
Corinthians 12:13; Romans 8:9), and filling (Ephesians 5:18) to empower
for Christian life and service (Ephesians 3:16; Acts 1:8; Galatians
5:22-23)
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Man
His direct creation in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-28) his subsequent
fall into sin resulting in spiritual death (Genesis 3:1-24; Romans
5:12), and the necessity of the new birth for his salvation (John 2:2-5)
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Salvation
A complete and eternal salvation by God's grace alone, received as the
gift of God through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His
finished work (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-7; I Peter 1:18-19)
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The
Church
One true church, the body and the bride of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23;
5:25-32), composed of all true believers of the present age (I
Corinthians 12:12-13), and the organization of its members in local
churches for worship, for edification of believers, and the world-wide
gospel witness, each local church being autonomous but cooperating in
fellowship and word (Ephesians 4:11-16)
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The
Christian Life
A life of righteousness, good works and separation unto God from the
evil ways of the world (Romans 12:1-2), manifested by speaking the truth
(James 5:12), maintaining the sanctity of the home (Ephesians 5:22-6:4),
settling differences between Christians in accordance with the Word of
God
(I Corinthians 6:1-8), not engaging in carnal strife but showing a
Christ-like attitude toward all men (Romans 12:7-21), exhibiting the
fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), and maintaining a life of
prayer (Ephesians 6:18; Philippians 4:6), including the privilege, when
sick, of calling for the elders of the church to pray and to anoint with
oil in the name of the Lord Jesus (James 5:13-18)
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Ordinances
The Christian should observe the ordinances of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which are (1) baptism of believers by triune immersion (Matthew 28:19),
and (2) the threefold communion service, consisting of the washing of
the saint's feet (John 13:1-17), the Lord's Supper (I Corinthians
11:20-22, 33-34; Jude 12), and the communion of the bread and the cup (I
Corinthians 11:23-26)
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Satan
His existence and personality as the great adversary of God and His
people (Revelation 12:1-10), his judgment (John 12:31), and final doom
(Revelation)
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Second
Coming
The personal, visible and imminent return of Christ to remove His Church
from the earth
(I Thessalonians 4:16-17), before the Tribulation (I
Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 3:10), and afterward to descend with the
Church to establish His millennial kingdom upon the earth (Revelation
19:11-20:6)
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Future
Life
The conscious existence of the dead (Philippians 1:21-23; Luke
16:19-31), the resurrection of the body (John 5:28-29), the judgment and
reward of believers (Romans 4:10-12; II Corinthians 5:10), the judgment
and condemnation of unbelievers (Revelation 20:11-15), the eternal life
of the saved (John 3:16), and the eternal punishment of the lost
(Matthew 25:46: Revelation 20:15)
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