1. GOD:  We believe in one God existing in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is the creator and sustainer of all things, infinite in knowledge and power. God is holy and just, abounding in love and faithfulness, giving eternal and abundant life for those who would believe, and deserving of our worship and adoration.  

 

2. THE BIBLE: We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures. The Bible is divinely inspired and without error in its original writings. God’s Word is living and active and is the ultimate authority in revealing God’s nature, judgment, purposes, and kingdom, as well as examining the motives, thoughts, and attitudes of the readers.

 

3. THE HUMAN CONDITION:  We believe that God created man and woman in his image. They were perfect and innocent before God, were tempted by Satan, and in disobedience rejected God’s commands becoming alienated from God and under His judgment and condemnation. Human beings are sinners, separated from God and in need of a savior.  

 

4. JESUS CHRIST:  We believe that Jesus is fully man and fully God. We believe in His virgin birth, His sinless life, His subsitutionary death on the cross as the atonement for sin, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the Father, and His imminent return in power and glory. It is by faith in Jesus alone, through grace alone by which men and women are forgiven, saved, justified, adopted as sons and daughters of God, and will live with Christ in eternity.

 

5. THE HOLY SPIRIT:  We believe in God the Spirit given to Christ’s followers and the church. The Holy Spirit indwells, counsels, gives life and power, instructing believers toward Christ-like love and good deeds. Through the Spirit, the church is equipped and empowered to grow, care, and minister to believers and non-believers. The Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, judgment, and glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ.  

 

6. THE CHURCH:   We believe that the church is the body of Jesus Christ. We are united by faith, forgiven and justified by grace, given the Holy Spirit, and live under the leadership and lordship of Jesus Christ. The True Church is comprised of believers, gathering in local congregations, obeying His Great Commandment to love God in worship, fellowship, prayer, the Word, and to follow His Great Commission to share the Gospel and to make disciples.

 

As American Baptists, we believe in church membership, in the governance and autonomy of the local church, at the same time we acknowledge the support and interdependence of our regional association of churches, the WV Baptist Convention, and the American Baptist denomination.

 

7. THE ORDINANCES: We believe in the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper and that confessing believers participate. These ordinances visibly express the Gospel, unify God’s believers, and reveal the transformation of a child of God, saved from death and born into eternal life. They are not the means by which a believer is saved, but each honor and remember Jesus Christ and His life saving work.

 

8. THE KINGDOM OF GOD:  We believe to live before others as the church, representing God’s Kingdom to love one another within and outside the church. We reveal the Kingdom of God within our believing family, loving one another, bearing one another’s spiritual, physical, emotional, and financial burdens. Before our unbelieving neighbors, we live with love, compassion, and generosity proclaiming the freedom given by Jesus Christ and extending justice and mercy. We wait with hope for Jesus Christ’s second return and the full consummation of God’s Kingdom and Glory.