we believe in water baptism by full immersion

As in previous moments of theological and spiritual crisis in the church, we believe that the answer to this confusion and compromise lies in a comprehensive recovery and reaffirmation of the Gospel – and in saints banding together in Gospel churches that display Yahweh’s glory in this fallen world.

We are also brothers united in deep concern for the church and the Gospel. This concern is specifically addressed to certain trends within the church today. We are concerned about the tendency of so many churches to substitute tradition’s and technique for truth, therapy for theology, and management for ministry.

We stand together for the truth of the Gospel – and for a full and gladdening recovery of the Gospel in the church. We are convinced that such a recovery will be evident in the form of faithful and true churches, each bearing faithful witness to the glory of Yahweh and the power of the the spoken and written word.

Article I
We affirm that the sole authority for the Church is the Bible, verbally inspired, inerrant, infallible, and totally sufficient and trustworthy when rightly divided.

Article II
We affirm that the authority and sufficiency of Scripture extends to the entire Bible, and therefore that the rightly divided Bible is our final authority for all doctrine and practice.

Article III
We affirm that truth ever remains a central issue for the Church, and that the church must resist the allure of pragmatism and postmodern conceptions of truth as substitutes for obedience to the comprehensive truth claims of Scripture.

We deny that truth is merely a product of social construction or that the truth of the Gospel can be expressed or grounded in anything less than total confidence in the rightly divided veracity of the Bible, the historicity of biblical events, and the ability of language to convey understandable truth in sentence form. We further deny that the church can establish its ministry on a foundation of pragmatism, current marketing techniques, or contemporary cultural fashions.

Article IV
We affirm the centrality of expository preaching in the church and the urgent need for a recovery of biblical exposition and the public reading of Scripture in worship.

We deny that Yahweh-honoring worship can marginalize or neglect the ministry of the Word as manifested through exposition and public reading. We further deny that a church devoid of true biblical preaching can survive as a Gospel church.

Article V
We affirm that the Bible reveals Yahweh to be infinite in all his perfections, and thus truly omniscient, omnipotent, timeless, and self-existent. We further affirm that Yahweh possesses perfect knowledge of all things, past, present, and future, including all human thoughts, acts, and decisions.

We deny that Yahweh of the Bible is in any way limited in terms of knowledge or power or any other perfection or attribute, or that Yahweh has in any way limited his own perfections.

Article VI
We affirm that the doctrine is essential, bearing witness to the ontological reality of the one true Yahweh in three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each of the same substance and perfections as all one Yahweh.

We affirm that Yahweh is true  El [God] and true Man, in perfect, undiluted, and unconfused union throughout his incarnation and now eternally. We also affirm that Yahweh’s body died on the tree as a substitute for Adam’s sins, as a sacrifice for sin, and as a propitiation of the wrath of Yahweh toward sinners. We affirm the death, burial, and bodily resurrection of Yahweh the savior as essential to the Gospel. We further affirm that Yahweh is master over His church, and that he will reign over the entire cosmos in fulfillment of the Father’s gracious purpose.

Article VIII
We affirm that salvation is all of grace, and that the Gospel is revealed to us in doctrines that most faithfully exalt Yahweh’s sovereign purpose to save Adam. And in His determination to save his redeemed people by grace alone, through faith alone, in Yahweh alone, to His glory alone.

Article IX
We affirm that  yahweh is the only means of bringing salvation to His people, that sinners are commanded to believe the Gospel, and that the church is commissioned to preach and teach the Gospel to all adam.

Article X
We affirm that salvation comes to those of adam who truly believe and confess that yahweh is king. We deny that there is salvation in any other name, or that saving faith can take any form other than conscious belief in the yahweh and His saving acts.

Article XI
We affirm the continuity of yahweh’s saving purpose and the oneness unity of the covenants. We further affirm a basic distinction between law and grace, and that the true Gospel exalts yahweh savior’s atoning work as the consummate and perfect fulfillment of the law.

We deny that the Bible presents any other means of salvation than yahweh’s gracious acceptance of adam in the kinsman redeemer.

Article XII
We affirm that adam sinners are justified only through faith in yahweh the savior, and that justification by faith alone is both essential and central to the Gospel.

We deny that any teaching that minimizes, denies, or confuses justification by faith in yahweh alone can be considered true to the Gospel. We further deny that any teaching that separates regeneration and faith is a true rendering of the Gospel.

Article XIII
We affirm that the righteousness of yahweh is imputed to believers by yahweh’s decree alone, and that this righteousness, imputed to the believer through faith alone, is the only righteousness that justifies.

We deny that such righteousness is earned or deserved in any manner, is infused within the believer to any degree, or is realized in the believer through anything other than faith alone.

Article XIV
We affirm that the shape of yahweh’s discipleship is congregational, and that yahweh’s purpose is evident in faithful Gospel congregations, each displaying yahweh’s glory in the marks of authentic ecclesiology. We deny that any beleiver can truly be a faithful disciple apart from the teaching, discipline, fellowship, and accountability of a congregation of fellow disciples, organized as a  church. We further deny that the yahweh’s passover can faithfully be administered apart from the right practice of church discipline.

Article XV
We affirm that evangelical congregations are to work together in humble and voluntary cooperation and that the spiritual fellowship of Gospel congregations bears witness to the unity of the Church and the glory of yahweh.

We deny that loyalty to any denomination or fellowship of churches can take precedence over the claims of yahweh’s truth and faithfulness to the Gospel.

Article XVI
We affirm that the Scripture reveals a pattern of complementary order between men and women, and that this order is itself a testimony to the Gospel, even as it is the gift of our Creator and Redeemer. We also affirm that all saints are called to service within the body of yahweh, and that he has given to both men and women important and strategic roles within the home, the church, and the society. We further affirm that the teaching office of the church is assigned only to those men who are called of yahweh and faithfull in fulfillment of the biblical teachings and that men are to lead in their homes as husbands and fathers who fear and love fruit of yahweh.

Article XVII
We affirm that yahweh calls his people to display his glory in the reconciliation of the nations within the Church, and that yahweh’s pleasure in this reconciliation is evident in the gathering of believers from every tongue and tribe and nation of Israel.

Article XVIII
We affirm that our only sure and confident hope is in the sure and certain promises of yahweh. Thus, our hope is an eschatological hope, grounded in our confidence that he will bring all things to consummation in a manner that will bring greatest glory to his own name, and greatest joy for his redeemed people.