THE SCRIPTURES
We believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, that It is the only complete and final revelation of God’s will to man, and that it is the supreme standard of all faith and practice, (2 Tim. 3:16-17 and 2 Pet. 1:19-21)
THE GODHEAD
We believe the scriptures to reveal God as eternally existing, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and manifesting Himself in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one in essence and power, (Matt. 28:19 and 2 Cor. 13;14)
GOD THE FATHER
We believe that the Father is perfect in holiness, infinite in wisdom, and measureless in power. We rejoice that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and eternal death all who come to Him through the Lord Jesus Christ.
THE PERSON AND WORKS OF JESUS CHRIST
We believe in the Diety of the Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His substitutionary death on the cross for our sins, His physical resurrection from the grave, His ascension to the right hand of God the Father where He liveth to make intercession for believers, and His personal, visible, bodily return to earth at the end of this age. (Matt. 1:18, John 1:14, Matt. 20:28, 1 Pet. 1:18-19, 1 Cor. 15:20, Acts 1:11, and 1 Thess. 4:16-17)
THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person, possessing all the distinctive divine attributes. We believe that He is the administrator of the things of God, restraining evil in the world to the measure of the divine will; convicting the world regarding sin, righteousness, and judgement; regenerating all believers; in-dwelling all who are saved; continually filling with power for teaching and service those among the saved who are yielded to Him and who are subject to His will. (John 3:6, 16:7-11, 1 Cor. 12:13, Eph. 4:30, 5:18, and 2 Thess. 2:7)
We believe that speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism, nor the filling of the Spirit. (Acts 4:6, 4:31)
MAN
We believe that God made man in His own image and that man came into the world by direct creation of God and not by evolution; that this creative act of God was separate and distinct from any other work of God. We believe the Scripture record of the fall of man through disobedience to God and that by nature man is “dead in trespasses and sins.” (Gen. 1:26, 9:6, Rom. 5:12, Psalm 51:5)
SALVATION
We believe salvation to be by grace through faith, wholly apart from human merit, and that every individual is a sinner by birth and by choice, and therefore must exercise personal faith in the redeeming work of Christ on Calvary in order to be saved. (Eph. 2:8-9, Titus 3:5, Psalm 51:5, Romans 3:23, 10:9-10)
SECURITY AND ASSURANCE
We believe that, because of the external purpose of God toward the objects of His love, because of His freedom to exercise grace toward the meritless on the grounds of the shed blood of Christ in heaven, because of the very nature of the divine gift of eternal life, because of the present and unending intercession of Christ in heaven, because of the unchangeable covenants of God, because of the regenerating, abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of all who are saved, we and all true believers everywhere, once saved, shall be kept saved forever.
We believe, however, that God is a Holy and Righteous Father, and that since He cannot overlook the sin of His children, He will, when we persistently sin, chasten us and correct us in love, but having undertaken to save us and keep us forever, apart from all human merit, He will, in the end, present everyone of us faultless before the presence of His glory and conformed to the image of His son. (John 5:24, 10:28, 17:11, 1 Cor. 6:19-20, Heb. 7:25, 1 John 2:1-2, 5:13, Jude 1:24)
We believe it is the privilege of all who are born again by the Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, to be assured of their salvation from the very day they take Christ to be their Savior, and that this assurance is not founded upon any man-made idea of their own worthiness or fitness but wholly upon what Christ has done for them.
SATAN AND ANGELS
We believe that God created innumerable company of sinless, spiritual beings known as angels. That one, Lucifer, son of the morning and highest in rank, sinned through pride, thereby becoming Satan, and that a great company of angels followed him in his mortal fall; some of whom apparently became demons and are active as his agents, while others who fell are apparently “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgement of the great day.” (Is. 14:12-17, Ez. 28:11-19, 2 Pet. 2:4)
We believe Satan is the originator of sin, and that under the permission of God, he through subtlety, led our first parents into transgression, thereby accomplishing their mortal fall and subjecting them and future generations to his own power; that he is the enemy of God and the people of God, and that, in his warfare, appeared as an angel of light, ever counterfeiting the works of God and denying the power of the blood of Christ and of salvation by grace alone. (Gen. 3:1-19, Rom 5:12-14, 2 Cor. 4:3-4, 11:13-15, Eph. 6:10-12, 2 Thess. 2:4, 1 Tim. 4:1-3)
We believe that Satan was judged at the cross, though not then executed, and that he, a usurper, now rules as the “god of this world.” That, at the second coming of Christ, Satan will be bound and cast into the abyss for a thousand years, and after the thousand years, he will be loosed for a little season and then “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where he shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Col. 2:15, Rev. 20:1-3, 20:10)
We believe that a great company of angels kept their holy estate and are before the throne of God from whence they are sent forth as ministering spirits to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. (Luke 15:10, Eph. 1:21, Heb. 1:14, Rev. 7:11-12)
We believe that man was made lower than the angels, and that in His incarnation, Christ took for a little time this lower place that He might life the believer to His own sphere above the angels. (Heb. 2:6-10)
HEAVEN AND HELL
We believe in a heaven of eternal bliss for all who, through faith in the Lamb of God, have become children of God, and we believe in the lake of fire of eternal judgement for all who have not received the forgiveness of sins, which is through Jesus Christ. (Rev. 21:1-8)
THE CHURCH AND ITS ORDINANCES
We believe the local fundamental church is a voluntary association of believers equal in rank and privilege subject to the Word of God and independent of any external ecclesiastical control whatsoever. We believe God’s Word commands believers, and only believers, to be baptized, and that the only scriptural mode is by immersion. (Acts 8:36-38, Rom. 6:3-5)
We believe the Ordinance of the Lord’s Supper should be observed as Christ said, “In remembrance of His broken body and shed blood” for us, and that the supper has no sacramental virtue.
EVANGELIZATION
We believe it is the solemn obligation of every believe to be a personal soul winner and to do his utmost to carry out the Savior’s command to give the gospel to the whole world.
STATEMENT ON MARRIAGE, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY
We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God. (Gen 1:26-27) Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person.
We believe that the term “marriage” has only meaning, i.e., the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union as delineated in Scripture. (Gen. 2:18-25) We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other. (1 cor. 6:18, 7:2-5, Heb. 13:4) We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.
We believe that any form of sexual immorality including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography is sinful and offensive to God. (Matt. 15:18-20, 1 Cor. 6:9-10)
We believe that in order to preserve the function and integrity of Springfield Community Chapel as the local body of Christ and to provide a biblical role model to the church members and the community, it is imperative that all members, volunteers, and staff agree to abide by this statement of marriage, gender, and sexuality. (Matt. 5:16, Phil. 2:14-16, 1 Thess. 5:22)
We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. (Acts 3:19-21, Rom. 10:9-10, 1 Cor. 6:9-11)
ARTICLE V – COVENANT
Having been led by the Holy Spirit to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and on the public confession of our faith having been immersed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we do now, in the presence of God and this assembly, solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body of Christ.
We purpose, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit to walk together in Christian love, to strive for the advancement of this church in knowledge, holiness, and comfort, to promote its prosperity and spiritually, to attend its services regularly, to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline and doctrines, to give it a sacred preeminence over all institutions of human origin, to give faithfully of time and talent to its activities, to contribute cheerfully and regularly as God has prospered us to the relief of the poor, and the spreading of the Gospel throughout all nations.
We also purpose to maintain family and private devotions, to train our children according to the Word of God, to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances, to stay alert spiritually, to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and to be examples to others in our conduct, to avoid all gossip, backbiting and unrighteous anger, to abstain from all forms of activity which dishonor our Lord Jesus Christ, cause stumbling to a fellow believer, or hinder the winning of a soul to Christ our Savior, and to give him first place in all things.
We further purpose to encourage one another in the blessed hope in our Lord’s return, to watch over one another in brotherly love, to remember each other in prayer, to aid each other in sickness and distress, to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy and speech, to be slow to take offense but always ready for reconciliation, and to be mindful of the rules of our Savior to seek it without delay.
We moreover purpose that if we move from this community, we will, as soon as possible, unite with some other church of like faith and order where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and principles of God’s Word. In the event there is no such church, we shall seek, with the Lord’s help, to establish one.