What We Believe

We believe in God

Revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, He is holy love and light; eternally existent and infinite; Sovereign of the universe; holy in nature, attributes, and purpose; all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present.

We believe in the inspiration and authority of Scripture

We hold that the Word of God is the primary source of revelation for knowing God. Dr. H. Orton Wiley, who helped shape our theology in our formative years, wrote: “We conclude that the Scriptures were given by plenary inspiration... in the manner that and to the degree that the Bible becomes the infallible word of God, the authoritative Rule of Faith and Practice in the Church” (Christian Theology, Vol. 1, p. 170).

We believe in the uniqueness of Jesus Christ

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6). We believe that “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

We believe that, subsequent to regeneration, believers are to be entirely sanctified through the work of the Holy Spirit

We further believe that in the work of entire sanctification the believer’s heart is cleansed from all sin and that the believer filled with the Holy Spirit is enabled to love God with the whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love others as oneself. We believe that growth in grace and the disciplines of holy living are a lifelong necessity for a life wholly sanctified to the will and purposes of God.

We believe in the Church

“The covenant people of God made new in Christ” (Manual, paragraph 15), as the visible expression of God’s presence and mission in our world.

Ephesians 4:12-13 makes it clear that every effort should be made for believers to be “built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” This, the Bible declares, will prevent us from being unsettled by every wind of doctrinal experimentation that blows across the religious landscape.