What We Believe
We believe that the sixty-six books of the Bible are the written Word of God given by the Holy Spirit and are the complete and final canonical revelation of God for this age. These books were written by a process of dual authorship in which the Holy Spirit so moved the human authors that, through their individual personalities and styles, they composed and recorded God’s Word, which is inerrant in the original writings. These books, constituting the written Word of God, convey objective truth and are the believer’s only infallible rule of faith and practice.
(2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-20)
The Bible
We believe in the one true God, creator and sustainer of all things, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each equal in nature and attributes and equally worthy of worship, trust, and obedience. God the Father decrees and works all things according to His own purpose and for His own glory, being sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption.
(Genesis 1:1; Deut 6:4; Ps. 100:5; 2 Cor. 13:14; Jn 4:24; Heb 1:1-3; Leviticus 11:44; Isaiah 6:1-3; 1 John 4:7-8)
God the Father
We believe that Jesus Christ is God’s eternal Son through whom all things were created, and has precisely the same nature, attributes and perfections as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He became a true human being, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life of perfect obedience to the Father and died on the cross for the sins of humanity. He rose from the dead bodily on the third day and ascended into the right hand of God the Father. He shall come again to earth, personally and visibly, at the end of history to judge the living and the dead and to consummate His kingdom in the new heaven and the new earth.
(Philippians 2:5-11; John 1:1-3, 14; Ephesians 1:20-23)
Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit, His personality, and His work in creation and His work in regeneration, sanctification, and preservation. The Spirit of God permanently indwells in persons who repent, accept Christ as their Lord and Savior, putting faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ and works in the life of the believers to transform them into the image of Jesus Christ and to follow the ways of God’s kingdom as Christ’s disciples.
(Romans 8:9, 28-30; Philippians 1:19; 1 Corinthians 2:12; John 16:8-14; Acts 1:8)
Holy Spirit
We believe that God created humanity, male and female,
in the image of God, to have fellowship with God.
However, humanity chose to rebel against God and became separated from God. Sin came into the world through one man, Adam, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. We believe that it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment. However, everyone who repents and turns to trust Christ as his Lord and Savior does not come into judgment but passes from death to eternal life through the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
(Genesis 1:26-28, 3:1-6; Romans 3:23, 5:12; 6:23; Hebrews 9:27; John 5:24)
Humanity
We believe those who turn to trust Christ as Lord and Savior become a new creation, created to have intimate fellowship with God in community with other believers. They live to love God with all their heart, all their soul, all their mind, and all their strength and to love their neighbor as themselves.
(Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:29-31; 1 John 1:1-3)
Life of Faith
All members of the Church of Philippi, when addressing doctrines other than the basic doctrines listed above, are to do so in a way that furthers the mission of the Church and that edifies others.
(2 Timothy 3:16-17; Ephesians 4:29-32)
Other Doctrines
We believe the Church is the people of God,
the spiritual body of Christ of which Christ is the head and composed of all persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
The Universal Church is the collection of all true believers who are in Jesus Christ, alive or dead. They are priests to God and to one another,
called to proclaim the excellencies of God
who delivered them out of darkness into his marvelous light.
(John 1:12; 1 Peter 2:9-10; Ephesians 2:19-22; John 13:34-35; 1 Corinthians 12:1-7)