Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church Statement of Faith
I. God the Father
We trust, love and worship the one and only unchanging, sovereign, and loving God, the Creator and Ruler of all things in heaven and earth. God is manifest in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Gen 1:1,26; Ex 20:2-3; Deut 6:4; 1 Chron 29:11- 12; Job 38-41; Ps 90:2; Matt 6:9; 1 Peter 1:2
II. Jesus Christ (Son)
Jesus Christ, our Lord, is God in the flesh. He is the Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, fully God, fully man, sinless. He died on the cross in our place for our sins, was buried, resurrected from the dead, ascended into heaven, and now sits at the right hand of God the Father, as our Advocate, and will return to judge the living and the dead.
Matt 1:18- 23; Luke 1:31-33; John 1:1-18; Acts 1:9-11; Acts 2:22-24; 1 Cor 15; Heb 1:1-3; Rev 5:9-14
III. Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, exalting Christ and convicting us of our sin and need for Jesus Christ. He fully lives in every believer from the moment of salvation. He comforts, teaches, and empowers us to live in righteousness. He equips every believer with spiritual gifts for service in the Body of Christ.
Matt 1:18; John 14:16-17; John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 1 Cor 3:16; 1 Peter 4:10
IV. Bible
The Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God to reveal God and His will to man. The Bible has God as its author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error. The Bible is the sole authority for Christian living.
Deut 4:1-2; Ps 12:6; Ps 19:7-10; Ps 119:105, 160; Heb 4:12; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21
V. Man
God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct genders together reflect the image and nature of God (Gen. 1:26-27). Each person is made in the image of God – created to worship God, to glorify Him and to have dominion over the earth. Sin separates man from God and man is eternally doomed unless he receives salvation in Jesus Christ.
Gen 1:26; Ps 8:3-6; Acts 17:26-31; Rom 3:10-18, 23
VI. Salvation
Since all persons are separated from God by sin and are in need of forgiveness, God offers the free gift of salvation. Each person must individually accept this gift, repent of sin, and place faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
Ex 6:2-8; Matt 16:21-26; John 3:15-16; John 17:3; Rom 3:23; Rom 5:1; Rom 6:23; Eph 2:8-9
VII. Eternal Security of the Believer
We believe our true salvation, provided by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ alone, is eternally secure. It is imperishable and no man or circumstance can snatch us out of the powerful hand of God because Jesus Christ has made an everlasting covenant with us.
2 Sam 23:5; John 3:36; John 5:24; John 10:28; John 14:6; 2 Tim 1:12; Heb 7:25; 1 Peter 1:4; 1 John 5:11-13
VIII. Priesthood of the Believer
Every believer is a minister and has direct access to God through the high priest, Jesus Christ.
Eph 3:7; Eph 4:11-16; Heb 4:14-16; Heb 10:19-22
IX. Family, Gender and Sexuality
The family, composed of persons related by blood, marriage or adoption, is ordained by God as the foundational institution of human society. The covenant of marriage is exclusively between one man and one woman, rooted as it is in God’s creation of man and woman in His image, and in the relationship between Christ and His Church. The framework of marriage provides for the intimate expression of companionship and sexual relationship, including procreation, according to biblical standards. Children, from the moment of conception, are to be protected, preserved and valued as a gift of life from God Almighty. Parents are to love, teach, discipline and model biblical truth before their children; children are to honor and obey their parents.
Gen 2:18-22; Ex 20:12; Lev 20:13; Deut 6:6-7; Ps 127:3-5; Ps 139:13-16; Prov 22:6; Mark 10:6-9; 1 Cor 7:1-16; Eph 5:21-33
X. The Church
Jesus Christ is the head of His Body, the Church. The Body of Christ is composed of believers. The purpose of the Church is to carry out His mission in the world and is best lived out in local, autonomous churches.
Matt 16:15-19; Acts 2:41-42, 47; Rom 12:4-8; 1 Cor 12; Eph 4:10-16; Rev 2 & 3
XI. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
Baptism by immersion follows Christ’s example, symbolizing death, burial and resurrection to new life in Christ. It serves as a testimony of faith after accepting Christ as personal Savior and Lord. The Lord’s Supper is an act of obedience and a testimony of faith. It symbolically memorializes the death of Jesus Christ. Self-examination and confession of sins should precede participation in the Lord’s Supper.
Matt 3:13-17; Matt 26:26-30; Matt 28:19; Acts 16:30-33; Rom 6:3-5; Col 2:12
XII. Church Leadership
Leadership in the Church: God calls individuals, whose lives best exemplify the biblical qualifications of the position of pastor, overseer/elder, ministerial staff and deacon, to lead the local body. They are selected and affirmed by the local body after prayerful consideration. Leaders are called by God to uphold church doctrine and to live lives worthy of respect. The local church is called to submit to their authority.
Acts 6:1-8; Acts 20:28; Phil 1:1; 1 Tim 5:17-22; Titus 1:5-9; Heb 13:7,17
XIII. Church Discipline
We believe that the Bible teaches church discipline. God disciplines those He loves (Heb 12). He uses the leadership of the Church to prayerfully administer His discipline (Gal 6:1) according to Scripture (Matt 18:15-18 and 1 Cor 5:1-13). Discipline is administered in hope of restoring the one who has fallen into sin back to a right relationship with God and the Church.