Core Beliefs
1. The absolute authority and trustworthiness of the Word of God.
We base our preaching and teaching on the Bible and emphasize how it relates in a practical way to everyday life, resulting in lives that understand and grow in God’s truth, and come to know Jesus Christ as the living Savior. (2 Tim. 3:16; 4:1-5; Acts 6:2-4)

2. The passionate worship of Jesus Christ our God.
We encourage passionate, authentic, heartfelt, and Biblical engagement with God. We deeply value vibrant and meaningful worship in culturally relevant and appropriate ways. Our worship is contemporary without compromising the values or truths of God's Word and we are always looking for more meaningful ways to express our worship. We come together to enjoy God. ( Rom. 12:1-2; Matt. 22:37-40; Acts 2:42-47)

3. Sharing the gospel of Christ with loving boldness.
Our Lord has taught us that we are to participate in proclaiming the life-changing message of eternal life in Jesus Christ. Missions, the taking of the gospel to the whole world, is an integral part of the ministry from the support of missionaries, short-term trips, local missions, and foreign locations. Each believer has a Biblical responsibility to be involved in the sharing of the gospel of Christ with others. (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15: Luke 24:45-49; John 20:21)

4. Discipleship and Prayer resulting in full devotion to Christ as normal for every believer.
We hold to the Biblical teachings that each believer is to grow up into Christ-like maturity and to use their spiritual giftedness to build up the body of Christ. (Matt. 16:24-25; 28:18-20; Philippians 1:20-21, 4:6-9)

5. Growth Group ministry as a primary platform for spiritual maturity and ministry.
Its purpose is to unleash the body-life principles of unity, mutual edification, accountability, training, pastoral care and outreach. (Eph. 4:14-16; Rom. 15:1-7; 1 Cor. 12:12-31; 1 Peter 4:8-11)

6. The development of spiritual leadership.
We are committed to mobilizing every member as a minister for Christ. The Pastors teach and invest in the members' lives so that each member can be an effective servant of Christ and carry out the ministry that God has for them. Our leaders lead as servant-leaders. (Eph. 4:11-13; 2 Tim. 2:2)

7. Strong families who are centered on Christ and His Word.
As a body we will do all we can to support strong family principles and keep the balance between church activities and time with family. This allows for our families to develop their ministry areas in a cross-generational setting and enjoy the families that God has blessed them with. (Eph. 5:21-6:4)

8. Grace orientation of God's truth.
We strive to cultivate an environment that emphasizes God's unconditional acceptance and full forgiveness through Jesus Christ. The church is a place of healing and spiritual wholeness, therefore we reject trusting in or promoting man-made religious ideas and rules. Traditions are honored as long as they do not hinder the body of Christ in carrying out God's plan of grace. (Rom. 6:14; Gal. 2:20-21; 5:13)

9. Being culturally relevant and doctrinally sound.
The Bible is God's Word and its truths never change, which means that its principles are valid for our lives today. It is our belief that we are to take the changeless message of God's Word and its principles and present them in relevant ways that people today can understand. Therefore, we encourage creativity and innovation without ever compromising God's truth. (1 Chron. 12:32; Acts 17:22-24; 1 Cor. 9:22)

10. Ministry excellence is our desire to seek and bring glory to God.
Each believer is given gifts from God and together we as the body of Christ are to use them for His glory. As we serve we strive to do our best according to our maturity, giftedness, and God-given abilities. We are a servant-driven church. (Col. 3:23-24)

Doctrinal Statement
THE BIBLE
We believe that the Bible, comprising the books of the Old and New Testaments, is the total completed written revelation of God, fully inspired, without error in the original manuscripts, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that it has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20­21; Mark 13:31; John 8:31­32; John 20:31; Acts 20:32)

THE TRINITY
We believe that there is one and only one true and living God, an infinite Spirit who is the Maker and Supreme Ruler of the universe. We believe the Scriptures reveal Him to be holy, sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, eternal, unchanging, and full of love, justice, goodness, mercy, grace, and truth (These are only summary characteristics of who God is). We believe the one true God exists in three eternal and coequal persons; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We believe these members of the Trinity are the same in essence, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections being one God; but they are distinct in personhood and executing different but harmonious functions. (Genesis 1:1, 26; John 1:1­3; Matthew 28:19; John 4:24; Ephesians 4:5­6; 2 Corinthians 13:14)

THE FATHER
We believe that God the Father is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being who is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all of humanity. (Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Exodus 3:14; 6:2­3; 15:11­27; 20:1­26; Leviticus 22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 19:1­3; Isaiah 43:3,15; 64:8; Jeremiah 10:10; 17:13; Matthew 6:9­15; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mark 1:9­11; John 4:24; 5:26; 14:6­13; 17:1­8; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14­15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 5:7.)

THE SON
We believe that Jesus Christ is the pre­existent and eternal Son of God who became a man in order to reveal God and redeem mankind. We believe He was supernaturally conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. In His person, we believe the Lord Jesus combined full and undiminished deity with true and perfect humanity to become the God­man. We believe Christ died on the cross as a substitute for sinful man, was buried, arose bodily from the grave, ascended into heaven where He ministers on behalf of the saints, and will one day return for His own and establish His reign on earth. We believe that Christ in His death died for all mankind to reconcile them to the Father, providing the way to eternal life. (John 1:1­3, 18; 8:58; Matthew 1:23; Colossians 1:15­17; 2 Corinthians 5:18­19, 21; Matthew 20:28; Ephesians 1:4; Romans 5:6­8; Hebrews 7:25; 9:28; 1 Timothy 1:15; 3:16)

HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, fully equal with 1 Corinthians 6:19; 12:13­14; 1 Corinthians 14:21­22; Isaiah 28:1­11; Romans 8:9, God the Father and God the Son. We believe He was sent forth from the Father and the Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment; and to regenerate, sanctify and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. We believe the Holy Spirit seals and indwells every believer in Christ, and that He is an abiding helper, teacher and guide. The Holy Spirit baptizes all believers into the Body of Christ and bestows on each believer spiritual gifts. We believe the gifts of apostleship, prophesying new revelation, miracles, healings and speaking in tongues have completed their function and thus are not for the Body of Christ today. (God certainly heals and performs miracles today. We are speaking of the apostolic gifts that were limited in scope and given to individuals.) (Acts 5:3­4; 2 Thessalonians 2:3­9; John 16:7­11,13; Titus 3:5; Ephesians 1:13; 3:20, 5:18; 11, 14, 16, 26; 1 Peter 4:10)

CREATION
We believe that the Triune God, according to His sovereign will and for His own glory, created the heavens and the earth without the use of pre­existent material. All living things came into being by a direct creative act of God and not by an evolutionary or random process, and thus have an existence distinct from Him and yet always dependent on Him.(Genesis 2:4; Proverbs 16:4; Acts 17:24; Colossians 1:16­17)

MAN
We believe that Adam and Eve were created in the image and likeness of God in a state of innocence. Through deliberate disobedience, they fell from their sinless state and as a consequence were separated from God, and became subject to spiritual and physical death. We believe that through Adam’s transgressions, the entire human race inherited a corrupt nature that is essentially evil and unable to please God. (Genesis 1:26­27; 3:1­24; Romans 3:10­12; 5:12; Ephesians 2:1­6)

SIN
We believe that sin is anything contrary to the character of God. Every person is alienated from God because of a depraved nature as well as personal acts of sin. We believe that because of each person’s depraved nature, each one is completely incapable of meriting salvation and avoiding the judgment of God. We believe the presence of sin as a force opposed to the rule of God is not eradicated even for those born into the family of God, but it remains in the body of the believer until the end of this earthly life. However, God has made provision for forgiveness of sin through the blood of Jesus Christ and victory over sin in the life of the believer through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. (Romans 3:10, 23; 6:23; Ephesians 4:18; 1 John 1:8­10; Galatians 5:16­17)

SALVATION
We believe that salvation from the penalty and power of sin is provided only through the blood of Jesus Christ, which He shed on the cross when He was made to be sin for us and died in our place. Salvation is totally based upon God’s sovereign choice and there is nothing anyone can do to attain this salvation through good works, moral achievement, or religious status. We believe the only condition for salvation is personal repentance from sin and submission in faith to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of one’s life. Thus each individual has a responsibility by his or her own free will to come to Christ for salvation. (The Scriptures teach God’s sovereignty is total and absolute in salvation, but within this sovereignty the Scriptures teach that each individual has a free will. God perfectly brings these two truths into perfect harmony.) We believe at the time of salvation, a person is spiritually regenerated by the Holy Spirit; sins are forgiven, the individual is declared justified as God’s righteousness is imputed, is delivered from condemnation and receives eternal life. This salvation is complete and a present possession for all true believers which remains theirs forever. All who have been born again are kept secure, persevering in their faith, and will never lose their salvation. As a result of this salvation we are individual priests standing before God through Christ alone. (1 Peter 1:18­19; 2:5,9,24; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:3­6; 2:8­10; 4:32; Titus 3:5; Romans 5:1; 10:9­10; John 1:12­13; 3:16­21; 5:24; 1 John 2:19; Hebrews 3:14; 7:25; Romans 8:38­39;)

THE CHURCH
We believe in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all regenerated persons are members. The church was created in Christ Jesus to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. We believe in the local church, consisting of a company of believers in Jesus Christ, baptized on a credible profession of faith, and associated for worship, ministry, and fellowship. We believe that God laid upon the members of the local church the primary task of making disciples, starting with the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world, then the need for baptism, and then obedience to the teachings of Jesus Christ. (Psalm 16:11; John 15:11,16:22,17:13; Ephesians 1:5­6, 22-­23; 2:19­-22;Acts 1:8; 2:42-­47; Romans 15:8­9; Matthew 28:18-­20; Hebrews 10:23­-25)

CHRISTIAN LIVING
We believe that Christians should live for the glory of God and the well­-being of mankind; that their conduct should be blameless before the world; they should be faithful stewards of their possessions; and they should seek to realize for themselves and other believers the full stature of maturity in Christ. We believe that every believer is sanctified, set apart unto God. Sanctification is manifested in a three­fold aspect: first, saved persons are complete in Christ before God the Father standing in the righteousness of Christ that is applied to their life and therefore are declared legally perfect. Second, that saved persons retain their defeated sinful nature (Romans 6:6, 7:14­21), which cannot be eradicated in this life. Therefore, while the standing of the Christian in Christ is perfect, their present state is no more perfect than their experience in daily life. There is therefore, a progressive sanctification wherein the Christian is to "grow in grace" and to "be changed" by the unhindered power of the Spirit. Third, the children of God will yet be fully sanctified in their present state, as they are now sanctified in their standing in Christ, when they shall see the Lord and shall be "like Him." (John 14:15, 23­24; 17:17; Romans 12:1­21; 1 Corinthians 4:2; 10:31; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 7: 1; 9:6­9; Ephesians 4:13­16, 24; 5:25­27; Colossians 1:9­10; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 10:10,14; 12:1­2,10; 1 John 2:3­6.)

SACRAMENTS
We believe that Christ committed two ordinances to the local church: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of the believer in water into the name of the Triune God as a testimony of salvation, not a means of it. We believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ for the commemoration of His death and is open to all believers. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered on a regular basis until the return of Jesus Christ. (Matthew 28:18-­20; Romans 6:3­5; 1 Corinthians 11:23-­28)

LAST THINGS
​We believe in the visible, personal, pre­tribulational, and pre­millennial return of Jesus Christ. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, and the everlasting conscious blessedness of the saved and the everlasting conscious punishment of the lost. (Matthew 16:27; 24:21-­31; Mark 14:62; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; 1 Corinthians 4:5, 15; Philippians 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 2 Timothy 4:1; Titus 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-­10; Revelation 20-­22)

ETERNITY
We believe that all who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior here in this life are condemned and that their condemnation is final and eternal. For those consigned to the Lake of Fire in the final judgment, Scripture holds out no hope of cessation or limitation of the duration of their punishment. The punishment is fixed and eternal. The same word, “eternal,” is employed to express the lifetime of Almighty God, the life of the redeemed in glory, and the doom of the lost.  Degrees of punishment are proportioned to the guilt of each. We believe that all who come to true repentance and faith in Jesus Christ will live eternally in the presence of God and will enjoy God for all eternity.  (John 3:16, 36, 5:29; Matthew 25:46; Mark 9:44, 46, 48; 2 Thessalonians 1:7­9; Hebrews 6:2; Revelation 20:11­-15).
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FOLLOWING JESUS TOGETHER

West Rome Baptist Church