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The Holy Bible is the final and only authority in all matters of faith and practice. We believe that a summary of the central truths of the Bible is very useful to the Church and to individual Christians. We accept and adopt the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 as the most accurate expression of that system of doctrine taught in the Bible. [You can read this Confession of Faith by clicking on the link in the previous sentence or the link at the bottom of this page.]We do not hold this Confession of Faith to be above or equal to the Holy Scriptures. Rather we accept it as an assistance in controversy, a confirmation in faith, and an instrument of edification and instruction. This Confession provides every member with a compact body of divinity, and by means of the scriptural proofs, each one can be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in him.
As an addendum to the Confession, we believe that in this age the work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, to convict men of sin, righteousness and judgment; to regenerate sinners; and to indwell, seal, lead, instruct and empower every believer for godly living and service. We also believe that while the Holy Spirit gives each Christian spiritual abilities or gifts for service, there were temporary foundational and confirmatory sign gifts of the early church which have passed away and are not being given by Him today. These temporary foundational and confirmatory sign gifts are: the gifts of apostles, prophets (prophecy), healing, miracles, faith (which is different from saving faith), a word of knowledge, a word of wisdom, discerning of spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues. The ceasing and passing away of the sign gifts was brought about by the completion and canonization of the New Testament which with the Old Testament constitutes the perfect and all-sufficient Word of God (John 16:7-13, 14:17; Ephesians 1:13; 1 Corinthians 12:1-3, 13:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16).
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