A Brief Statement of Faith

The following is a brief synopsis of our Statement of Faith.  For a more detailed treatise, please consult the constitution and bylaws of Western Avenue Baptist Church.

We believe in the Holy Scriptures accepting fully the writings of the Old and New Testaments as the verbally and plenary inspired Word of God, without error, altogether sufficient in themselves as our sole infallible and authoritative rule of doctrine, faith, and practice.  We further believe that the Scriptures interpreted in their natural, literal sense reveal divinely determined dispensations, divinely ordered stewardships by which God directs man according to His purpose.

We believe in the one triune God who is a personal, spiritual, and sovereign being: perfect, infinite, and eternal.  He is absolutely separate and above the world as its Creator, yet everywhere present in the world as the Upholder of all things.  He is self-existent and self-revealing in three distinct persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We believe in God the Father, the first person of the triune God, the eternal supreme being.  We believe He is the Creator of the universe and is the final, absolute authority in every matter.

We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the second Person of the triune God, the eternal Word and only begotten Son of God.  He became man by the miracle of the virgin birth, was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin, sacrificed Himself in death upon the cross to atone for the sins of the world, literally and physically rose from the dead and was glorified, ascended into Heaven to appear before the face of God as our Advocate and Intercessor, and will literally and physically return to establish His kingdom on earth for a thousand years.

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the triune Godhead.  He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement; is the supernatural agent in regeneration, and baptizes all believers into the body of Christ; indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption.

We believe all men are by nature and choice sinful and lost, alienated from the life and family of God, under the righteous judgment and wrath of God, and has within himself no possible means of salvation except repentance and faith.

We believe in salvation, as the free gift of God, is by grace through faith alone.  It can be neither merited nor secured in part or in whole by any work of man, but is received only by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, for apart from Christ salvation is impossible.

We believe that all redeemed, once saved, are kept by Gods power and are thus secure in Christ forever.  We further believe that it is the privilege of every believer to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of Gods Word which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion for the flesh.  We believe there is no testimony in Scripture to a second blessing available to any believer, nor to a baptism in the Spirit subsequent to salvation, nor the possibility of entire sanctification available to any believer.

We believe that the New Testament church is the Body of Christ, the espoused Bride of Christ.  The Body of Christ is a spiritual organism, comprised of all born again believers from Pentecost to the rapture.  We also believe that the establishment and continuance of the local church is clearly taught in Scripture.  It is the local manifestation of the larger Body of Christ comprised of professing Christians who unite and organize to fulfill all of the functions prescribed for the Body of Christ.

We believe all saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Lord, and that separation from religious apostasy, worldly and sinful pleasures, practices, and associations is commanded by God.

We believe in the personal, visible, imminent, pre-Tribulational return of Christ to rapture His Church.  Following the Tribulation period Christ will again return visibly and personally, with His saints, to establish His literal Messianic kingdom that will last for a thousand years.

We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and eternal punishment.  We believe that the souls of the redeemed at death are immediately present with the Lord where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection to be united with their bodies and stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  We believe that the souls of unbelievers, upon death, remain in conscious punishment and torment until the second resurrection when, with body and soul reunited, they shall appear at the Great White Throne judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire where they will forever suffer everlasting conscious punishment and torment.