What We Believe

The sixty-six books of the New and Old Testaments are historically and rightly considered to be the Holy Scriptures. These books, and only these books, comprise the Holy Bible and are the inspired, inerrant, and trustworthy Word of God. The Holy Bible is God's revelation of Himself to His creation and, specifically, to His people and serve as our supreme and final authority in faith and life.

We believe in one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — they are distinct in their person, identical in their essence, and equal in their power and glory.

Humans, both male and female, were created in God's image for His glory. The first humans, Adam and Eve, were created without sin and appointed as caretakers of the rest of God's creations.

Deceived by the serpent, Adam & Eve abandoned their roles as God's special creation and became traitors to the Holy and Sovereign God and rebels against the Creator's plan. As our representatives in the Garden, Adam & Eve introduced sin into the world, separating us from God and placing us as objects of God's just and appropriate wrath, deserving full judgement and destined for eternal destruction.

Jesus came into the world, God the Son, became Man, born of a virgin, so that He might rescue us from our sin. Dying as our substitute, Christ satisfies the righteous wrath of God and pays our sin penalty. On the third day, God raised Him from the dead, accepting His sacrifice, validating His claims, and exalting His Name. Through Him, and Him alone, we have the offer of forgiveness and righteousness. After showing Himself to His disciples and teaching them, Jesus ascended into Heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father and makes intercession for His people. 

Salvation is through faith alone in Jesus, by grace alone, and cannot be achieved by any merit of our own. When we respond in repentance to the judgment against us (turning away from sin and abandoning self-rule), and when we trust in faith that Jesus' sacrifice is sufficient, and when we place our confidence in His righteousness as our only hope for right standing before our Holy God, we will be saved from our sins and adopted into His family.

Salvation is the result of faith alone and produces a changed heart that loves the Lord, a renewed will that wants to do His will, and a holy life that pursues good works for His glory.

The Church is meant to be the visible body of Christ, bearing His name, united in love, devoted to His Word, and committed to His mission, sent into the world to glorify God and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ will one day return to this world to rescue His people, raising them from the dead in a resurrection like His, and receiving them to Himself as His inheritance. In that Day, He will establish His kingdom fully and finally.
Also, in that Day, He will defeat His enemies and judge them in a final righteousness judgement. His people will then be welcomed into His eternal kingdom, but all others will be consigned to eternal torment.

For a fuller and more detailed expression of faith see The Baptist Faith & Message (2000).

We also affirm The Danvers Statement (1987) and The Nashville Statement on Biblical Sexuality and Gender Roles (2017).

Concerning Cooperation:
As an autonomous local church, we voluntarily maintain friendly cooperation with the Lake Ozark Baptist Association, the Missouri Baptist Convention, and the Southern Baptist Convention.