OUR BELIEFS
GOD, THE FATHER
We believe that He is the Creator, with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, of all things. He created the universe out of nothing, apart from any pre-existing materials. As sovereign over all things, He is involved currently in human history working His own will, purpose, and grace, so that all comes to His eventual glory. With respect to His character, He is perfect, infinite, and righteous in every way. The Father is one of three eternally existing persons of the Godhead, equal in power and identical in essence and character; however, distinct in personality and activity.
Applicable Verses:
Genesis 1:1 , Psalm 29:10 , Leviticus 11:44 , Psalm 19:9 , Psalm 147:4-5
JESUS CHRIST, THE SON
We believe that Jesus Christ is the incarnate Son of God: fully divine and fully human. He became such through the historical, actual virgin birth, without surrendering any of His divine attributes. He lived a sinless life, thus being the appropriate sacrifice for man’s sin. On the cross, redemption was accomplished by His substitutionary death. We believe Jesus’ physical, actual resurrection from the dead three days after His death on the cross defeated sin and death. We believe in Jesus’ imminent, visible return to earth to establish His earthly kingdom.
Applicable Verses
John 1:14 , Colossians 2:9-10 , 2 Corinthians 5:21 , Hebrews 4:15 , Isaiah 53:4-6 , 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 , Revelation 22:12
GOD, THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe the Holy Spirit executes the will of the Father. The Holy Spirit convicts mankind of sin and regenerates at salvation, at which a once-for-all spiritual baptism occurs. Every genuine believer is endowed with spiritual gifts for personal ministry by the Holy Spirit, and the Father is available to fill continually any believer with His Spirit for living.
Applicable Verses
Titus 3:5 , Romans 8:9-10 , Romans 8:16 , 1 Corinthians 12:3-7 , Galatians 5:16-18 , Galatians 5:22-25
SCRIPTURE, THE BIBLE
We believe that both the Old and New Testaments are God’s Word to mankind and represent the full Canon of Scripture. The Holy Spirit directed human authors by way of verbal, plenary (inspired equally in all parts) inspiration, resulting in inerrant original manuscripts. Therefore, Scripture is infallible in all matters to which it speaks, whether with respect to history and science, or faith and practice. As such, it is authoritative over man’s life. It must be interpreted literally, considering figurative language and stylistic differences, and respecting historical, grammatical, literary, and cultural aspects. We believe the literal, grammatical-historical interpretation of Scripture which affirms the belief that the opening chapters of Genesis present creation in six literal days. Lastly, we believe the Canon of Scripture is complete and closed as it is given in the Holy Bible.
Applicable Verses
Genesis 1:31 , Exodus 31:17 , Psalm 119:89, 160 , 2 Timothy 3:16-17 , 2 Peter 1:20-21 , Hebrews 4:12
THE NATURE OF MAN
We believe that man was created in Gods image, innocent and without sin, enjoying perfect fellowship with Him and able to fulfill His will. However, by disobedience man fell into sin, resulting in the sinful, fallen nature of all mankind throughout history. As such, all men are spiritually dead in sin and alienated from God.
Applicable Verses
Genesis 1:26-27 , 2:7 , Romans 5:12 , Ephesians 2:1-3
SALVATION
We believe that man is saved only by God’s grace, quite apart from human effort, merit, or membership in a particular church denomination. Justification comes by faith alone in the substitutionary death and supernatural resurrection of Jesus Christ. At the point of belief, believers realize that their sin has separated them from God. They have given up all personal efforts to reach God through good works or religious activity and have embraced Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Believers are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and indwelt by Him, thus reconciling that person to God. Likewise, every true believer immediately becomes a member of God’s forever family: the universal church. Each believer then enters a process of sanctification, whereby an ever-increasing conformity to Jesus Christ comes through obedience to God in righteous living.
Applicable Verses
Ephesians 2:9-10 , Titus 3:4-7 , John 14:6 , 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 , Romans 5:10-11 , Acts 20:38
THE CHURCH
We believe God’s true, universal church is comprised of all truly regenerated believers in Jesus Christ, as opposed to members of a particular denomination. This is made visible as individual believers unite to form autonomous, local church bodies.
The goal of each church is to glorify God as we exalt Him in worship, edify one another in fellowship, equip one another in discipleship, preach the Gospel to the lost world, and exercise our spiritual gifts in ministry service.
With respect to the offices of the church, the church is to be governed through the plurality of elders and to be served by the ministry of deacons. The ordinances of the church as specified in Scripture are baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper (Communion); both of which are available only to professed believers in Jesus Christ.
We believe that God established local churches as “God’s Plan A for salvation”, former CBC Pastor, Val Chappell. The local church is a visible, identifiable group of baptized believers who gather regularly and who are committed to one another to be the body of Christ together in Gospel-centered community. We also believe that local church membership is vitally important. Local church membership is a mutual relationship of affirmation in doctrine as well as biblical accountability and support for the building up and edification of the church. All baptized believers who attend CBC are strongly encouraged to become members.
Applicable Verses
Matthew 16:18 , Matthew 28:19-20 , Acts 20:28 , Acts 20:17 , Acts 8:12 , Romans 12:4 , 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 , Hebrews 10:23-25
SPIRITUAL GIFTS
We believe that every genuine believer is endowed with a spiritual gift or gifts at the moment of salvation by the Holy Spirit. Spiritual gifts are a special divine empowerment by the Spirit to accomplish a given ministry God's way, according to His grace and discernment, within the context of the church. Since the dispersal of particular gifts is at the discretion of God the Father, no one gift (or the absence of a gift) should be interpreted as an indication of salvation. Some examples of spiritual gifts are evangelism, discipleship, service, mercy, teaching, and leadership. Please see our “CBC Distinctives” section which outlines our position on the gifts of tongues, healing, and prophesy.
Applicable Verses
Romans 12:3-8 , Ephesians 4:11-12 , 1 Corinthians 12:4-9 , 1 Peter 4:10-11
MARRIAGE
We believe that marriage is a holy covenant created by God the Father for a heterosexual union only between one man and one woman for their lifetime. Marriage also is a divine metaphor of the relationship between Christ and the church.
Applicable Verses
Genesis 1:27-28 , Genesis 2:18 , Genesis 2:20 , Genesis 2:22-25 , Leviticus 18:22 , Leviticus 20:13 , Malachi 2:14 , Malachi 2:16 , Matthew 5:28 , Matthew 19:6 , Matthew 19:9 , Mark 10:9 , Romans 1:26-27 , 1 Corinthians 7:15 , Ephesians 5:22-24
FUTURE EVENTS
We believe in the personal, imminent return of Jesus Christ, after which He will establish His earthly kingdom. However, the exact timing and unfolding of these events is a mystery, known only to God the Father. At Christ’s return, all those not believing will be separated eternally from God in hell; and all those believing will be saved eternally in heaven, and their reign with Jesus Christ.
Applicable Verses
1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 , Matthew 24:36 , 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 , John 14:1-3 , 1 Peter 1:3-5
BAPTISM
We believe the Bible says that every person who believes in Christ should be baptized by water immersion. Baptism itself has no power to cleanse sin or reconcile someone to God. Instead, baptism is a public testimony that a person has embraced Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and has identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.
For a more detailed explanation of our position on baptism please refer to our page on baptism.
BABY DEDICATION and INFANT BAPTISM
We believe in the public dedication of children to God following the example of godly parents in Scripture. Community Bible Church does not baptize children until they are old enough to understand and make a personal decision to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
For a more detailed explanation of our position on baby dedication and infant baptism, view our page on baby dedication.
OUR DISTINCTIVES
MANHOOD & WOMANHOOD
We live in an age with much confusion about what it means to be a man and a woman as God intended. The questions surrounding the nature of biblical manhood & womanhood, and how men and women ought to live in God’s world, are more pressing than ever. We hope to approach this subject with humility and love. We are all broken people, and we all stumble in many ways (James 3:2). We acknowledge the pain and struggle that can surround these issues. Our hope is to articulate our beliefs in a way that does not condemn but rather invites people to joy in Jesus Christ. The purpose of this statement is to clearly affirm and deny what we, the elders of Community Bible Church, believe and do not believe about the complementarity of men and women, specifically in regard to the created order, marriage, and the church. The scope of these affirmations and denials is intended to be broad in theological vision. We recognize that we cannot answer every specific question, nor can we apply these truths to every situation. Rather, we hope to provide a clear picture of what we believe and do not believe in order to lay the groundwork for applications in specific contexts.
For a more detailed explanation of our position, view our page on Manhood & Womanhood.
ETHNIC HARMONY
The Elders of Community Bible Church (CBC) recognize that the issue of ethnic harmony has become a source of some significant confusion and division. We lament that many people have experienced the painful effects of ethnic partiality and injustice.
We are all broken people, and we all stumble in many ways (James 3:2). We seek to humbly put ourselves under the Word of God. We pray that the Word of Christ would dwell in us richly (Colossians 3:16) and that the love of Christ would control us completely (2 Corinthians 5:14).
We are eager to maintain the oneness of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3), and we have a fervent longing to love one another by speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).
We believe that this cause of love and clarity requires both affirmations and denials. We have tried to speak clearly and concisely about what we affirm and what we deny are the biblical teachings concerning ethnic harmony.
Therefore, the aim of these affirmations and denials is to rightly represent, to the best of our study and understanding, the instruction of God’s Word concerning ethnic diversity and harmony. The God we serve and who designed ethnic diversity has unparalleled authority over how we are to respond and reflect His love and character with regards to ethnic harmony.
For a more detailed explanation of our position, view our page on Ethnic Harmony.
THE GIFT OF TONGUES
We believe today's "speaking in tongues" (ecstatic utterance) is not to be identified with the first century gift of the supernatural ability to suddenly speak foreign languages, either in essence, practice, purpose, or effects.
The gift of tongues was a divinely bestowed supernatural ability to speak in a human language that had not been learned by the one speaking it. According to the Apostle Paul, when believers exercised the gift of tongues in church, they were to speak one at a time, and only two or three were to speak in a given service. Furthermore, when tongues were spoken in the church, they were to be interpreted by someone with the gift of interpretation so that the others might be edified by the God-given message. In this way, tongues did not serve as a private prayer language, but rather—like all spiritual gifts—as a means by which one might serve and edify the body of Christ.
Applicable Verses
1 Corinthians 12:7 , 1 Corinthians 13:8 , 1 Corinthians 14:5 , 1 Corinthians 14:13 , 1 Corinthians 14:27
THE GIFT OF HEALING
While God can and does heal, such healings must be judged on their own merit. Much of what is defined as “healing” today bears little resemblance to the healings recorded in the Gospels and the book of Acts, which also included raising the dead. We believe God can and does heal according to His will and purposes. God is not limited in any way from healing anyone at any time. God alone is the One who exercises supernatural healing power. No human being, living today, possesses the supernatural power within themselves to heal others or themselves. The apostles and some of the disciples of Jesus Christ were given the spiritual gift of healing in the early church to affirm the message of the Gospel was from God. As such, we do not believe the spiritual gift of healing is functioning today because the full canon of Scripture is complete. We do believe that God still performs miracles today and still heals people. Believers are called by the Scriptures to pray for the sick in faith believing that God, in His power and will is more than able to heal every form of illness. God answers prayer for healing in His own timing and by His own power and methods. God can and does bring resources of healing (medicine, skilled clinicians, relief, etc.) to bear in the lives of those who are suffering in response to faithful, effective prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. God, in His will and purposes does not always heal in the way we pray or hope; however, we are called to trust God and praise Him whether healing is manifested or not.
Applicable Verses
Mark 16:14-20 , Luke 9:1-9 , Acts 5:12-16 , Acts 9:36-42 , 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 , 1 Corinthians 12:27-31
THE GIFT OF PROPHESY
Regarding the issue of prophets and prophetess in the modern church, the Elders of CBC believe that when the Canon of New Testament revelation was complete, the prophetic office was no longer necessary and ceased as a gift to be exercised in the church. Like the Apostles, prophets were given to lay the revelatory foundation of the church. Once that foundation was established, the work of the Apostles and prophets of the church was complete.
Applicable Verses
Romans 12:3-6 , 1 Corinthians 12:4-9 , 1 Corinthians 12:11 , 1 Corinthians 12:18 , 1 Corinthians 14:5 , 1 Corinthians 14:13 , 1 Corinthians 14:27 , 1 Corinthians 14:33 , Ephesians 2:10 , Ephesians 4:12 , 1 Peter 4:10-11 , Acts 2:1-13 , Matthew 9:18-34 , John 11:43-44 , Acts 3:6-9 , James 5:14-16 , Revelation 22:18-19
DIVORCE
Although marriage is a gracious gift from God, and designed by Him to last a lifetime, we believe it is still subject to the curse of the fall. God hates divorce because He loves people. He hates divorce because it always involves unfaithfulness to the solemn covenant of marriage that a man and a woman have entered into before Him.
Divorce by its nature brings pain and harmful consequences to the couple, their children, their families, friends, and community.
We believe that God can and does heal and restore even the most broken of marriages. We also believe that God wants to restore broken marriages so that married couples can faithfully reflect the Gospel love Jesus Christ has for His Church.
Applicable Verses
Jeremiah 32:27 , Malachi 2:16 , Matthew 9:6 , 1 Corinthians 7:10-11
REMARRIAGE
God loves marriage, He hates divorce, permitting it only where there has been sexual immorality, or desertion by an unbeliever (actual or functional abandonment of the marital covenant). A believer who was faithful through a divorce that had biblical grounds is also free to marry again.
Applicable Verses
Romans 7:1-3 , 1 Corinthians 7:39 , Mark 10:11-12 , Matthew 5:23-24 , 1 Corinthians 7:11
OUR BELIEFS
GOD, THE FATHER
We believe that He is the Creator, with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, of all things. He created the universe out of nothing, apart from any pre-existing materials. As sovereign over all things, He is involved currently in human history working His own will, purpose, and grace, so that all comes to His eventual glory. With respect to His character, He is perfect, infinite, and righteous in every way. The Father is one of three eternally existing persons of the Godhead, equal in power and identical in essence and character; however, distinct in personality and activity.
Applicable Verses:
Genesis 1:1 , Psalm 29:10 , Leviticus 11:44 , Psalm 19:9 , Psalm 147:4-5
JESUS CHRIST, THE SON
We believe that Jesus Christ is the incarnate Son of God: fully divine and fully human. He became such through the historical, actual virgin birth, without surrendering any of His divine attributes. He lived a sinless life, thus being the appropriate sacrifice for man’s sin. On the cross, redemption was accomplished by His substitutionary death. We believe Jesus’ physical, actual resurrection from the dead three days after His death on the cross defeated sin and death. We believe in Jesus’ imminent, visible return to earth to establish His earthly kingdom.
Applicable Verses
John 1:14 , Colossians 2:9-10 , 2 Corinthians 5:21 , Hebrews 4:15 , Isaiah 53:4-6 , 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 , Revelation 22:12
GOD, THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe the Holy Spirit executes the will of the Father. The Holy Spirit convicts mankind of sin and regenerates at salvation, at which a once-for-all spiritual baptism occurs. Every genuine believer is endowed with spiritual gifts for personal ministry by the Holy Spirit, and the Father is available to fill continually any believer with His Spirit for living.
Applicable Verses
Titus 3:5 , Romans 8:9-10 , Romans 8:16 , 1 Corinthians 12:3-7 , Galatians 5:16-18 , Galatians 5:22-25
SCRIPTURE, THE BIBLE
We believe that both the Old and New Testaments are God’s Word to mankind and represent the full Canon of Scripture. The Holy Spirit directed human authors by way of verbal, plenary (inspired equally in all parts) inspiration, resulting in inerrant original manuscripts. Therefore, Scripture is infallible in all matters to which it speaks, whether with respect to history and science, or faith and practice. As such, it is authoritative over man’s life. It must be interpreted literally, considering figurative language and stylistic differences, and respecting historical, grammatical, literary, and cultural aspects. We believe the literal, grammatical-historical interpretation of Scripture which affirms the belief that the opening chapters of Genesis present creation in six literal days. Lastly, we believe the Canon of Scripture is complete and closed as it is given in the Holy Bible.
Applicable Verses
Genesis 1:31 , Exodus 31:17 , Psalm 119:89, 160 , 2 Timothy 3:16-17 , 2 Peter 1:20-21 , Hebrews 4:12
THE NATURE OF MAN
We believe that man was created in Gods image, innocent and without sin, enjoying perfect fellowship with Him and able to fulfill His will. However, by disobedience man fell into sin, resulting in the sinful, fallen nature of all mankind throughout history. As such, all men are spiritually dead in sin and alienated from God.
Applicable Verses
Genesis 1:26-27 , 2:7 , Romans 5:12 , Ephesians 2:1-3
SALVATION
We believe that man is saved only by God’s grace, quite apart from human effort, merit, or membership in a particular church denomination. Justification comes by faith alone in the substitutionary death and supernatural resurrection of Jesus Christ. At the point of belief, believers realize that their sin has separated them from God. They have given up all personal efforts to reach God through good works or religious activity and have embraced Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Believers are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and indwelt by Him, thus reconciling that person to God. Likewise, every true believer immediately becomes a member of God’s forever family: the universal church. Each believer then enters a process of sanctification, whereby an ever-increasing conformity to Jesus Christ comes through obedience to God in righteous living.
Applicable Verses
Ephesians 2:9-10 , Titus 3:4-7 , John 14:6 , 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 , Romans 5:10-11 , Acts 20:38
THE CHURCH
We believe God’s true, universal church is comprised of all truly regenerated believers in Jesus Christ, as opposed to members of a particular denomination. This is made visible as individual believers unite to form autonomous, local church bodies.
The goal of each church is to glorify God as we exalt Him in worship, edify one another in fellowship, equip one another in discipleship, preach the Gospel to the lost world, and exercise our spiritual gifts in ministry service.
With respect to the offices of the church, the church is to be governed through the plurality of elders and to be served by the ministry of deacons. The ordinances of the church as specified in Scripture are baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper (Communion); both of which are available only to professed believers in Jesus Christ.
We believe that God established local churches as “God’s Plan A for salvation”, former CBC Pastor, Val Chappell. The local church is a visible, identifiable group of baptized believers who gather regularly and who are committed to one another to be the body of Christ together in Gospel-centered community. We also believe that local church membership is vitally important. Local church membership is a mutual relationship of affirmation in doctrine as well as biblical accountability and support for the building up and edification of the church. All baptized believers who attend CBC are strongly encouraged to become members.
Applicable Verses
Matthew 16:18 , Matthew 28:19-20 , Acts 20:28 , Acts 20:17 , Acts 8:12 , Romans 12:4 , 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 , Hebrews 10:23-25
SPIRITUAL GIFTS
We believe that every genuine believer is endowed with a spiritual gift or gifts at the moment of salvation by the Holy Spirit. Spiritual gifts are a special divine empowerment by the Spirit to accomplish a given ministry God's way, according to His grace and discernment, within the context of the church. Since the dispersal of particular gifts is at the discretion of God the Father, no one gift (or the absence of a gift) should be interpreted as an indication of salvation. Some examples of spiritual gifts are evangelism, discipleship, service, mercy, teaching, and leadership. Please see our “CBC Distinctives” section which outlines our position on the gifts of tongues, healing, and prophesy.
Applicable Verses
Romans 12:3-8 , Ephesians 4:11-12 , 1 Corinthians 12:4-9 , 1 Peter 4:10-11
MARRIAGE
We believe that marriage is a holy covenant created by God the Father for a heterosexual union only between one man and one woman for their lifetime. Marriage also is a divine metaphor of the relationship between Christ and the church.
Applicable Verses
Genesis 1:27-28 , Genesis 2:18 , Genesis 2:20 , Genesis 2:22-25 , Leviticus 18:22 , Leviticus 20:13 , Malachi 2:14 , Malachi 2:16 , Matthew 5:28 , Matthew 19:6 , Matthew 19:9 , Mark 10:9 , Romans 1:26-27 , 1 Corinthians 7:15 , Ephesians 5:22-24
FUTURE EVENTS
We believe in the personal, imminent return of Jesus Christ, after which He will establish His earthly kingdom. However, the exact timing and unfolding of these events is a mystery, known only to God the Father. At Christ’s return, all those not believing will be separated eternally from God in hell; and all those believing will be saved eternally in heaven, and their reign with Jesus Christ.
Applicable Verses
1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 , Matthew 24:36 , 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 , John 14:1-3 , 1 Peter 1:3-5