Shepherd's Fold Baptist Church

Statement of Faith

Statement of Faith

• The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired of God, and inerrant in the original writings, and they are the supreme and final authority in faith and life.
• There is one God, eternally existent in three co-equal Persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• Jesus Christ, Who is God the Son, became man, begotten by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary, and, through eternity, will continue to be true God and true man.
• Man was created in the image of God; sinned and thereby incurred both physical and spiritual death; all men are born with a sinful nature, and consequently are conceived as sinners in thought, word, and deed.
• The Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, as a substitutionary sacrifice; and all who believe in Him are saved on the grounds of His death and resurrection.
• The crucified body of our Lord was resurrected; He ascended into Heaven, and lives there, as our High Priest and Advocate before the Father.
• All who believe the gospel and receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ are “born again” and thereby become the children of God.
• Those who are born of the Holy Spirit are to live the Christian life by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit according to the Word of God.
• The true living Church is composed of all regenerated believers; and its supreme mission is to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission in preaching the gospel to all people.
• Believers are to observe the ordinances of baptism (by immersion) and the Lord’s Supper, and to unite with a Bible believing, Bible practicing local church and continue faithfully in this fellowship for spiritual improvement and avenues of service.
• Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will return to earth personally, bodily, visibly, and gloriously, and all believers should look for His Coming, which is the blessed hope of the Church.
• The bodies of the dead, both of the just and unjust, will be resurrected; the saved to enjoy everlasting blessedness, and the lost to endure everlasting punishment.

Whereas we live in a time of departure from the Word of God, we herein declare ourselves to be:

Biblical rather than interdenominational,
Separatistic rather than new evangelical,
Bible-believing rather than liberal,
Autonomous rather than denominationally controlled in church government,
Premillenial rather than postmillenial or amillenial in eschatology,
Pretribulational rather than posttribulational or midtribulational in regard to the rapture,
Local church centered rather than ecumenical in policy,
Separated rather than inclusivistic,
and Creationist rather than evolutionist.