The Church
We believe that the church, as set forth in the New Testament, has a twofold aspect: universal and local. We believe that the church, the body of Christ (Eph. 1:19-23
; Col. 1:18), is composed of all elect in Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:26-29), and that it is essentially an organism rather than an organization (Eph. 2:11-22). We believe a local church to be an organized body of immersed believers (Acts 2:41, 47) who meet regularly for the purposes of worship (John 4:23-24; Phil. 3:3), fellowship (Acts 2:42), observance of the ordinances (Acts 2:41), proclamation of the gospel (Matt. 28:19-20; Luke 24:46-47), and the edification of the saints (Eph. 4:11-12); that each local church is to be autonomous (I Cor. 5:1-6), although churches may voluntarily cooperate with each other (Acts 15:2, 4-5, 23-25); that a local church has as its Biblical officers, at minimum elders (Acts 20:17, 28; Tit. 1:5-7; I Tim. 3:1-7), and deacons (Phil. 1:1; I Tim. 3:8-13); that other officers may be added as needed by the Elders of the church provided such officers are not contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture; and that the ordinances of the church are Baptism (Matt. 28:19; Acts 2:41, 10:46-48) and the Lord’s Supper (I Cor. 10:16-22, 11:17-34).