THE BIBLE
We believe that the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is supernaturally inspired so that it is inerrant in the original manuscripts and preserved by God in its verbal and plenary inspiration so that it is a divinely authoritative standard for every age and every life. (Matthew 5:18; 1 Corinthians 2:13; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21)
GOD, We believe in one God that eternally exists and reveals Himself in three persons — Father, Son, Holy Spirit — having each the same nature, attributes, and perfections, worthy of the same worship and confidence. (Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19; John 1:1-2, 14, 10:30, 14:15-17; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 13:14) We believe in God as absolute and sole Creator and Sustainer of the universe, and that creation was by divine command, from nothing and not through an evolutionary process. (John 1:3, 10; Acts 17:24-25; Genesis 1:1) We believe that God, by His sovereign choice and out of love for men, sent Christ into the world to save sinners. (John 3:16; 1 Timothy 1:15; 1 John 4:14)
GOD THE SON
We believe that Jesus Christ was fully God in the flesh and fully man, that He was born of a virgin and that He lived a sinless life, in which He taught and performed mighty works and wonders and signs exactly as revealed in the four gospels. We believe that He was crucified, shed His blood, died to pay the penalty for our sins and was raised bodily from the dead on the third day. Forty days later He ascended to the Father's right hand where He is head of the Church and intercedes for believers. From there He is coming again personally, bodily and visibly to this earth to set up His millennial kingdom. (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6; Hebrews 1:1-2, 7:25; Luke 1:30-35; Ephesians 4:8; John 1:1-5, 10-14, 14:3; Colossians 2:9; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Acts 1:3,11; Revelation 20:4)
GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person and is God, possessing all the divine attributes. He convicts of sin regenerates, indwells, baptizes and seals all believers at the moment of their salvation, filling them in response to yieldedness with the goal of conforming them to the image of Christ. (John 3:5, 16:7-11; Acts 5:3-4; Ephesians 1:13, 4:30, 5:18; 1 Corinthians 6:19, 12:13)
MAN
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam's sin the human race fell, inherited a sinful nature and became alienated from God. We believe that all men are morally corrupt, and of themselves utterly unable to remedy their lost condition. (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 1:18, 3:23, 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3, 12)
SALVATION
We believe that salvation is a gift of God and is received by man through personal faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for sin. We believe that man is justified by grace through faith apart from works and that all true believers, once saved, are kept secure in Christ forever. (Acts 13:38-39; Romans 4:5, 6:23, 8:1, 38-39; John 10:27-29; Ephesians 2:8-9)
THE CHURCH
We believe that the true Church is composed of all persons who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit through saving faith in Jesus Christ; that they are united together in the body of Christ of which He is Lord and Head; and are commissioned for the God-given tasks of worshiping, fellowshipping, teaching, evangelizing and exercising the spiritual gifts. (Acts 2:42, 47; Romans 12:5; Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:23-24; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; 2 Corinthians 11:2) We believe that the establishment and continuance of the local church is clearly taught in the New Testament Scriptures. (Acts 14:27, 20:17, 28-32; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11) We believe that the local church is autonomous and free of any external authority or control. (Acts 13:1-4, 20:28; Romans 16:1, 4; 1 Corinthians 3:9, 16, 5:4-7, 13; 1 Peter 5:1-4)
THE ORDINANCES
We believe the ordinances for the believer are water baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper as a memorial. They are, however, not to be regarded as a means of salvation. But both of which are evidence of obedience and fellowship with the Lord. (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:38, 41, 8:12, 35-38; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29)
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
We believe that a Christian should walk in holiness and not after the flesh, with the goal of being conformed to the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As a new creation, walking in the Spirit, the Christian learns to grow in faith, in obedience to Scripture, in prayer, in fellowship with the saints and in a life of service. We believe that the Christian will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to have his life evaluated according to his deeds. (Galatians 5:16-26; Hebrews 10:25; Ephesians 4:20-24; Hebrews 11:6, 12:1-2; John 17:17; Ephesians 6:18; Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15)
THE SECOND COMING
We believe in the personal, pre-millennial and imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead, of the believer to everlasting glory and the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; Titus 2:11-13; John 14:1-6; Matthew 25:46; Revelation 20:11-15; 2 Peter 3:10)
MARRIAGE, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY
We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God. (Genesis 1:26-27) Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person.
We believe the term marriage has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in scripture. (Genesis 2:18-25) We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other. (I Corinthians 6:18, 7:2-5; Hebrews 13:4)
We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including but not limited to adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God. (Matthew 15:18-20; I Corinthians 6:9-10)
We believe that in order to preserve the function and integrity of The Lambs Chapel as the local body of Christ and to provide a biblical role model to our members and the community, it is imperative that all persons employed by The Lambs Chapel in any capacity or serve as volunteers agree to abide by the statement on marriage, gender, and sexuality. (Matthew 5:16; Philippians 2:14-16; I Thessalonians 5:22)
We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity. (Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31.) Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed towards any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture nor the core beliefs of The Lambs Chapel.