Berean has members from many different denominational backgrounds. We seek to be biblical in all we do and believe. We believe the truth matters and our leaders hold strong convictions around the following issues.
The Scriptures
We believe that the thirty-nine Old Testament and twenty-seven New Testament books of the Protestant Scripture constitute the Christian Bible. We believe that the Bible was inspired by and is illuminated by the Holy Spirit; it is inerrant and infallible, in the original manuscripts, and is the supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. For the purposes of BBC’s doctrine, policy, and practice, the Elder Board is the final interpretive authority on the Bible’s meaning and application.
God
There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
God the Father
We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal spirit, perfect in wisdom, power, and love. We believe that He is the sovereign creator and sustainer of all, that He concerns Himself mercifully with the affairs of men*, and that His perfect purposes will prevail.
God the Son, Jesus Christ
We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of a virgin; we believe in His sinless life, miracles, and teachings. We believe in His substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, ascension to heaven, perpetual intercession for His people, and personal, visible return to earth
God the Holy Spirit
We believe in the Holy Spirit who came forth from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and to regenerate, sanctify and empower faithful living for those who believe in Jesus Christ—He is an abiding helper, teacher, and guide.
Man
Man* is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God's creation. In the beginning man* was innocent of sin and was endowed by his* Creator with freedom of choice. By his* free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man* transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his* posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man* into His holy fellowship and enable man* to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man* in His own image, and in that Christ died for man*; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
Salvation
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man*, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.
Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Savior.
Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal, based upon principles of His righteousness, of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.
Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God's purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person's life.
Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.
The Church
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its two scriptural offices are that of pastor/elder/overseer and deacon. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.
The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.
Ordinances
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has committed two ordinances to the local Church: baptism and the Lord's Supper. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Baptism
We believe that Christian baptism is a worshipful act of obedience marked by the immersion of a believer in water; this immersion symbolically identifies a believer with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection to newness of life.
The Lord's Supper
We believe that Christ instituted the Lord's Supper, a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the Church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, commemorate His atoning work and decisively remember the believer's covenantal relationship with God in Christ, as well as the resulting fellowship of believers.
Christian Conduct
We believe that a Christian should live for the glory of God and the well-being of his* fellow men*; his* conduct should be blameless before the world. He* should be a faithful steward of all entrusted to him*, and he* should seek to realize for himself* and others the full stature of maturity in Christ.
Gender, Sexuality and Marriage
We believe that God created male and female, in His image. We believe that gender is defined biologically at one's conception. Man and woman are equal in value, yet distinct in form and function. The corollary value and complementary uniqueness of man and woman are invaluable to the covenantal relationship of marriage, its subsequent procreative purposes, and the fundamental social structure that the nuclear family provides. We believe that biblical marriage involves one man and one woman—and reflects the relationship between Christ and the Church. We believe that all sexual intimacy should be exclusive to the marital relationship.
Sanctity of Human Life
We believe that from conception to natural death all human life is created by God in his image and is therefore sacred. Human life is of inestimable worth including the pre-born, the aged, the infirm and those with physical and mental disabilities (Gen. 1:27; Gen. 9:5-6; Deut. 5:17; Ps. 139:13-16; Pr. 23:22; Jer. 1:5; Lk. 12:6-7).
Church Cooperation
We believe that local churches can best promote the cause of Jesus Christ by cooperating with one another in a denominational organization. Such an organization, whether a regional or district conference, exists and functions by the will of the churches. Cooperation in a conference is voluntary and may be terminated at any time. Churches may likewise cooperate with inter-denominational fellowships on a voluntary independent basis.
Religious Liberty
We believe that every human being has direct relations with God, and is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith; that each church is independent and must be free from interference by an ecclesiastical or political authority; that therefore, Church and State must be kept separated as having different functions, each fulfilling its duties free from dictation or patronage of the other.
The Last Things
We believe the personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of His kingdom. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, the eternal bliss of the righteous, and the endless suffering of the wicked.