Central Ocean City Union Chapel - Doctrinal Statement
We believe that:
1. There is one eternal and all-powerful God who exists in three coequal persons namely, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
2. This God spoke into being all things visible and invisible and He created these things out of nothing.
3. Jesus Christ is the unique, Virgin-born Son of God who is both fully God and fully man, yet without sin. He is the only Savior of mankind from the penalty of sin because He, alone, fulfilled the necessary legal requirements for the redemption of man from the wrath of God's judgment through His substitutionary death on the cross. His resurrection on the third day is both a fulfillment of divine prophecy and a seal of the promise of eternal life.
4. The Holy Spirit is the promised "Comforter" who comes to indwell all those who place their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. He is the source of spiritual strength for the believer and gives unique spiritual gifts to every believer for the purposes of serving and glorifying God and the edification of the household of faith.
5. The Holy Bible, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments is the written Word of God, inspired, infallible, and inerrant in the original manuscripts. It is the final authority in all matters of faith and life for every believer.
6. All human beings are born under the curse of Adam's sin, known as the "Doctrine of Sin", and are thus alienated from God and worthy of death. Furthermore, all men actually sin and confirm God's judgment by their actions.
7. Salvation from sin and reconciliation with God were made available by God's grace to all men through faith in the vicarious substitutionary death of Jesus on Calvary's cross.
8. All men face death: those who are redeemed, to an eternal reward; and those who die in their sins, to an eternal punishment.
9. The Church consists of all people who have put their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. It is a unique people, a royal priesthood, not a building nor an organization. The Church is the "Body of Christ." Its purpose is to glorify God by worshiping Him and declaring the "good news" of salvation in Jesus Christ to the world by both word and deed.
10. God uniquely created humans as the final act of creation. He created them, male and female, according to Genesis 1:27. We further believe that man and woman are uniquely suited to be biologically, psychologically, and spiritually complementary to one another (Genesis 2:19-23) and that this complementary design is the basis of marriage and the family unit as described in Genesis 2:24, where Scripture states that it is for this reason that, "the man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they will become one flesh." We therefore believe that the institution and covenant of marriage is restricted by Almighty God to the union of one man and one woman with the purpose of this union being "to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth..." (Genesis 1:28). We believe that any other definition of the marriage relationship or sexual union is contrary to the Word and Will of God and is, therefore, identified in Holy Scripture as sin (Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 1:1-2 and 7:1-10; Ephesians 5:22-33; Colossians 3:18-21; 1 Timothy 1:9-11; 1 Peter3:1-7).
All members of the Corporation, all Trustees, and visiting Pastors are expected to express agreement with this doctrinal position.
32nd St. & Central Ave.
Ocean City, NJ
Central Ocean City Union Chapel
