As Slater Baptist Church, believing and submitting to the Bible as the Word of God, and in agreement with the historic Apostles’, Nicene, Athanasian, and Chalcedonian creeds and the doctrinal statement of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, we believe and confess the following articles of faith:

I. The Bible: We believe the Bible, in its entirety, is the inspired, infallible word of God, inerrant in the original manuscripts, and the final authority for all matters of faith and practice. (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21)

II. God: We believe in one good and holy God who exists eternally as three distinct but co-equal persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We believe God created the heavens and the earth by His own will and power from nothing to the praise of His glory. (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 103:8-13; Matthew 28:18-20; Romans 11:33-36)

III. Jesus Christ: We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father before all ages, and that in His incarnation He remains evermore truly God and truly man. We believe He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died in His humanity on the cross, rose again on the third day, ascended to Heaven, and now intercedes before the Father for us until He returns in power and glory. (Luke 1:35; John 1:1-18; Philippians 2:5-11)

IV. The Holy Spirit: We believe in the deity and personhood of the Holy Spirit, who proceeds eternally from the Father and Son, and produces the fruits of new life, Christlike behavior, and spiritual gifts in the lives of believers. However, while the Spirit has produced gifts like visions, tongues, and miraculous healings, we do not believe that Scripture teaches these gifts continue as normative to the present day. (Matthew 28:18-20; John 14:16; Ephesians 1:13-14)

V. Angels: We believe in the reality of angels as servants and messengers of God, and in the reality of Satan and other fallen angels who rebelled against God and oppose His work in the world. (Hebrews 1:14; 1 Peter 5:8)

VI. Man: We believe that God created all things in six literal days and that He created man, beginning with Adam and Eve, as His image-bearers to rule over creation and to worship Him in spirit and in truth. We believe that God created humans as male or female, with fixed biological distinctions and unique callings. We believe that God has reserved sexual activity for marriage between one man and one woman in covenant love for life. We further believe in the sanctity and intrinsic value of all human life as God’s image-bearers, including the unborn, the mentally challenged, the ailing, and the aging. (Genesis 1; Matthew 19:4-6)

VII. Sin: We believe that mankind was created without sin but, through Adam and Eve, chose to disobey God’s rule, becoming corrupted in nature and in deed. In this state, man is dead towards God and stands justly condemned before Him. (Genesis 3; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:12-21; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:1-3)

VIII. Salvation: We believe that salvation is only and wholly by grace through faith in the Gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as a substitutionary sacrifice and atonement, through which God brings justification, regeneration, adoption, sanctification, reconciliation, and eternal life to all who believe. This salvation cannot be lost and is evidenced by repentance from sin and by the fruit of good works. (Romans 5:1-11; Ephesians 2:8-10; Colossians 2:13-15; 1 Peter 1:1-4)

IX. The Church: We believe the universal Church began at Pentecost and is made up of all regenerate believers in Christ. The local church is a New Testament body of believers who have been regenerated and baptized, and who agree to a common confession and covenant. Its purpose is to glorify God through the building up of believers and the evangelism of unbelievers. Its ordinances are baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper as signs and memorials of Christ’s work. Its biblical offices are pastors and deacons, who lead and shepherd its people. We further believe in the proper distinction between Church and State. (Acts 2; 1 Corinthians 1:1-2; Ephesians 4; 1 Timothy 3; Romans 13:1-7)

X. End Times: We believe in the imminent pretribulational and premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ to rapture His church, establish His kingdom on earth and judge all the nations before creating a new heavens and new earth. We believe in the everlasting joy of believers in the presence of God and in the eternal punishment of those who reject God in the lake of fire called Hell. (1 Corinthians 15:51-57; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 20 and 21)