WHAT WE BELIEVE

The following are the core beliefs of Elk Horn Baptist Church based on the foundational truths taught in the bible. All of our teaching and ministry is rooted in and flows out of these biblical doctrines.

God the Father is the creator and sustainer of all things, and He created the universe in love. He created man in His own image for fellowship and called man back to Himself through Christ after the rebellion and fall of man.

Genesis 1-3, Exodus 3:5-6, Exodus 20:1-11, Isaiah 6:1-8, Matthew 6:9-15

The Holy Spirit is God, the Lord and giver of life, who was active in the Old Testament and given to the Church in fullness at Pentecost. He empowers the saints for service and witness, cleanses man from the old nature and conforms us to the image of Christ. The baptism in the Holy Spirit, subsequent to conversion, releases the fullness of the Spirit and is evidenced by the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

John 3:5-8, John 14:15-20, Romans 8:1-17

We affirm that the Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, is alone the only infallible, inspired Word of God, and that its authority is ultimate, final, and eternal. It cannot be added to, subtracted from, or superseded in any regard. The Bible is the source of all doctrine, instruction, correction, and reproof. It contains all that is needed for guidance in godliness and practical Christian conduct.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Salvation is the beginning point and continual process of our eternal life relationship with God. Salvation is available to anyone who shall believe in their hearts and confess with their lips that Jesus is our Lord who lived a life among us, gave his life on a cross as an atoning sacrifice for our sins and then arose from the dead securing the victory over sin and death for all who believe. Jesus is the only way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through him. Salvation is secure in the eternal, unchanging commitment of God who does not lie and is forever the same. Salvation should produce an active lifestyle of loving obedience and service to Jesus Christ our Savior.

1 John 3:1-3, Romans 10:9, Philippians 1:6 and 2:12-13, John 1:10-13 and 3:16, John 14:6

The goal of the Church is to make disciples of all nations and to present the saints complete in Christ. The five-fold ministry of Ephesians 4:11-13 governs the Church, as well as other offices mentioned in scripture. The Church is an extension of God’s hands here on earth. The Church has the power to Reach the Unreachable, Teach the Unteachable and Love the Unlovable.  

Matthew 28:18-20, Ephesians 4:11-13, Acts 2

Jesus Christ is eternally God. He was together with the Father and the Holy Spirit from the beginning, and through Him all things were made. For man’s redemption, He left heaven and became incarnate by the Holy Spirit through the virgin Mary; henceforth, He is forever one Christ with two natures—God and man—in one person.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Philippians 2:5-11, Colossians 1:15-20

It is the testimony of both the Old and New Testaments and of the Christian Church that God is both One and Triune. The biblical revelation testifies that there is only one God and that He is eternally existent in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Mark 1:9-11, Matthew 28:16-20, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, 13:13

People are created in the image of God, but choose to be sinful. Thus, we as humans are fallen, but God chose to give Jesus's life as a sacrifice for all of us. Because of that sacrifice, we can choose to believe and receive His redemption and begin the lifelong discovery process of what it means to be created in His image. That discovery process is brought to completion when we see Christ face to face in glory.

Genesis 1:27, Genesis 3, Psalm 139, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23

The Word of God enjoins on the Church two perpetual ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first, baptism, is the outward sign of what God has already done in the individual’s life and is a testimony to all that the person now belongs to Jesus. It is identification with Jesus and is affected in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death, burial, resurrection and anticipate His second coming. Both institutions are restricted to those who are believers.

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John