What We Believe

The following are the core beliefs of Anchor 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. This Church accepts the Bible as the revealed will of God, the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice, and for the purpose of maintaining general unity of statements of faith.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 It cannot be added to, subtracted from or superseded in any regard.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.

The Word of God declares clearly that salvation is a free gift of God, based on the merits of the death of His Son, and is appropriated by faith. Salvation is affected by personal repentance, belief in the Lord Jesus (justification) and personal acceptance of Him into one’s life as Lord and Savior (regeneration). The new life in Christ includes the privileges of adoption and inheritance in the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. Salvation is an act of free will in response to God’s personal love for mankind. Salvation should produce an active lifestyle of loving obedience and service to Jesus Christ our Savior.

The goal of the church is to make disciples of all nations and to present the saints complete in Christ. The church is governed by the office of Elder as mentioned in scripture. It is essential to the life of the church that scriptural patterns of discipline are practiced and that oversight for church discipline, individual and corporate, is exercised by the leadership of the church.

The Word of God places 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 commemoration of the death of the Lord and is done in remembrance of Him until He comes again; it is a sign of our loving participation in Him. Both institutions are restricted to those who are believers.

Christ’s vicarious death on the cross made full atonement for sin, sufficient for the whole world, and effectual for all who repent and place their faith in Him. The saving benefits of His sacrifice – justification, reconciliation, and eternal life – are applied to those who believe. His atonement also secured the ultimate healing of body, soul, and spirit, which believers may experience in part now, and fully in the resurrection to come.

We believe that the Scriptures portray the life of the saint in this world to be one of balance between what is imputed to us as Christians and what is imparted to us according to our faith and maturity. Therefore, God's provision for His children is total, and His promises are final and forever. As new creations, we are born into the Kingdom of God as infants and we live our lives becoming progressively more mature in our faith as we yield to the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. This maturity is an experiential process of having our minds renewed by the truth that is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. As we become progressively more mature in Christ, our behavior will more and more reflect His life in us and His purposes for us. A vital part of this process is living life in the community of believers that make up the Church and allowing ourselves to be built up by our relationships with other believers. The Christian life, while joyful and fulfilling, still includes trials, tests and warfare against a spiritual enemy who takes advantage of our flesh to lure us into sinful behavior and independence from God. Victory over these trials, tests and attacks is provided to us through our faith in Christ's finished work on the cross that redeems us from the power of the enemy.

We affirm the bodily, personal, second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the saints, the millennium and the final judgment. The final judgment will determine the eternal status of both the saints and the unbelievers, determined by their relationship to Jesus Christ. We affirm with the Bible the final state of the new heavens and the new earth.