Is the Bible All We need?
Yes. The Bible is truly all we need for faith and practice. But it’s also good to be able to read what a church believes in a few minutes. This is why we have these statements below!
Is there room for disagreement?
Yes and no. We welcome any and all people to visit Tower View, no matter what you believe. For membership, however, we do think it’s very important to be unified on major tenets of the Christian faith, which are outlined below in our “Statement of Basic Beliefs.” All members and pastors agree to this statement.
Our “Statement of Theological Distinctives” captures the leadership’s convictions on areas that are debated even among Bible-believing, Gospel-centered churches. Though agreement with this statement isn’t necessary for membership, we wanted to be sure you know a few more specifics on the leadership’s theological perspective.
Statement of Basic Beliefs
- The Scriptures are true, authoritative, sufficient and inerrant (Psalm 19:7-11; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21).
- There is only one true God, Creator of heaven and earth, who eternally exists in three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:5-6; Isaiah 46:9-10; John 17:3; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6; 1 Timothy 2:5; Genesis 1:26; Psalm 45:6-7; Psalm 110:1; Matthew 3:13-17; Matthew 28:17-20; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6).
- All things exist for the glory of God (Psalm 148; Proverbs 16:4; Isaiah 61:3; Romans 11:33-36; 1 Corinthians 10:31; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Ephesians 1:3-14).
- All humanity, Christ excluded, is sinful (Genesis 6:5; Psalm 51:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:23; 5:8, 12-21; 7:18; Ephesians 2:1-3).
- The deserved penalty for sin is physical and spiritual death (Genesis 2:15-17; Genesis 3:19; Romans 5:12; 6:23; James 1:14-15).
- Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, was born of a virgin and is both fully God and fully human (Matthew 1:20; Luke 2:52; John 1:1-4, 14; Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:1-3).
- Jesus Christ died as the sacrificial substitute to pay the penalty for sin (John 1:29; 10:1-18; Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 1:4; 1 Peter 3:18).
- Jesus Christ physically rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and will one day physically return (Matthew 28:1-20; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-53; John 1:20-21:25; 1 Corinthians 15:12-34; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Hebrews 9:28; 1 John 3:2; Revelation 1:7).
- There will be a future physical resurrection of the dead. Only those who turn from sin and to Jesus in faith and repentance will be raised to eternal reward. Those who do not turn from sin and to Jesus will be raised to eternal punishment (Matthew 25:31-46; John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15).
- Only through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ and repentance from sin can one be reconciled to God and experience true life and joy (John 3:18, 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 3:21-26; 1 Timothy 2:5-6).
If you’d like to know more about our doctrinal beliefs, you can read The Baptist Faith & Message.
Statement of Theological Distinctives
We are a thoroughly Bible-believing, evangelical church that supports missions through The Southern Baptist Convention and The Cooperative Program
Along with our statement of beliefs above, we are also in agreement with the following:
