Grace Bible Fellowship Church exists to be to the praise of God's glory. We call the following items "pillars" because, to us, they are foundational to a church that exists to the praise of His glory. We believe the pillars are soundly based in Scripture but are not intended to replace or add to scripture. It is our hope that this document, along with our doctrinal statements, will prove helpful in communicating what we desire at GBFC.

1.  A high view of God and the centrality of Christ

We believe God is great and holy and sovereign. We believe it is important for preachers and people in word, emphasis, and practice not to take God off His throne and turn Him into a servant who is subject to man's decisions. In Isaiah the Lord said, "I am the high and exalted One who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell on a high and holy place and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit." We seek not God's blessing upon our plan but we seek God. We must not question His hand. We believe that God’s passion is for the fame of His name and that the glory of His name is most awesomely revealed through His Son redeeming a people unto Himself. We believe that "Our God is in the heavens and He does whatever He pleases"; and what He does is always just, right, holy, and good because that's who He is.

2.  A high view of Scripture

We view the Bible as the inspired, infallible, inerrant, plenary, sufficient Word of God. We believe in the absolute authority of Scripture. We believe that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3:16). We believe that "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." (Mt. 4:4). We believe not just in profession but in practice in the sufficiency and superiority of Scripture. Many churches deny the Bible in varying ways. They deny it by directly refuting portions of it or by ascribing error to it. They deny the supremacy of Scripture by relegating it to a small portion of what they do. They deny or attack the sufficiency of Scripture when they give credence to new revelations when the Scripture is God's completed revelation. They deny it when they suggest that certain parts of Scripture just can't be implemented today, such as church discipline. Pastors deny it when they refuse to preach all of it - skipping the controversial passages or passages that may particularly sting their listeners. Churches deny Scripture's sufficiency when they say we need the Word AND programs, the Word AND entertainment, the Word AND psychology. We don't make up our high view of God; we get it from God's Word. We believe it is essential to have a high view of God's Word, and to teach it with carefulness and diligence, treasure it, defend it, obey it, and love it.

3.  A biblical view of man

That is, we believe that man is inherently evil, not good. Romans 3:10-12 tells us "There is none righteous, no not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one." We don't believe that the vast majority of mankind is good and gracious. We believe as our Lord said, "There is only one good and that is God." When men do good, it is only the result of common grace. We believe man was created by God in God's image, yet because of the fall is now sinful, depraved, and corrupt. He is a sinner by nature and by choice. Ephesians 2:1 tells us that before being made alive to God man is "dead in trespasses and sin." Man is totally wicked and totally incapable of saving himself. We do not believe or practice a view of man that declares that man is good enough or smart enough to come to God on His own. The grace of God is the only source, and hope, of salvation for sinful man, and the atoning work of Christ the only source and hope for His justification and righteousness. We, thus, are bound to preach, teach, share, and live the Word of God faithfully and prayerfully, recognizing that all spiritual life and growth must be produced by God Himself.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase." We must always acknowledge God as the cause of any goodness in us. We share a caution regarding churches that minimize conversion and life-changing salvation as a necessity for man.

4.  A biblical view of salvation

So, it is essential that we have a biblical view of salvation. We believe 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away and all things have become new." We believe there is no such thing as true saving faith without repentance, obedience, submission to Christ, and perseverance. These are not the means to earn salvation - they are the evidence of biblical salvation. Further, we are aware of our Lord's words in Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says 'Lord, Lord' shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of My father which is in heaven." We are not swayed by man's profession but look for the fruit that evidences the divine nature within man. It is not perfection but direction.  The evidence of a regenerate heart, according to the Scripture, is a personal hatred for sin, a personal love for God, and the longing to obey. Psalm 42:1 says, "As the deer pants for the water brook, so my soul longs for Thee, O God." At salvation, righteousness becomes your love and sin becomes your burden. For the ungodly it is just the opposite. Sin is their love and righteousness is a burden. We believe the new covenant Christ instituted is a covenant of obedience (1 Peter 1:2), and that coming to Christ is entering by grace into a covenant with God that you will obey and follow Him. He covenants to forgive us when we fail to obey, based on the mediated sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. There is no such thing as a biblical salvation that does not produce an ever-increasing life of obedience.

5.  A biblical view of the church

We are not trying to be a unique church. We are not trying to be something different or new. Rather, we desire to be just another true and biblical church in the long line of true churches that have always been but of which today there are very few. We believe that the church is made up of those who have genuinely been saved and that the universal church makes up the bride of Christ of which the local body is a visible symbol thereof. As such we believe that the church should strive to be a pure church. Every believer must strive for, and pursue after, holiness. 2 Corinthians 7:1 says, "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." We live in a day in which the world is constantly redrawing the lines. We cannot give ourselves to the lusts of the world and be what God has called us to be - a pure church. Further, we believe the church should be marked by godly leaders. You cannot read the Scriptures honestly and ignore the necessity of having godly leadership and still expect to have God's blessing. We believe that Christ is the head of the church (Col. 1:18). Christ, as the head of the church, wants to rule His church through holy people. Unholy people get in the way. The primary ingredient in church leadership is holiness. If you read the qualifications laid out in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, it is not about skill; it is primarily about character. Developing holy leadership takes time and effort, and most churches don't value such an investment (40 years for Moses; at least that for Joshua; David watched sheep and then spent years hiding in caves from Saul). It takes time to make a man of God. We believe the Scriptures teach that a church is to be led by a plurality of godly men called elders (1 Thessalonians 5:13-14; Hebrews 13:7,17) and that the church is to submit to those over them in the Lord for they watch over their souls. Holiness in the leadership and holiness in the people – again, not perfection but direction.

We further believe that the church is a body and as such must exist in mutual accountability to one another in accord with Scripture. We believe that it is essential for the body's health that each member be pursuing the use of his/her gift(s) for the serving of one another and that such gifts are used to glorify God and not men.

6.  A commitment to the preaching and teaching of sound doctrine

We believe that it is a dangerous thing to be vague about your doctrine. A lot of groups are in horrendous shape today because years ago they didn't stand for sound doctrine (1 Timothy 1:3,10; 3:16; 4:6,13,16). We believe the church is to be "the pillar and support of the truth." We are a church committed to preaching and teaching and urging upon you the doctrines of Scripture. We understand that you can have right doctrine and not live right, but we also know that it is impossible to sustain right living with wrong doctrine. We must strive to believe right about God. We believe that much of the cry for unity today is a cover-up for false doctrine. False unity cries, "Don't examine me, just embrace me." The Apostle Paul said to the Ephesians in Acts 20:20, "I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house." We must maintain the teaching and preaching of the Word of God as priority and we must stress the living of it. This is the basis of true unity in the faith. Further, we believe that the preaching of the Word of God is the God appointed means for saving and maturing the saints and as such must be central to all the ministry of the church. (1 Cor. 1:21; 1 Timothy 4:16; Ephesians 4:11-13)

7. A commitment to develop godly families

We believe that parents must be committed to the spiritual nurturing of their children and must aim to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We believe that children must be trained to honor their parents and the Lord in attitudes as well as in actions. We are praying that God will raise up a generation of children who have both zeal and truth; who are not only obedient but passionately in love with God having supremacy in all things. We are committed to developing spiritual husbands that make it their priority to selflessly lay down their lives for their wives and love them as Christ loves the church. We are committed to encouraging women to love their husbands and children, to be gentle and submissive to their husbands, and to be passionately devoted to Christ. Further, we believe it is essential that the husband and wife fulfill their biblical roles of leadership and submission as unto the Lord because of the testimony and glory it brings our Lord as it pictures His relationship with His bride, the church.