Our Beliefs

In all of our teaching at Central, our desire is to help people connect with the Lord Jesus Christ through a deeper understanding of his timeless message for us—the Bible. These statements guide some of the core principles that we teach from his Word.

We believe the Bible is inspired by God, true and authoritative.

• II Timothy 3:16-17   All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
• Psalm 19:7   The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

We believe in one God eternally existing as three distinct and equal persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

• Jeremiah 10:10a   But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King.
• Matthew 3:16-17   As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
• II Corinthians 13:14   May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, was born of the Virgin Mary, and is truly God and truly man. 

• John 1:1-3   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
• Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
• Galatians 4:4-5   But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

We believe that people were created in the image of God but that all have sinned, and are therefore alienated from God and unable to remedy their lost condition. 

• Genesis 1:27   So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
• Romans 3:23   ...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...
• Romans 6:23   For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We believe that Jesus died as a sacrifice for sin and that all who believe in Him are justified before God. 

• I Peter 1:18-19   For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
• I Peter 2:24   “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
• Romans 5:9   Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!

We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

• Ephesians 2:8-9   For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
• John 1:12-13   Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

We believe that Jesus rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and that He is presently in heaven as our High Priest and Advocate. 

• Acts 10:39-40   “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen."
• Acts 1:9-11   After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
• Hebrews 7:24-25   ...because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

We believe that Jesus will physically return to earth to establish His kingdom.

• I Thessalonians 4:16-17   For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
• Matthew 25:31-34   “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.'"

We believe that a church consists of a body of baptized believers who have voluntarily associated themselves for worship, instruction, fellowship, service and sharing our faith.

• Matthew 16:18   And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 
• Acts 2:42-47   They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
• Hebrews 10:24-25   And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

We believe that all who have faith in Christ should follow His example of baptism by immersion--a symbol of the essential facts of redemption (dependence on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus). We also believe that we are to regularly proclaim His death through the symbols of the bread and cup in the Lord's Supper.

• Matthew 28:18-20  Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
• I Corinthians 11:23-26   The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.