Doctrines
Harbor Bible Church is a non-denominational, Bible-centered church. There are many labels put upon churches to identify them. If this is helpful for you, we would be identified as a protestant, evangelical, non-charismatic, theologically conservative ministry. In short, we are committed to the Scriptures and Jesus Christ as Lord.
As a non-denominational church we believe in the simplicity of the Christian faith. The early New Testament disciples were simply called Christians (Acts 11:26). As the years passed, labels were placed on churches to help identify their theology and associations with particular groups or movements; but labels may also cause unnecessary division and prejudice among God’s people. Often trust and loyalty is placed more on the label than on Scriptural discernment.
Born-again Christians are one body in Jesus Christ. As the Scriptures teach, “There is one body. . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism (Ephesians 4:4-5)." True Christians have a single body of essential doctrines, such as, the way of Salvation, the deity of Jesus Christ, and the inerrancy of Scripture. It is upon these truths that we find fellowship. Harbor Bible Church is not an inter-denominational church which promotes a unity of ecumenical beliefs contrary to the teachings of Scripture. Rather, we are a truly Christian church which defends without apology the absolute truths of the Scriptures.
At Harbor Bible Fellowship our complete doctrinal statement is the Bible, and we encourage Christians to hold us accountable to this standard. The following doctrinal statement is a short summation of the truth held in common by Christians and the membership of Harbor Bible Fellowship Church.
Statement of Faith
We believe the following doctrines should be held in common by all born-again believers in Christ Jesus. We do not claim inspiration for the choice of wording, so please read the following in Christian love, trying to discern our meaning rather than dissect our grammar.
The Bible
We understand the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament to be the verbally, inspired Word of God, without error in their original writings, authoritative, and our only rule for faith and living.
God
By His infinite essence God defies complete definition by His finite creatures. We can truly know Him only by revelation, whether general, as in nature, or specific as in the Bible. By this revelation we know God as a single triune being in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit - - each being omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent.
Man
Created in the first Adam as a direct act of God, to glorify God through obedience and love, man rebelled and fell into a sinful state, unable to save himself from the literal hell he deserves.
Salvation
God’s plan of redemption is to save man from the penalty, power, and eventually, the very presence of sin. We believe in the incarnation and virgin birth of Jesus Christ, His vicarious atonement for the sins of mankind by the shedding of His blood on the cross, and His bodily resurrection from the tomb. There is but one salvation in the Scriptures, Those in the Old Testament looked forward to the cross of Jesus Christ by faith in the Word of God, and we, after the cross, look back to it by faith in that same Word. This salvation is entirely by the grace of God, an everlasting relationship which man enters by faith in God’s revealed Word. Jesus Christ promised to return for those who have trusted Him by faith. This is the believer’s hope which can take place at any time.