Our distinctives are the practical outworking of our doctrine.

A ‘distinctive’ is a unique feature or characteristic that makes you distinct. When we talk about our “distinctives,” we are talking about the values, commitments, convictions, and priorities that define who we are.

Our distinctives are the practical implications and applications of our doctrine. In other words, our doctrinal statement is going to tell you whether or not we’re in the faith, while our distinctives will tell you the unique ways in which we hold and practice our faith. Reading over our distinctives will give you a better idea of what kind of a church we are.

Our Distinctives

Because we believe that every word and every part of the Bible is God’s inerrant word, we believe that the Scripture carries an authority that is objective and absolute (2 Peter 1:20–21). Therefore, we seek to submit ourselves and everything we believe and do to its commands and principles, and to be careful not to go beyond what is written.

We believe that God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Therefore, Scripture is sufficient for dealing with all matters of faith and practice; to all issues regarding the soul, morality, and ethics (2 Timothy 3:15–17; Hebrews 4:12; 1 Peter 2:3).

Along similar lines, God’s Word clearly and definitively tells us who God is as God, who we are as his creatures, and what the world and reality are by God’s creative intent and in his providence. Therefore, we do not need fallen, human, secular rationality in any of its forms—be it naturalistic “science,” secular psychology, current cultural orthodoxy, or racist distortions of reality—to explain our experiences or to help us understand who we are, how the world works, or how we are to relate to each other.

In light of this, we flatly reject such ideologies as transgenderism, critical theory, marxism, and racism in all of its forms. Not only are these unable to contribute anything productive in dealing with our problems, they are positively false and destructive. The Word of God is solely and fully sufficient to equip us to navigate our way through all of life’s problems.

Because we are committed to the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, we are therefore committed to faithful, expositional preaching. Expositional or ‘expository’ preaching—which is commonly referred to as “verse-by-verse” preaching—simply means that the biblical text drives the content of the sermon. In other words, faithful exposition takes the main point of the biblical passage and makes it the main point of the sermon, and seeks to explain and apply it in an understandable and engaging way (2 Timothy 3:16–4:5).

This kind of preaching enables us to go deep into God’s Word and explore all its fullness, but it also safeguards us from the temptation to skip over difficult passages, and protects us from aberrant teaching that results from taking verses out of context.

Book by book, passage by passage, and verse by verse, our desire is to unpack and apply the whole counsel of God to our hearts and lives, just as God intends (Acts 20:18–21).

The biblical model of local church leadership is a plurality of qualified, gifted men called elders who are pastors together over God’s flock. Not only is this the model of leadership that is taught in Scripture, but it provides mutual accountability, collective wisdom, and a sharing of the joys and burdens of ministry among these elders while ensuring that the people of God are properly taught, protected, and shepherded (1 Peter 4:1–5).

We practice baptism by immersion for those who have professed faith in Christ not for salvation or as a work of merit, but as a symbol of the believer’s identification with Christ and His church (Matthew 28:19).

We believe that God reveals Himself in Scripture not only to be the Creator of all things, but absolutely sovereign over all things, providentially governing His universe toward His preordained ends (Psalm 119:19; Ephesians 1:11). His sovereignty not only rules over the broad scope of history, but over individuals, and especially over the salvation of sinners (Ephesians 1:3–12; Romans 8:28–30). As R.C. Sproul famously said, “If there is one maverick molecule in all the universe, then God is not sovereign. And if God is not sovereign, He is not God.”

As believers, we are all at different stages in our sanctification, and therefore we all have differing needs. Some need admonishment, others, encouragement, still others help of various kinds. But all people, including those of varying degrees of like-mindedness, and even those outside the fold of God, need patience and grace (1 Thessalonians 5:14–15). Regardless of how the world may change, our aim is to remain faithful to the truth of God’s unchanging Word, treating each individual—whether they belong to the family of faith or not—with dignity and respect, and endeavoring to care for him or her in a way that displays the love of Christ (Galatians 6:10).