We want to see the people of Advance, NC & the world come ALIVE in Jesus Christ!

— & we sincerely believe that by The Power of The Gospel it’s possible!

We are here to make The Gospel clear!

To put it simply, we exist to be and to make Gospel-centered, Christ exalting disciples that will transform our community and our world by The Power of The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

— to Share the Love of Christ

— to Live and Relate with Integrity

— to Glorify God in ALL that we do

— to Act in Faith and Love

— to Disciple Others in The Glorious Truths of The Gospel

STATEMENT OF FAITH

Faith in the Holy Trinity

There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, the maker and preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. In unity of this Godhead, there are three persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

God the Father

God the Father is the first Person of the Trinity. As the absolute and highest Ruler in the universe, He is sovereign in creation, providence and redemption. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save from sin all who trust in Him. He relates to His own as their good Father.

God the Son

The Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God the Father, is the second person of the Trinity. He is the full manifestation of God in the flesh. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He is true God and true man. Christ died for our sins, fulfilling the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice for our sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God the Father. He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever-present Lord.

God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit’s ministry is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit draws the unredeemed to repentance and faith in Christ, and at salvation imparts new spiritual life to the believer, bringing the believer into union with Christ and the body of Christ, the universal Church. The Holy Spirit indwells, guides, instructs, comforts, fills, and empowers each believer for Godly living. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of God’s righteousness and of coming judgment.

The Word, or Son of God, Who Was Made Very Man

The Son, who is the Word of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the Virgin; so that two whole and perfect natures, the Godhead and manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided; whereof is one Christ, very God and very man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, for both original guilt and actual sins of men.

The Resurrection of Christ

Christ did truly rise again from the dead, and took again his body, with all things concerning the perfection of man's nature, by which he ascended into heaven, and there sits on the right hand of God until he returns to judge all men on the last day.

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and glory with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God.

The Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation

The Holy Scripture contains all things necessary to salvation; so that whatever is not read and proven within, is not to be required of any man to be believed as an article of faith or be required or necessary to salvation. In the name of the Holy Scripture, we do understand those sixty-six (66) canonical books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the church. The Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and Man.

Original or Birth Sin

Original sin stands not in the following of Adam, but it is the corruption of the nature of man, sin is the actual nature of our being. We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. We are born with a nature to do wrong. Man is very far gone from original righteousness and of his own nature inclined to evil and that continually. The commandments were not given to make us good, but to show us how sinful we really are and how desperately we need His help and forgiveness for our terminal sinful condition.

Free Will

The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and works, to faith, and calling upon God. For that reason, we have no power to do good works, which are pleasant and acceptable to God, without His merciful grace.

The Justification of Man

We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith, only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.

Good Works

Although good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's judgment; yet they are pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and spring out of a true and lively faith, to such an extent that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree is recognized by its fruit.

Sin After Justification

Not every sin willingly committed after justification is the sin against the Holy Spirit, and unpardonable. For that reason, the grant of repentance is not to be denied to ones who fall into sin after justification. After we have received the Holy Spirit, we may again fall into sin, and by the grace of God, rise again and amend our lives.

The Church

Christ is the head of the Church. The visible church of Christ is a congregation of faithful followers in which the pure word of God is preached, the Sacraments are rightfully administered, there is worship of our Lord, there is fellowship among believers, there is active on-going discipleship to both believers and non-believers, and missions to the world. Upon accepting Christ as Savior, a believer becomes part of His body, which is the one universal church, composed of all those throughout the world who trust Christ as Lord and Savior. The scriptures call believers to gather in local assemblies to devote themselves to worship, prayer, teaching of the Word, observance of the sacraments, and fellowship. Each of us, as part of this gathering of believers, is also called to develop and use our talents and gifts given by the Holy Spirit, to build up the church, to share the message of the gospel and to accomplish God's Kingdom purposes in the world.

The Sacraments

Sacraments ordained of Christ are not only badges or tokens of Christian followers' profession, but rather they are certain signs of grace, and God's good will toward us, by which he works invisibly in us, not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our faith in him. There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Baptism

Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ. By baptism a person is solemnly admitted into the visible church. Baptism is also a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of the believer's engrafting into Christ, of rebirth, of remission of sins, and of the believer's yielding to God through Jesus Christ to walk in newness of life. By Christ's own direction this sacrament is to be continued in His church until the end of the world. The sacrament of baptism does not accomplish salvation but is an outward sign of an inward work of the Holy Spirit.

The physical substance to be used in this sacrament is water. The person is to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Baptism is administered by immersion, pouring, or sprinkling water on the person. Persons having made a profession of faith may be baptized at any age.

Infants and small children may be dedicated to the Lord in the church upon the request of the parents or guardians.

The Lord's Supper

The Lord’s Supper is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among each other, but is also a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death. The bread is a symbolic partaking of the body of Christ; and likewise, the cup of blessing is a symbolic partaking of the blood of Christ.

The cup of the Lord is not to be denied to lay people, for both parts of the Lord's Supper, by Christ's ordinance and commandment, ought to be administered to all Christians alike.

Salvation

The offering of Christ is that perfect redemption and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is no other satisfaction for sin but that alone.

Sanctification is that renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Spirit, received through faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood of atonement cleanses us from all sin; by which we are not only delivered from the guilt of sin, but are washed from its pollution, saved from its power, and are enabled, through grace, to love God with all our hearts and to walk blameless in his holy commandments.

Civil Authority

It is the duty of all Christians, and especially of all Christian ministers, to observe and obey the laws and commands of the governing or supreme authority of the country of which they are citizens, subjects or in which they reside, and to use all laudable means to encourage and enjoin obedience to the powers that be. If laws are contrary to the commands given for holy living in the Scriptures; it is the believer's responsibility to stay true to God's commands

Marriage and Family

Marriage was designed and instituted by God to be the permanent, monogamous union of one man and one woman. It is the divine intention that persons entering the marriage covenant become inseparably united, barring death of one member of the union. However, separation or divorce is accepted as permissible only due to the gross and persistent failure of one or both partners and does not lessen in any way the divine intention for indissoluble union. Divorce does not prevent a person from service at BMC.

We will teach and uphold God's marriage design as found in the Scriptures, but we also seek to minister to those who suffer the consequences of broken marriages. We also affirm that we are called to offer grace, compassion, and love, to all who fall short of God’s standards.

Children, from the moment of conception are fearfully and wonderfully made for God's sovereign purposes and are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God's pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle examples and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents. And likewise, parents are not to provoke their children to the point of wrath.

Humanity

According to scripture, all humanity is created in the image of God and possesses intrinsic dignity and worth. Every human being is sacred and meant to represent God in His creation. God alone has the authority to make humanity male and female, humans are not given this right, thus maleness or femaleness at birth is understood to be God's sovereign choice for that person. Men and women are equal in essence, dignity and value but are distinct by divine design.

God declares the created order to be very good, distinguishing men and women as His agents to care for, manage and govern over it. As part of God's good, created order, men and women are to have different, yet complementary roles and responsibilities in the home and church. As it relates to the church, men and women are both expected to lead.

BMC does not condone immoral practices that are incompatible with Christian teaching. We do not condone sin but love the sinner.

Heaven, Hell and the Return of Christ

After death the redeemed go to be with the Lord in paradise, while the unredeemed go to a place of torment. In these respective places, the spirits of the dead await the final bodily resurrection and judgment.

God the Father has ordained a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ, to whom He has given all power and judgment. On that day, not only will the apostate angels be judged, but all the people who have lived on earth will appear before the court of Christ to give an account of their thoughts, words, and actions, and be judged according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil.

At that time the righteous will go into everlasting life and receive that fullness of joy and refreshment which will come from the presence of the Lord which is called Heaven. But the wicked, who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, will be thrown into eternal conscious torment and punished away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power, which is called Hell.

Christ wants us to be completely convinced that there is going to be a day of judgment, as a deterrent to sin for everyone and as an added consolation for Godly persons who have suffered. He has also made sure that no one knows when that day will be, so that we may never rest secure in our worldly surroundings, but not knowing what hour the Lord will come, we must always be alert and may always be ready.