Awakened. Armed. Advancing.

We believe the clearest expression of sound doctrine is found in the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. We recognize genuine believers in Christ may differ with that confession at various points and still be considered orthodox and worthy partners in the proclamation of the Gospel.

We believe the local church is an embassy of Christ’s kingdom on earth—a local body. She is made up of members upon whom the Father has chosen to set His salvific love before the foundation of the world and for whom His Son died in their place as a propitiation. He has sent His Holy Spirit to apply that substitutionary atonement to them and bring them into His heavenly kingdom. It is to the local church that the command to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” is now given.

The local church affirms, trains, and sends evangelists to lead her members to carry out that command, and it is to the local church that the evangelist is accountable for his piety, family, and ministry.

We believe the Scriptures teach that elder-qualified evangelists must lead the church to obey the command to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” In Matthew 9:35–38, the Lord Jesus observed that the lost, who represent a plentiful harvest, were “sheep without a shepherd” and that workers were therefore needed to be sent into His harvest—the worker or evangelist is one who will shepherd.

Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:19–20 is that all He commanded be taught to newly made disciples—the evangelist must therefore be able to teach, which is the role of an elder. In 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul admonished his protégé elder to do the work of an evangelist in fulfillment of his ministry.

By “elder-qualified,” we do not mean that every evangelist must already hold the office of elder. We mean men who, upon cursory observation, demonstrate mature Christian character consistent with the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.

We believe that public proclamation is given to the whole local church, with the exception of authoritative heralding. Members publicly proclaim the Gospel through methods such as tract distribution and sign evangelism. Still, the position of the open-air preacher, in which he elevates himself and/or his voice and authoritatively declares “Thus saith the LORD,” is reserved for elder-qualified men.

We believe God has taught His church the meaning of kindness through the Holy Scriptures and the demonstration of His incarnate Son. True, Christlike kindness promotes the truth of God’s Word. Biblical kindness calls individuals and societies out of sin. From calling abortion “murder” to speaking truthfully about gender issues, biblical kindness does not tolerate sin—it exposes sin. Worldly kindness seeks to make the sinner comfortable, while biblical kindness seeks the sinner’s salvation. The evangelist stands in the posture of biblical kindness by proclaiming the Law and Gospel and calling sinners to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.