Cornerstone Independent Baptist Church Constitution
Article I – Name
Cornerstone Independent Baptist Church
Article II – Purpose
To win the lost to Jesus Christ; to preach and teach the Word of God; to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth; to administer the ordinances of the New Testament; to promote Christian concern, fellowship, and the spiritual growth of its members.
To edify Christians and strengthen them in the faith that they "may know" that they have eternal life who believe on the name of the Son of God.
Article III – Statement of Faith
We believe in the plenary, verbal, Divine inspiration of the sixty-six canonical books of the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible in the original languages.
We believe in God's promise to preserve His Word. The Bible says, "Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever." Also, "The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever."
We believe that the King James Version (or Authorized Version) of the English Bible is a true, faithful, and accurate translation which in our time has no equal among all of the other English translations.
We believe that there is one God, a living intelligent Spirit, the Maker and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth, eternally expressing Himself through three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe that the material universe, including man, came into being by the direct creation of God, and not by evolution (not even theistic evolution).
We believe that man was created sinless but voluntarily sinned and that because of this fall, all men are now sinners by birth and destined for hell with no "spark of Divinity" and must be born from above to be fit for fellowship with God.
We further believe that the unsaved will spend eternity in torment in a literal hell.
We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Ghost of the virgin Mary.
We believe that salvation of the sinner is wholly of grace and made possible alone through the vicarious death of Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary.
We believe that justification includes pardon from sin, the gift of eternal life, and a perfect standing before God.
We believe in the sanctity of the home as instituted by God in the garden of Eden, consisting of marriage between one man and one woman, united by love and Christian Faith.
We believe that all forms of sexual impurity are an abomination to God and that by recognition and repentance of these sins, salvation of the lost is still possible.
We believe that the local church is a congregation of immersed believers associated by covenant of faith and fellowship in the Gospel.
We believe that there are only two church ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper.
We believe that the gift of tongues was the miraculous ability to speak in foreign, knowable, human, understandable languages.
We believe this gift ceased before the full Scriptures were completed.
We are not a Charismatic church.
We believe in the personal, visible, premillennial return of our Lord for His church, which event will initiate the great seven year tribulation.
We believe that the end of the tribulation will be immediately followed by the thousand year reign of our Lord Jesus Christ from Jerusalem.
Article IV – Church Covenant
The church covenant which binds every member of this church shall be as follows:
Having been led by the Holy Spirit to accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior and on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, we do now in the presence of God enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ.
We engage therefore by the aid of the Holy Spirit to walk together in Christian love; to strive for the advancement of this church in the knowledge of the scriptures; to promote its growth and spirituality; to sustain its worship services, ordinances, discipline, and doctrine.
To give God preeminence over all institutions of human origin; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the financial support of the local church and its missionary endeavors; to seek the salvation of all and particularly of our kindred and acquaintances; to bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; to make available local Christian schooling, and to encourage the pursuit of Christian Education.
To encourage believers to marry only other believers; to live a consistent Christian testimony in the world; to repudiate and stand against the sins of our modern world, including divorce, sodomy, homosexuality, pornography, effeminacy, sins of the flesh, etc.; to avoid all gossiping, tattling, backbiting, and excessive anger.
We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love and to remember each other.
