Back to the Basics

Christians have been called "People of the Book." It is our conviction that God has given us in His Word the essentials of the faith He has called us to embrace. Biblical truth sets us free to live lives of purpose and fulfillment. Rather than a collection of out-dated rules, the basics of Christian doctrine serve as the foundation for our spirituality. Rooted in the orthodoxy of historic Christianity, we affirm the following essentials as our statement of faith:

The Bible: We believe the Bible to be the inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God. The Bible is the ultimate and final authority for believers and the Church in all matters on which it speaks.

God: We believe in one eternal God who has revealed Himself in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; distinguishable yet indivisible and of one substance. The Bible describes the character of God as good, loving, righteous, holy, just, merciful, faithful, kind, and perfect. God  is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present.

Jesus Christ: We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His personal return in power and glory.

Sin: We believe that as a result of the fall of man into sin, people remain spiritually dead, morally depraved, separated from God and unable to attain right standing with God apart from Jesus Christ. Everyone has sinned and stands guilty before God.

Salvation: We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful man, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential. Salvation is wholly dependent upon the work of God's free grace and is manifested through repentance from sin and faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross. Through His work, not our own, we obtain the forgiveness of sins and are adopted into the family of God.

Holy Spirit: We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life. We also believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit as an experience at or subsequent to salvation and evidenced by various signs.

The Church: We believe in one true universal Church consisting of all genuine believers and in the visible expression of that Church in local congregations. Local churches are commissioned to propagate the gospel, teach God's Word, administer the sacraments (baptism and communion), exercise spiritual authority, and pastor God's people into their destiny.

Christ's Second Coming: We believe in the second coming of Christ - physical and visible - to judge the living and the dead, receive his Church, and consummate human history in the plan of God.

The Resurrection: We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost: the saved unto the resurrection of life and the lost unto the resurrection of damnation.

Other words that describe Piedmont International

Orthodox: We recognize the truths of historic Christianity as found in the Apostle's Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Chalcedonian Creed.

Reformation Protestants: We embrace the theological understandings of salvation recovered through the work of the early reformers such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Uhlrich Zwingli. Specifically, we celebrate the biblical doctrines highlighted during the reformation of   sola fide, sola gratia, sola scriptura, and the priesthood of the believer.

Commitment to Holiness: We recognize the immense contribution of John Wesley in calling a generation out of dead religious traditions to a whole-hearted pursuit of Christ marked by obedience to His Word.

Evangelical: We believe in the necessity of conversion as a requisite for salvation. We honor the great gospel preachers throughout the annals of church history who have faithfully proclaimed the message of repentance from sin and faith towards God.

Charismatic: We embrace the doctrine and the experience of Spirit baptism at, or subsequent to, conversion and the accompanying gifts that God bestows upon believers. William Seymour was a 20th century pioneer in this movement.

Apostolic: We affirm the restoration of ministry gifts described in the New Testament and recognize the legitimate role of extra-local ministries to help the local church become all God has destined it to be. We practice a style of leadership that focuses more on vision and results rather than committees and processes.