What We Believe

We believe that truth matters. More than our personal experiences or intuition, real truth gives us a dependable foundation and a purpose to live for. We subscribe to the Baptist Faith & Message, 1963.
You'll find a copy of it at the link below.

Here are some highlights of its claims. Anyone pursuing membership and baptism at University Heights must affirm these truths.

It is God's revelation of Himself to the world as written by divinely inspired men. It is a perfect treasure of instruction with God as its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, Scripture is the true and trustworthy supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried.

There is only one true and living God who is the personal creator, redeemer, preserver, and ruler of the universe. This one God is three distinct persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but without division of nature, essence, or being. The Triune God is infinite in all his perfections and power. He has perfect knowledge of all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures.

Man was created in God’s image, male and female, as the crowning work of His creation. In the beginning, man was innocent of sin and given freedom of choice which he used to sin against God and brought sin into the human race. We all inherit a nature inclined toward sin and a punishment of eternity separated from God in hell. Only the grace of God can restore what we broke and bring man back into fellowship God.

Man can never make up for his sin by self-improvement or good works. But, salvation is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Man must simply confess and repent of his sinful ways. Salvation includes a change of heart (regeneration), change of standing before God (justification), change of behavior and desires (sanctification), and a change of eternal destiny (glorification). Salvation is initiated and maintained by the grace and power of God alone for all eternity.

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel. They observe the two ordinances of Christ, are committed to His teachings, and seek to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. This church is an autonomous body operating through democratic processes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and leadership of men who serve as pastors and deacons. In such a congregation members are equally responsible. These local bodies also make up the universal church, which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages.

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing faith in Jesus, death to sin, and resurrection to new life in Christ. It is a prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of  Jesus and look forward to his second coming.

God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. Jesus will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth, the dead will be raised, and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord. All of this will result in the eternal praise of God. 

We are commanded by God to go and make disciples of all nations--of people everywhere. Becoming a Christian means sharing the goodness of God’s story with all people. We do this with love and compassion through the way we live and conversations we have.