The preaching and teaching of this church shall be based on the great fundamentals of the Christian faith, all of which center in the Person of Jesus Christ and His death, resurrection, and exaltation. Vaughan Baptist Church embraces the Word of God as our only authority in all matters of faith and practice—should there ever be a conflict between this constitution and the clear teachings of Scripture, the latter shall prevail. The following is not a complete doctrinal statement, but rather is the basis of the faith and teaching of this church.

1. The Scriptures

We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the verbally and plenary inspired Word of God. The sixty–six books, from Genesis to Revelation, are the complete and divine revelation of God to man. These Scriptures, being God–breathed, are inerrant, infallible and therefore the final authority for all faith and practice. We further believe that God gave the words of Scripture without error in the original autographs and that He has promised to preserve His Words. We embrace the Authorized Version as the best English translation of the preserved Word of God from the Hebrew Masoretic (OT) and the Received Text (NT) and, as such, is The Word of God. The King James Version of the Scriptures is the only Bible used for all preaching, teaching, Bible study and memorization by this church (II Samuel 23:1–2; Psalm 12:6–7; 119: 89; Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 24:34–35; Mark 13:31; Acts 1:16; 28:25; 5:29; II Timothy 3:16,17; Hebrews 1: 1; II Peter 1:19–21)

2. God

We believe that the Godhead exists eternally in three, co–equal persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and these are one God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:21,22; Jeremiah 10:10; Matthew 28:19, John 1: 1–3; Acts 5:3–4; II Corinthians 13:14; Hebrews 1:1–3).

3. Jesus Christ

We believe in the true deity and humanity of Jesus Christ, His miraculous birth—conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, His sinless life, His sacrificial atonement for the sins of the whole world by His vicarious death, His bodily resurrection, His ascension into heaven, His perpetual intercession on behalf of the saints, and His personal, bodily and visible return to the earth (Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:26–35; John 1:14; Romans 5:1,11; I Corinthians 15:1,4; I Thessalonians 4:13–18; Revelation 20:6).

4. The Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third Member of the Godhead; that He is a divine Person equal with the Father and Son; that His ministry is to uplift and glorify Christ, to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, to regenerate, indwell, seal, enlighten, empower, and comfort the saved—the evidence of His presence in the life of the believer being the fruit of the Spirit (John 3:6; 14:26; 16:7–11; Acts 1:8; Romans 8:9). In contrast to His dispersing the permanent gifts, the sign gifts (tongues, interpretation of tongues, miracles, healings, etc.) have accomplished their temporary, confirming purpose (a completion and finality of the New Testament) and, with the Apostles, have ceased (Mark 16:17-20; Hebrews 2:3-4; 1 Corinthians 13:8-10; 14:21-22; II Corinthians 12:12. These sign gifts have been (II Thessalonians 2:8-10) and will be (Revelation 13:11-15) deceitfully and spiritually harmfully utilized by Satan.

5. Salvation

We believe that all men are sinners by nature and by choice and therefore are lost and depraved; that salvation is by grace, a free gift of God, and is eternally possessed by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; that whosoever will may choose to reject or receive Jesus Christ; that all who receive Jesus Christ are forgiven of all sin by His atoning blood; that genuine faith includes true repentance and that those who believe on Jesus Christ are born from above, become adopted sons of God and as His elect, are predestined to become like His Son. We further believe that the reception of salvation is characterized by a godly sorrow for sin and a transformed life (Genesis 3:1–7; John 1:11–13; Romans 5:12–19; II Corinthians 5:17; 7:8–10; Ephesians 1:3–4,7; 2:8–10; John 10:28; Romans 8:28–39; 1 Peter 1:2). We reject Calvinism and Arminianism and would identify ourselves as Biblicists.

6. Eternal Security and Assurance

We believe that all the truly redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. We further believe that it is the duty of every child of God to pursue a life of obedience and holiness that will result in the enjoyment of personal assurance of salvation (John 6:37–40; 10:27–30; Romans 8:1, 38–39; I Corinthians 1:4–8; Philippians 1:6; I Timothy 1:12; Titus 2:11–15; I Peter 1:4–5; II Peter 1:8–10).

7. The Church

We believe that the plan of God for this age is to evangelize the world through the establishment of New Testament local churches; that these churches are organized, localized, visible, assemblies of born–again, baptized believers who meet together for worship, preaching, prayer, fellowship, teaching, discipline and to actively engage in carrying out the Great Commission; that the ordinances of the local church are two: the Lord’s Supper and believer’s baptism by immersion; that the local church is to be separate from the State as well as all ecumenical groups and unequal yokes (Matthew 22:21; 28:19–20; Mark 16:15–16; Acts 2:41–42; 4:18–20; 5:29; Romans 6:3–13; I Corinthians 5:5; 7; 11:23–29; Ephesians 1:22–23; 5:27; Colossians 1:12–14,18; 2:12–13; I Timothy 2:1–3; 3:15; II Timothy 1:13).

8. Holiness

We believe that all the saved are called unto a life of separation from worldly and sinful practices, immodesty, immorality and impurity unto a holy, and God–pleasing walk of obedience; that all true believers will separate from apostasy, doctrinal compromise, and from disobedient brethren (Luke 12:51; Romans 12: 1–2; II Corinthians 6:14–18; Ephesians 5:11–12; I Thessalonians 4:1–10; II Thessalonians 3:14–15; James 4: 4; 1 John 2:16).

9. The Future

We believe in the imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ, the pre–tribulational rapture of the saints, the judgment seat of Christ, the great tribulation followed by the earthly, physical, one–thousand year reign of Christ, the great white throne judgment, and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth (Zechariah 14:4–21; Matthew 24:29,30,42; Acts 1:9–11; John 14:1–4; I Thessalonians 4:13–18; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 9:28; Revelation 1:7; 20:1–6).

10. Eternity

We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust; the eternal conscious punishment of the lost in Hell and the eternal joy of the saved in Heaven (Daniel 12:1–2; Matthew 25:31–46; I Corinthians 15:22–24; Revelation 20).

11. Satan

We believe that Satan is a person, a fallen angel, the perpetrator of the fall of man, and the god of this age; he is also a defeated foe and his destiny is eternal punishment (Genesis 3:1–7; Job 1,2; II Corinthians 4:4; Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 20:7–10).

12. Creation

We believe that God created the universe in six literal, 24–hour periods of time called “days”. We reject evolution, the Gap Theory, the Day–Age Theory, and Theistic Evolution as unscriptural theories of origin (Genesis 1–2; Exodus 20:11).

13. Human Sexuality

We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. We believe that God disapproves of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender by surgery or appearance. We further believe that the only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man with one woman (Genesis 2:24–25; 19:5; 26:8–9; Leviticus 18:1–30; Romans 1:26–30; 7:2; I Corinthians 5:1; 6:9; 7:10; Ephesians 5:22–23; I Thessalonians 4:1–8; Hebrews 13:4).

14. Abortion

We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn, human life. Abortion is murder. We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, or the mental well–being of the mother are acceptable (Job 3:16; Psalm 51:5; 139:14–16; Isaiah 44:24; 49:1, 5; Jeremiah 1:5; 20:15–18; Luke 1:44).

15. Missions

We believe that God has given the local church a great commission to proclaim the Gospel to all nations so that there might be a great multitude from every nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language group who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. As ambassadors of Christ we must use all available means to be witnesses at home and to go or send others to the foreign nations and not wait for them to come to us (Matthew 28:19–20; Mark 16:15–16; Luke 24:46–48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; II Corinthians 5:20).