​At BSSI, we strive to interpret the Scriptures accurately and to encourage man to love God. It is our philosophy to acknowledge the supreme authority of God's Word for faith and practice and to equip God's people with the skills to comprehend and communicate it in an increasingly urban context. It is our prayer that the Spirit of God will bear fruit through our efforts for the Lord's everlasting glory.

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We believe that:

1. The Bible, comprising 66 books, is God's Word, which is inspired, inerrant in the originals and our final authority (2 Tim 3:16-17).

2. There is one God, who is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are eternal, equal, and fully divine persons, indivisible in essence, holiness, and love. This God is the creator, sustainer, and sovereign ruler of the heavens and the earth (1 Cor. 8:4-6; Matt. 28:18-20).

3. The Father is righteous and just. He knows the end from the beginning and his plans shall never fail. He rules the world with goodness and his people with faithful love (Exod. 34:6-7; Isa 41:21-29).

4. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son, God incarnate, one person with two natures, unmixed. He was born of a virgin, sinless in life, and crucified under Pontius Pilate for the forgiveness of our sins. He rose bodily from the dead the third day and ascended into heaven with power over Satan, sin, and death. He will come again with glory to establish his kingdom and to judge the living and the dead. There is salvation in no other name (Acts 2:22-36; Lk 1:26-38; Jn 1:1-18).

5. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. He gives new life, and spiritual gifts* to believers for the strengthening of the church into the maturity of Christ (Jn 3:1-8; 1Cor 12).

6. All people are made in God's image from conception. Through Adam's sin, humans became sinners by nature and by choice, separated from God, the source of life, and utterly unable to remedy their lost condition by themselves (Gen 1:26; Rom 5:12-14).Ephesians 5:18; 4:11-12; Romans 12:6-8; Hebrews 2:3-4; Ephesians 2:20; I Corinthians 13:8-13).

7. ​The Gospel is the invitation to receive God's salvation by repentance and confession of faith in Jesus and his atoning death and resurrection. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and secures for us many benefits, including new birth, justification before God, the hope of bodily resurrection from the dead, and life everlasting (Acts 2:38; 4:12; Rom.3:21-26).

8. The universal Church is called the 'body of Christ' and is distinct from Israel.** The local church is God's visible family, made up of baptized believers and organized with the offices of pastor*** and deacon, meeting joyfully and regularly to worship God, and to be discipled into his Word and the fellowship of his Holy Spirit (Eph 4:4-16; 1 Tim 3).

9. The Spirit-filled life is to live by faith, pursuing holiness before God and man in our personal, family, and corporate lives, while holding ourselves accountable to one another and looking for Christ's return (1 Pet 1).

10. The Church lives in anticipation of Christ's imminent return to gather it to himself and establish his millennial rule on earth. At the final judgment, all the dead will be raised: God's people to eternal life, and God's enemies to eternal death (2 Thess 1:5-10; Rev 20).

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* Churches differ in understanding, the existence and use of miraculous gifts. We view claims to miraculous gifts with biblical caution. We do not support Pentecostal and Charismatic understandings of the spiritual gifts.
** We do not support the Amillennial view that the Church is the fulfillment of all the promises made to Israel.

*** We hold on to the Complementarian view with regard to the office of the Pastor.