We
are...
Independent...
because the scriptures do not teach us to create church hierarchies,
the local body of believers and their sending out missionaries is God's
method. The reason why is simple. We are sinners, when a "denominational
head" (or hierarchy) goes bad, the whole denomination goes with
it. HOWEVER, if a local church experiences problems, the other surrounding
local bodies will be able to restore it back to where it was.
Fundamental...
we believe in the fundamentals of the Christian faith, in other
words, the Bible ALONE is our final authority in ALL matters, regardless
of our or your opinion. The term fundamentalist has gotten a bad reputation
of late; however, a fundamentalist is one who simply holds to the fundamentals
(the basics).
Baptist...
because we believe that after one professes salvation they should be
emersed in water in baptism as a step of obedience that symbolizes our
death to the world and our new life in Christ. We DO NOT believe that
baptism is necessary (or efficacious) for salvation, it is act of obedience.
No physical act could possibly forgive sin and give us eternal life
(how could the temporal produce eternal?). Jesus' FINISHED work on the
cross took care of our salvation.