We believe that God created the world as described in the divinely inspired Bible, that He made mankind in His own image, that all people have sinned and deserve eternal punishment and that we can have peace with God by believing in God's only Son - Jesus Christ, who paid our penalty by His sacrifice on the cross. God's Holy Spirit lives within all believers and enables them to understand the Bible and live a life pleasing to Him by obeying its principles.
We believe the local church is a place to be strengthened spiritually, and to be taught the principles of God's Word in order to be equipped to spread the Gospel to others. (Ephesians 4:11-12).
The teaching of Bethany Bible Chapel is based on the following:
- The Bible is inspired of God, inerrant in the original documents, and of final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
- There is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- The Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He was born of a virgin and is sinlessly perfect. His sacrifice is substitutionary and representative. He rose bodily from the dead and ascended to His Father's right hand, where He now ministers as our Great High Priest. He will come to rapture His Church and subsequently return to reign over the earth.
- Each member of the human race is fallen, sinful, and lost; and regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential for the salvation of man. Redemption is wholly by the blood of Christ, and salvation is by grace, through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
- The Holy Spirit indwells the believer, who is thus empowered to live a godly life.
- There will be a resurrection of the saved and of the lost, of the saved unto eternal life, and of the lost unto eternal and conscious judgment.
- The Church began with the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and is composed of all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. These believers are united to Him, and to one another, by the indwelling Spirit. The Church's calling, hope, and destiny are heavenly, and its chief functions are to glorify God and to witness for Christ until His return.
- Christ, the risen Head, is the Giver of spiritual gifts to all believers. Gifted individuals such as evangelists, pastors, and teachers are responsible to Him for their service, and are given "for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ."
- There are two Christian ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism by immersion signifies that the believer, having died with Christ, is buried with Him in baptism and also is risen with Christ to walk in newness of life. The Lord's Supper is a memorial feast, instituted by the Lord Himself exclusively for His own people.
- Every child of God possesses eternal life; and being justified, sanctified, and sealed with the Holy Spirit, is safe and secure for all eternity.
- The personal, imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ to translate His Church will be followed by the Tribulation and the inauguration of Christ's reign over the earth; He will then deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father, that the Triune God may be all in all.
Bethany's teaching follows the historic, evangelical interpretation of the Scriptures, which has, in general, been accepted by the Christian Church since its inception. It recognizes no sectarian barriers and seeks to declare the whole counsel of God without over-stressing any one line of truth.