We believe the Bible to be the pure Word of God (Psalms 12:6), wholly true and without error (John 17:17), from which nothing can be subtracted or added. No pastor or staff member may be called to the ministry of this church who does not fully subscribe to this position on the Scriptures. The same holds true for those indicated for service as non-staff elders, administrative support staff, ministry team members, deacons, or teachers.

Our current statement of faith is The Baptist Faith and Message as adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention on June 14, 2000.¹

    A. The Universal Church: The Universal Church consists of those who have personally believed on the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians. 1:13-14), are born again, and are baptized into His Body by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13). These believers constitute the Body or the Bride of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians 5:25-32; Revelation 19:7-10, 21:2). This universal church consists of every believer in every place in every time in the world (Hebrews 10:25; Revelation 5:9-10).

    B. The Local Church: In the New Testament, individual believers living in certain areas constituted a local church, such as the local churches at Corinth, Berea, Philippi, etc. It is in this sense that MBC exists and is known as such. MBC is one part of the larger body of Christ in New Castle, Indiana. As a fellowship of believers, we seek to affirm other like minded churches that belong to the larger body of Christ locally, nationally and internationally. The local church is composed of born-again, immersion baptized believers who have voluntarily united together for the purposes of worshipping God, evangelizing the world, ministering to each other and discipling new believers (Acts 2:42; 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10).

A. The preeminence of Jesus Christ the God-man, as our risen, living Lord and Savior (Colossians 1:15-18; 2:6-7).

B. The sole sufficiency and supreme authority of the Scriptures (Matthew 7:28; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21).

C. The competency of the individual in direct approach to God (Hebrews 10:19-22).

D. The priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:5, 9).

E. The necessity of a born-again membership (John 3:3-8; 1 Peter 1:3, 23).

F. The importance of all believers to discover their spiritual gift(s) and find a place of ministry and service in the church to faithfully administer God's grace (1 Peter 4:10).

G. The symbolic ordinances of believer's baptism by immersion (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 8: 36-38, 9:18) and the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-28).

    The physical element of water in baptism does not save the sinner, but is a voluntary external testimony to the work that the Holy Spirit has already done in the heart of the believer. Following the Lord in baptism is an act of obedience and has its proper reward as such. In Acts 10:47-48 the Gentile believers were baptized with water after they had been spiritually baptized with the Holy Spirit. We believe people are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the universal Body of Christ upon conversion (1 Corinthians 12:13), and by immersion baptism into this local body (Acts 2:38).

    The physical elements of bread and the fruit of the vine are not the actual body and blood of Christ, but are symbolic of Christ's body broken for us, and His blood shed for our sin (1 Corinthians 11:24-29). The Lord's Supper is an occasion of remembrance and self-examination.

H. The autonomy of the local church. This means that each local group of believers is itself responsible to follow the direction of the Lord Jesus as given by Him in His Holy Word by His Holy Spirit (Hebrews 13:7, 17; Revelation 2-3).