About

Our History

Pastor Ensley and his wife Arlene arrived on America’s Last Frontier at Prince of Wales Island, Alaska in June of 1995. With the call of God on their lives, their courageous mission was to start an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church. The purpose was to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and strengthen Christians of the land.

In September of the same year, New Hope Baptist Church (NHBC) held its first modest service in the Klawock School. In May of 1997 the Church moved to Isaac’s Hardware Store and later to the Bell Tower Mall, also in Klawock. There it successfully continued to grow for years before moving to the City of Craig where the Church met first in the elementary school band room and later moved to Craig High School. Since September of 2001, the church has had its own building located on Tanner Crab Court in the beautiful town of Craig, Alaska.

We have recently celebrated over 25 years of serving this community and spreading God’s Word throughout the world for the Lord, all in accordance with Matthew 28:19-20.

Our Testimony

New Hope is an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church.

Established on August 31, 1997 by pastor Richard Ensley, New Hope Baptist Church seeks to reach lost souls through the preaching of the Word of God. New Hope is a local Church that exists to serve as “pillar and ground of the truth”. Church members believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of all mankind’s sin and in the eternal security of all believers. We also place our faith in the divine virgin birth of Jesus Christ and His part in the Trinity of the Godhead, 1 Timothy 3:15.

New Hope also practices the ordinances of the Lord’s Supper and the Baptism of believers in Jesus Christ under the command of the Great Commission, Matthew 28:19-20. New Hope believes in the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, given at Salvation. This was accomplished for the Lord’s work through His local church to assist others in knowing God.

This missionary burden for souls extends to the world over and has accelerated our cause for Christ. The church is not a museum for saints, but rather a place of service; not a perfect haven for the sinless, but a hospital for sinners saved by God's ever presence and grace.

Statement of Faith

The Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our faith. The Bible itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe. We do believe, however, that the following Statement of Faith accurately represents the teaching of the Bible, and therefore, is binding upon all members.

The Holy Scriptures

We believe the sixty-six (66) books of the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God, inerrant, infallible, immutable, complete, final, and only revealed Word of God, preserved in the King James Version for the English speaking people, and that it is the supreme and final authority of faith and practice. God has preserved the Holy Scriptures for us today, and they are the standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions shall be tried. (Psalm 119:89, 152; Isaiah 40:8; II Timothy 3:16; I Peter 1:23-25; II Peter 1:19-21)

The Person of God

We believe that there is one, and only one, living and true God, Who is an infinite Spirit. This one God eternally and equally exists in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, Supreme, Sovereign, Perfect Creator and Ruler of heaven and earth, Who is worthy of all possible praise, honor and love. (Exodus 20:2-3; Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19-20; John 4:24; 10:30; I Corinthians 8:6; I John 5:7; Revelation 4:11)

The Person of Jesus Christ

We believe Jesus Christ to be God's Only Begotten Son, Who has eternally existed as God, and Who is the true God Man. We believe in the virgin birth, conceived of the Holy Spirit, His sinless life, substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension, and present High Priestly ministry of Jesus Christ. We further believe in the personal, visible, imminent, pretribulational, and premillennial return of Jesus Christ, Who will rule and reign forevermore. (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:20-25; Luke 1:30-35; John 1:1-14; Acts 1:11; I Corinthians 15:1-8; Galatians 4:4; Philippians 2:5-8; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Hebrews 4:14-16; Revelation 11:15)

The Person of the Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is an agent of the New Birth through conviction and regeneration, and that He seals and indwells everyone who trusts Christ as Savior. We also believe that the Holy Spirit fills and empowers believers, and that He distributes Spiritual gifts to all believers. We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Personality, not a mere force or influence, Who is equal with God the Father and God the Son, and Who had an active role in creation. Since the Holy Spirit is God, He eternally possesses all of the attributes of God. (Genesis 1:1-3; Luke 24:49; John 14:16-17, 26; 16:7-14; Acts 5:32, Romans 8:9, 14-16, 26-27 and 12:6-8; I Corinthians 12:13 and 13:1-13; II Thessalonians 2:7-8; Ephesians 1:13-14 and 2:20 and 4:11-12 and 5:18; I Peter 1:2; Hebrews 2:3-4)

The Bodily Resurrection of Christ

The Reality of Satan

We believe that Satan is a real being, an angelic creation of God, who with other angels, rebelled against Almighty God, desiring to sit upon His throne. Satan is called an "angel of light" (II Corinthians 11:14), who along with his demons, desires to devour every Christian, and hinder them in their Christian walk. Satan is under the control of God, and will someday be cast into the lake of fire. (Job 1:7-12; Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:11-19; I Peter 5:8; Revelation 20:2, 10)

The Creation of the Universe

The State of Man

We believe that man, who was created in the image of God, willingly fell into sin and thereby incurred, not only physical death, but also Spiritual death, which is separation from God. All human beings are born with a sin nature and are sinners in thought, word, and deed. Because of the fall of man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. The only way a person can escape the literal, eternal, conscious punishment of Hell fire, and enjoy the everlasting conscious blessedness of heaven, is by accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. (Genesis 1:26-27 and Genesis 3:1-6; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:23-24; John 3:16; Romans 5:12, 15-19; Revelation 20:10-15; Revelation 21 & 22)

The Salvation of Sinners

We believe that Jesus Christ died as the substitutionary sacrifice for all men. The blood atonement He made is unlimited in its potential. We believe that salvation is by grace, completely free from any human works or merit, and that through repentance and faith salvation must be accepted as God's free gift. Salvation is freely offered to all men since God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Once a person places their trust in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, they can have full assurance of their salvation, knowing that believers are eternally secure in Christ. (Luke 13:3, 5; John 1:12; 3:16; 5:24; Acts 3:19, 16:31, 17:30, 26:20; Romans 1:16; 10:13; 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5; II Peter 3:9; I John 5:13; John 10:28-29; I Peter 1:3-5)

The Church

We believe that the local church is the agency through which God has chosen to accomplish His work in the world. A New Testament Baptist Church is an organized body of baptized believers, immersed upon a credible confession of faith in Jesus Christ, having two offices (Pastor and deacon), congregational in polity, autonomous in nature, and banded together for work, worship, edification, the observance of the two ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper, and the fulfillment of the Great Commission. (Malachi 3:8-10: Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 11:42; Acts 2:41-47; Romans 16:17: I Corinthians 16:1-2; II Corinthians 6:14-17 and 9:7; Ephesians 1:22-23; 3:10, 5:23-24; I Timothy 3, 6:3-5; I Peter 5:1-3)

The Rapture

We believe in the "blessed hope" – the personal, premillennial, pretribulational and imminent return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when he will gather all believers unto Himself and take them to Heaven. (Matthew 7:21-23; 24:29-46; John 14:1-3; I Thessalonians 1:10, 4:13-18; 5:1-10; II Thessalonians 2:1-13; Revelation 19:11-20; 20:1-15; I Corinthians 15:50-58; Acts 1:11; Titus 2:13; Isaiah 11:1-16)

Missions

We believe that God has given the Church the 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 go to foreign nations and not wait for them to come to us. (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; II Corinthians 5:20)