Bible church

Bible churches can be ruled by elders, being of presbyterian polity (not to be confused with Presbyterianism) or could adhere to episcopal polity (in which a denomination has bishops) or congregationalist polity.

In general, Bible churches are committed to expository preaching, often by teaching verse-by-verse through an entire book of the Bible. This practice, fueled by the belief that the Bible is inerrant, God-breathed, and sufficient (born from the Protestant teachings of Sola Scriptura or Prima Scriptura), is central to the essence of most Bible churches, and is the origin of their name.

Bible churches almost universally hold to the doctrine of sola fide or justification by faith, a teaching born out of the Reformation.

In addition, many, though not all, Bible churches are premillennial dispensationalists, as the Bible church movement has largely been attributed to the Dallas Theological Seminary, which is a leading dispensationalist institution.