OUR STATEMENT OF FAITH
GOD
There is one God, who exists eternally in three distinct persons;
the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. He is unchangeable in His
holiness, justice, wisdom and love. He is the Almighty Creator, Sustainer,
Saviour, and Judge who sustains and governs all things according
to His sovereign will.
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
He is fully God and fully Man. He was conceived by the Holy
Spirit, born of a virgin, and lived a sinless life in obedience
to the Father. He taught with authority and all His words are
true. On the cross He died in the place of sinners, bearing
punishment for their sin and redeeming them by His blood. He rose
from the dead and, in His resurrection body, ascended into heaven
where He is exalted Lord of all. He now intercedes for His people
in the very presence of God the Father.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is the third part of the Divine Trinity. During the present age He has
been sent from heaven to glorify Christ and to apply Christ's
work of salvation. He convicts sinners, imparts spiritual life,
and gradually gives a true understanding of the Scriptures. He
indwells all true believers, not just a particular section of
them, bringing an eventual assurance of salvation and increasing
likeness to Christ. He builds up the Church, empowering the people who comprise the Church for worship, service, witness and mission. According to the New
Testament, the Holy Spirit magnifies Christ, but does not magnify
Himself. Of course, the total work of the Holy Spirit goes even beyond this; He was much involved in Creation (Genesis 1:2) and remains even now a Creative Spirit; He is a creative, comforting, intervening, enabling and empowering Spirit; He is God.
THE BIBLE
God reveals Himself to us through the Bible - which consists of
Old and New Testaments, and nothing further. Every word was
inspired by God even though transmitted through purely human
authors. The Bible, in its original form, is in its entirety the
Word of God and is fully reliable in fact and doctrine. It speaks
with authority which is final and it is sufficient in matters
of belief and practise. However, the wise and experienced biblical exegete will certainly recognise that revelation is progressive and that the fullest revelation from God to Man occurs in the New Testament, indeed, the New Testament can quite correctly be called 'The Book of the New Covenant.' This section of Scripture obviously has special relevance for Christians.
THE HUMAN RACE
All men and women, being created in the image of God, have
inherent and equal dignity. Their greatest purpose is to approach
God in faith, coming to worship and adore Him. As the result of
the original Fall of our first parents, every aspect of human
nature and behaviour has become marred and corrupted. All men and
women are without genuine spiritual life and stand condemned
until they become joined to Christ, however, God has not decided to cut off a substantial proportion of the human race from Himself, a concept based on the misreading of certain Scriptures; the Bible is clear that Jesus is the Saviour of the world; we ourselves can genuinely respond or not, even though always subject to divine election; our decision is of great importance because we are made in God's very image.
SALVATION
Salvation is entirely a matter of God's grace and cannot be
merited nor earned by us. It has been accomplished by the Lord
Jesus Christ and - during the present age - is offered through the Christian
Gospel. God, in
His love, forgives sinners whom He calls, granting them
repentance and faith. All who believe in Jesus Christ are
justified by faith alone. Good works result from this work of
God, but they are the result - not the cause - of God's grace.
True believers are adopted into the kingdom of God
even in this present life; their souls then enter the presence of God at
death, and - at the time of the resurrection - they fully inherit
Eternal Life - body and soul. But Christian believers should not restrict the grace of God
to the 'church-going' community in an exclusivist fashion, since there is much biblical evidence
that God can call and save where He wills but He expects all to be faithful to
as much spiritual knowledge as they have been granted (on several occasions the Old Testament
mentions people who were bearers of God's grace even though they were not part of the
community of Israel).
THE CHURCH
The Church is the invisible, or spiritual, body of true and faithful believers of all time. Even now in heaven God sees His Church as One unified Body - as He Himself is not confused by denominational differences. The Church is not a denomination, or even a group of denominations, but comprises of those people who have personally appropriated Jesus Christ, thereafter standing in the grace of God. This Body of Christ is made visible, mainly (though not entirely), through local congregations where the Word of God is preached and converts are added; however, 'churchgoing' is not the same thing as being part of the eternal Church of all the ages whose member's names appear in the Book of Life. The visible congregations of the Church uphold the Two Signs (or, sacraments). The duty of the Church is to feed and support the flock and to take the Gospel to the world. True fellowship can only exist between various congregations where all are faithful to the Gospel.
THE SIGNS (OR, ORDINANCES, OR SACRAMENTS).
These are Baptism and Communion, which Jesus stated should be
performed by His people. We should not add to these because of
the ever-present danger of legalism entering the Body. Communion,
or The Lord's Supper, commemorates Christ's sacrifice but it is
not a regular re-sacrifice since this one sacrifice is sufficient
for all time. Baptism is an important and meaningful symbol of
entry into the Church. But all the blessings of these signs are
only received by faith and are meaningless for any not truly in
the Body.
THE FUTURE
The Lord Jesus Christ will return in full glory to this earth. He will raise the dead, and the Great Judgement will commence. The New Heavens and New Earth will follow in which the saved enjoy Eternal Life. Those who reject Jesus Christ will be condemned to Hell; however, people who never heard the gospel during their lifetimes will not be condemned for the reason that they failed to believe it; they will be judged for how they responded to what they did know.
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