We believe that there is one true and living God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:5-7), who is perfect in all His attributes. He is one in essence, yet three in Person — that is, Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14). Together, they make up the Trinity — eternally existing, each equally deserving of worship and obedience.
God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity (1 Corinthians 8:6), forms and plans all things according to His own sovereign purpose, grace and for his glory (Psalm 145:9; Ephesians 1:11; Philippians 2:13, 1 Chronicles 29:11).
He is the Creator of all things (Genesis 1:1-31). As the absolute and highest Ruler in the universe, He is sovereign in creation, providence and redemption (Psalm 103:19; Romans 11:36). He does this in such a way so as to not be the author or approver of sin (Habakkuk 1:13; James 1:13) nor to curtail the accountability of moral, intelligent creatures (Ezekiel 18:20; Romans 14:12). He saves from sin all who come to Him through Jesus Christ, and He relates Himself to His own as their Father (John 1:12; Romans 8:15; Ephesians 1:3-6; Hebrews 12:5-9).
Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity possesses all the divine attributes, and in these He is coequal, consubstantial and coeternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit (John 10:30; 14:9). We believe that, in the incarnation, He surrendered only the privileges of deity but nothing of the divine essence. In His incarnation, Christ’s divine nature united itself with a human nature in an indissoluble union, and so He became the God-man (Philippians 2:5-8).
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:26-35), that He was God incarnate (John 1:1-3, 14, 18), and that the purpose of the incarnation was to reveal God (John 1:29; 1 John 1:1-3), redeem men (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 1:7; Revelation 5:9), and rule over God’s kingdom (Isaiah 9:6).
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross, and His death was voluntary (John 10:17-18), substitutionary (1 Peter 2:24), propitiatory (Romans 3:25) and redemptive (Ephesians 1:7). We believe that He rose from the dead and that those who believe in Him are freed from the power of sin, declared righteous, given eternal life and admitted to the family of God (Romans 5:1, 8-11; 8:1, 14-17).
We believe that He is now seated at the right hand of the Father where He ministers as our Advocate and High Priest (Matthew 28:6; Luke 24:39-43; Hebrews 4:14-16; 7:25; 9:24). We believe that by the resurrection of Christ from the grave, God confirmed the deity of Christ. In addition, God accepted the atoning work of Christ on the cross and His bodily resurrection as the guarantee of a future resurrection life for all believers (John 5:28-29; 14:19; Romans 1:4; 4:25; 6:5; 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23).
We believe that Jesus Christ will return to receive the Church, of which He is the Head, at the Rapture. He will then return with His Church in glory to establish His kingdom in its millennial manifestation (Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 19:11-16; 20:4-6).
The third Person of the Trinity is a divine Person, eternal, underived, possessing all the divine attributes, and that in these He is coequal and consubstantial with the Father and the Son (Matthew 28:19; Acts 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6).
We believe that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to execute the divine will with relation to men. We recognize His sovereign involvement in the creation (Genesis 1:2), the incarnation (Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:35), the written revelation (2 Peter 1:20-21), and the work of salvation (John 3:5-7). The scope of His divine activity includes convicting the world of sin (John 16:7-8); glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ (John 16:14) and transforming believers into Christ-likeness (2 Corinthians 3:17- 18; Galatians 5:22-23).
Every believer possesses the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit from the moment of salvation (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16). We believe that the Holy Spirit alone administers spiritual gifts to the Church (1 Corinthians 12:11), not to glorify Himself or the gifts, but to glorify Christ (John 16:14) and implement His work of redeeming the lost (Acts 1:8), and building up believers in the faith (2 Corinthians 3:18).
We believe that the sixty-six books of the Bible are the inspired Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16) and that, because of this, the Scriptures are inerrant in the original documents and infallible in their teaching.
We believe that the Holy Spirit used human authors with their individual personalities and different styles of writing and guided the process in such a way that they recorded God’s Word to man (2 Peter 1:20-21) without error in whole or in part (Isaiah 40:8). As such, we believe that the Bible constitutes the only infallible rule of faith and practice for the Christian (Matthew 5:18; John 10:35; 17:17; 2 Timothy 2:15-17; Hebrews 4:12).
We believe that, while there may be several applications of any given passage of Scripture, there is one true interpretation. We believe that the Bible plays an indispensable part in living a dynamic Christian life. It builds up, transforms, encourages, corrects and protects the believer’s life as he or she studies and applies it (Psalm 119:11; Acts 20:32; Ephesians 5:26; 6:17).
We believe that God directly created man in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:27; 2:7, 22). Man was created free of sin with a rational nature, intelligence, self-determination and moral responsibility to God (Matthew 12:36; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 1 Peter 1:17). We believe that the purpose of man’s creation is that he should glorify God (Isaiah 43:7; Revelation 4:11), enjoy His fellowship, live his life in the will of God, and by this accomplish God’s purpose for man in the world.
We believe that in Adam’s sin of disobedience to the revealed will and Word of God, man lost his innocence, incurred the penalty of spiritual and physical death (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:1-19; Romans 3:23; 5:12; 6:23), and became inherently corrupt and utterly incapable of choosing or doing that which is acceptable to God apart from divine grace. We believe that all men came from Adam and that the sin nature as well as the consequences of that original sin have been transmitted to all men of all ages (Romans 5:12), Jesus Christ being the exception. With no recuperative powers to enable him to recover himself, man is hopelessly lost (1 Corinthians 2:14), apart from the salvation which is the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:5; 2:1-3; Titus 3:5-6).
We believe that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). He gave Himself as a sacrifice (Hebrews 9:26, 1 Peter 2:24), so that all who trust in Him are freely justified before God (Romans 3:24) and can enter into an eternal relationship with the Father (John 17:3).
We believe that salvation is totally from God, by grace (Ephesians 1:7; 2:8), by faith in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross (1 Peter 1:18-19) — and that man on his own can do absolutely nothing to redeem himself (Ephesians 2:9; Titus 3:5).
We believe that the Church is the body of Christ, made up of all true believers who have been saved through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one and only Head of His Church (Colossians 1:18). We believe that God has established his Church in the world and endowed it with the ministry of the Word and the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
We also believe that as members of Christ’s body, the Church should devote herself to collective worship, the study of God’s Word, fellowship with the saints, remembrance through the Lord’s Supper, and prayer; so that we may be instructed and strengthened in faith, in holiness and in love, and always be ready to give account for the hope that is in us (Acts 2:42-47; Hebrews 10:25; 1 Peter 3:15).
We also believe that the Church consists of two interrelated elements: the universal Church is the fellowship of all Christians that extends from the day of Pentecost until the Second Coming, and the local church here on earth. We believe the local church is an autonomous body, where there is no person or organisation above it except Jesus Christ.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ commanded all believers to proclaim the gospel throughout the world and to disciple men of every nation (Matthew 28:19).
We believe in the Second Coming of Christ — that Jesus Christ will return at any time to raise the dead, and rule and judge as He promised (Revelation 22:6-15; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). We also believe that those who do not believe in Jesus Christ will go to hell, eternally separated from God, and those who believe in Christ will live with Him forevermore (Matthew 25:31-46).
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