Beliefs

Having appropriated the “so great salvation” which is available through the Lord Jesus Christ, by repentance and faith in Him, who is our Saviour and God, and having been baptised by the Holy Spirit into His body, the church, we adopt the following articles which we believe are established upon a biblical pattern of worship, service, edification, evangelism, church government, and practice.

 

We believe in the plenary and verbal inspiration of the Holy Bible and that it is therefore the infallible and inerrant Word of God.

1.1. By the “Holy Bible” we mean that collection of sixty-six books, from Genesis to Revelation, which IS the very Word of God.
1.2. By “inspiration” we mean that the books of the Holy Bible were written by godly men, as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

We believe that there is one, and only one, living and true God; infinite, sovereign Spirit, Creator, and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth; inexpressibly glorious in holiness; worthy of all honour, confidence, and love. In the unity of the Godhead there are three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equally eternal in Being, co-identical in nature, equal in power and glory, executing distinct but harmonious offices.

 

We believe in God the Father Almighty. This term designates the first Person of the Holy Trinity. The Fatherhood of God involves:

 

We believe that as Father, God is the origin of all things.

 

We believe that Man, whose sin has destroyed his spiritual and moral relationship to God, must be restored by gracious divine renewal through faith in Jesus Christ. This brings about a new standing (justification) and relationship (adoption) to God the Father by which man becomes a partaker of the divine nature and is born into the family of God.

 

We believe that the term “God the Father” reveals an exclusive relationship to “God the Son”, for the Father stands related to the eternal Son as no other being. God is spoken of as “the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ”. Jesus Christ is the pre-existent second person of the Godhead, equal with the Father. There are distinct relationships when Christ said “My Father and your Father”. Yet the one becomes the ground of the other, just as His Sonship is the basis for the sinner’s sonship.

 

We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ who is the second Person of the Triune God, the Eternal Word, and Only Begotten Son; that without ceasing to be God, He became man yet without sin having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, thus to continue forever as both truly God and truly Man, one person with two natures.

 

We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit, in a miraculous manner; born of Mary, a virgin, as no other man was ever born or can ever be born of woman, and that He is both the Son of God, and God the Son.

 

We believe that He accomplished our redemption from the guilt, penalty, and power of sin through His death, by shedding His blood on the Cross as our representative, vicarious, and substitutionary sacrifice; and that our justification is made sure by His literal resurrection from the dead in the same body in which He was crucified.

 

We believe that He physically ascended into Heaven; that He is at the right hand of the Father and is our High Priest, Mediator, and Advocate.

 

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person; equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature; that He was active in the creation; that in His relation to the unbelieving world He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled; that He convicts man of sin, of judgement, and of righteousness; that He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony; that He is the agent in the new birth; that He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies, and helps the believer.

We believe that Satan once enjoyed heavenly honours; but through pride and ambition to be as the Almighty, fell and drew after him a host of angels; that he is now the malignant prince of the power of the air, and the unholy god of this world. We hold him to be man’s great tempter, the enemy of God and His Christ, the accuser of the saints, the author of all false religions, the chief power behind the present apostasy and the antichrist; and the author of all the powers of darkness – destined however to final defeat at the hands of God’s own Son, and to the eternal judgement in the lake of fire, a place prepared for him and his angels.

We believe in the Genesis account of creation, and that it is to be accepted literally, and not allegorically or figuratively; that man was created by God in God’s own image and after His own likeness; that all life was created by God, and God’s established law was that they should bring forth only “after their kind”.

We believe that man was created in innocence under the law of his Creator, but by voluntary transgression fell from his sinless and joyful state, in consequence of which all mankind are now sinners, not by constraint, but by choice; and therefore under just condemnation without defence or excuse.

We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace, on the sole basis of the propitiatory sacrifice and resurrection of the Son of God, who by appointment of the Father, freely took upon Himself our nature, yet without sin, honoured the divine law by His personal obedience, and by His death made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins; that His atonement consisted not in setting us an example by His death as a martyr, but was the voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner’s place, the Just dying for the unjust, Christ the Lord, bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, and His blood cleanses us from all our sins; and that He, now risen from the dead, is enthroned in heaven seated at the right hand of God.

We believe that the new birth of the believer comes only through faith in Christ and that repentance is a vital part of believing and is in no way, in itself a separate and independent condition of salvation.

We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again; that the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus; that it is instantaneous and not a process; that in the new birth the one who is dead in trespasses and in sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life which cannot be lost, the free gift of God; that the new creation is brought about in a manner above our comprehension, not by culture, neither by human character or determination; that it is wholly and solely by the power and the work of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the Gospel; that its proper evidence appears in the fruit of repentance and faith and newness of life.

We believe that the grace of God is sovereign; that the blessings of salvation are made free to all by the Gospel, that it is the immediate duty of all to accept them by a cordial, penitent, and an obedient faith; and nothing prevents the salvation of any sinner on earth but his own obstinate rejection of the Gospel, because he is condemned already.

We believe that justification is the judicial act of God whereby He declares us to be righteous through faith in Christ Jesus; that justification includes the pardon of sin and the imputation of God’s righteousness; that it is bestowed, not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done, but solely the believer’s through faith in the Redeemer’s blood.

We believe that there is a real and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked, that only those who through personal faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and sanctified by the Spirit of God are truly righteous in God’s sight; that all those who continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked and under the curse, and this distinction holds among men both during their lives and after their deaths; and that there is everlasting blessedness of the saved and the everlasting, conscious suffering of the lost.

We believe in righteous living and godly works, not as a means to salvation in any sense, as Christians we should obey the Word of God, seek the things which are above, walk as Christ Himself walked, accept as our solemn responsibility the duty and the privilege of bearing the Gospel to a lost world, remembering that a victorious and fruitful Christian life is possible only for those who, in gratitude for the infinite and undeserved mercies of God, have dedicated themselves wholly to Christ.

We believe that the Scriptures teach separation unto God from the world and from apostasy within the visible Church. This doctrine is based upon God’s eternal principle of division between truth and error, darkness and light, and upon His specific commands that the faithful be separated from both unbelievers and disobedient brethren.

We believe that the Church consists of all believers from Pentecost, through the present age, to the culmination of this dispensation at the event we know as the “Rapture”, the blessed hope of the redeemed.

 

We believe that the local church is a congregation of baptised believers associated by a covenant of faith and fellowship of the Gospel. It is the citadel and propagator of the divine and eternal grace, observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word. Its officers are Deacons and ordained Pastors and Elders whose qualifications, claims, and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures. We believe the true purpose of the church is found in the great commission in this order: first, to make individual disciples; second, to build up the church; third, to teach and instruct as He has commanded. We believe that the local church has the absolute right of self government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organisations outside of the local church. The one and only superintendent is Christ through the Holy Spirit. It is Scriptural for local churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the Gospel. Each local church is the sole and only judge of the measure and method of its cooperation; on all matters of membership, of policy, of government, of discipline and of benevolence. The decision of the local church is final.

We believe that Scriptural baptism of believers is by immersion in water, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, by the authority of the local church, to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, symbolising our death to sin, resurrection to a new life and our identification with Him.

 

We believe that all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who are baptised, walking in obedience to God and in fellowship with this church, having given due regard to the warnings in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 should be invited to participate with the members of this church. The participation of the Lord’s supper is for the remembrance of the everlasting love and sacrificial death of Christ, until He comes.

We believe that divine, enabling gifts for service are bestowed by the Holy Spirit upon all who are saved. While there is a diversity of gifts, each believer is empowered by the same Holy Spirit, and each is called to his/her own divinely appointed service as the Holy Spirit may will. In the apostolic church there were certain gifted men – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers – who were appointed by God for the perfecting of the saints unto their work of the ministry and the edifying of the church. We believe that some gifts of the Holy Spirit such as speaking in tongues and miraculous healings were temporary and had ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed and their authority became established. We believe that God does hear and answer prayer of faith in accordance with His own will, for the sick and afflicted; but healing cannot be claimed through salvation or by self styled “faith healers”. At times, it is God’s will for sickness not to be removed. Total physical healing will be effected in the redemption of our bodies at the second coming of Jesus Christ.

We believe that marriage is an honourable estate instituted by God in the time of man’s innocence. It is the holy estate in which two believers of the opposite sex are bound together by the law of God. As marriage was originally planned, there was no provision for ending it except by death. We believe that the purpose of marriage is to supply the needs of both man and woman and to establish a faithful monogamous relationship, which involves not only the physical union but also an unity of spiritual, moral, and intellectual facets of the husband and wife. We further believe that marriage of a believer to an unbeliever is forbidden in Scriptures.

We believe that civil government is by divine appointment, for the interests and good order of human society. We are to pray for the government and leaders of the land, and they are to be conscientiously honoured and obeyed, except only in matters manifestly opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe in the resurrection, that Christ rose bodily “on the third day according to the Scriptures”, that He ascended into heaven, where He now performs His high priestly ministry as our only “merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God”.

We believe that, according to the Word of God, the next great event is the fulfillment of prophecy will be the coming of the Lord in the air to receive to Himself into heaven both His own who are alive and remain unto His coming, and also all who have fallen asleep in Jesus, and that this event is the “Blessed Hope” set before us in the Scriptures, and for this we should be constantly looking.

We believe that the translation of the church will be followed by the fulfillment of Israel’s seventieth week, during which the church, the body of Christ, will be in heaven. The whole period of Israel’s seventieth week will be a time of judgement upon the whole earth, at the end of which the ‘times of the Gentiles” will be brought to a close. This period will be a time of Jacob’s trouble and is called the Great Tribulation.

We believe that the period of Great Tribulation in the earth will be climaxed by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth as He went, in person on the clouds of heaven, and with power and great glory to introduce the Millennial age, to bind Satan and to place him in the abyss.

We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgement and everlasting punishment.

We believe that Christ’s command to proclaim the Gospel to all the world is clear and unmistakable and this commission was given for the churches of every generation to obey.

We believe that giving is a spiritual gift which is available to all believers to have and to use. It is a gift which all believers can exercise regardless of the believer’s financial status. We believe that the believer’s resources belong to God and that God has entrusted these temporal resources to the believer for proper stewardship and He blesses the faithful steward. We are encouraged by the Scriptures to abound in the grace of giving. We believe we are instructed to give in accordance to the basic principles laid out in the 1 Corinthians 16:2 “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”