Our Beliefs
The Bible
We believe that all of the Scriptures — the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments — are given by inspiration of God through the Holy Spirit to men of God and are, therefore, wholly without error as originally given. Webelieve that God’s Word is truth and that its message, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is the power of salvation to allwho believe, and that it is our only infallible rule of faith and practice (2 Tim 3:16; Rom 15:4; 1 Cor 10:11).
The Trinity
We believe that God is spirit (Jn 4:24), eternally existing in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19; 2 Cor 13:14); that these three are one God (Mk 12:29); that each of the three Persons is worthy of equal honour, obedience, and worship (Jn 1:1-3; Acts 5:3-4; Jn 5:23); that they have the same nature, attributes, and perfections (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 3:16-17; 28:19) while carrying out distinct functions relating to each other and to all creation.
God
We believe in One living and true God, eternal, perfect, in whom all things have their origin, source, support, and purpose (Gen. 1:1; Isa. 45:21; Acts 17:28; Eph. 4:6; Heb. 11:3; 1 Tim. 6:16). We believe God is holy (Isa.6:3), omniscient (Acts 15:18; Heb. 4:13), omnipresent (Psa. 139:7; Jer. 23:24; Amos 9:2-3), omnipotent (Gen.1:1, 26, 35:11; Jer. 10:12-13), sovereign (Dan. 2:20-22; 4:17, 25; 7:14), the creator (Gen. 1:1, 26; Jn 1:1-3), the sustainer (Psa. 104:27-30; Matt 10:29-30; Col. 1:15–17; Heb. 1:3), who is unchanging in His nature.
Jesus
We believe that Jesus Christ is the Eternal and Only-begotten Son of God (Psa 2:7; Jn 1:18, 8:58) who came into the world, as provided and purposed by God, and as pre-announced in the prophecies of the Scriptures (1 Ptr 1:10; Acts 2:23; Gen 3:15) that He might become the Redeemer of a lost world (Lk 19:10); that without any essential change in His divine Person, (Heb 13:8) he was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matt 1:18; Lk 1:35), born of the virgin Mary, (Matt 1:23), as both true God and true man (Col 2:9; Rev 22:16); that as man He was tempted in all points as we are, yet was without sin (Heb 4:15; Jn 8:46).
We believe that Jesus died upon the Cross (Heb 9:14; Phil 2:8) shedding His own precious blood, (1 Ptr 1:18-19), bearing there our sin (1 Ptr 2:24), and suffering its full penalty of divine wrath as our substitutionary sacrifice (Isa 53:6; Gal 3:13); We hold that his death effectively saves all who believe (Jn 1:12; Acts 16:31); that our justification is grounded in the shedding of his blood (Rom. 5:9; Eph. 1:7); and that it is proven by his literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Rom. 4:23-25). We believe that Jesus rose from the dead, that he ascended into heaven where he intercedes for us before God as our Advocate and Intercessor (Heb 7:25; 9:24; 1 Jn 2:1); that he will come again (Acts 1:10-11), first to receive from the earth His own, (Jn 14:3), and then to establish His righteous kingdom upon the earth.
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity (Matt 28:19), is divine, eternal and personal; the divine Agent in creation, and in the writing of Scripture; that, though present from all eternity, He took up His abode in the world in a special sense on the Day of Pentecost, dwelling in each and all believers (Acts 2:1-4), baptizing them into one body, the Church of Christ (1 Cor 12:13); that He will never take His departure from the Church (Jn 14:16; Eph 1:14), until the Church is completed, and Christ comes to receive His own (2 Thess 2:7; Rev 4:5).
We believe that, in this age, he restrains evil in the world (2 Thess2:7); convicts in respect of sin, righteousness, and judgement (Jn 16:8-12). In regard to all believers, He regenerates, cleanses (Jn 3:5; Titus 3:5), indwells, empowers for service (Jn 16:13; 1 Jn 2:20, 27), seals unto the day of redemption (Eph 3:13-14; 4:30). He is the believer’s Counsellor and bestows spiritual gifts upon the member's of Christ's body according to His own will (1 Cor 12:1, 8-11) and only for the benefit of His Church.
Salvation
Grace:
We believe that salvation is the free gift of God's grace (Rom 3:23; Eph 2:8) and is neither merited nor secured, in part or in whole, by any virtue or work of man (Rom 4:4-5; Jn 6:29); that no repentance, no confession, no feeling, no sincere efforts, no good resolution, no submission to any rules or ordinances of any church can add in the least to the value of the Blood of Christ.
Faith:
We believe that salvation is received only by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31; Jn 3:16), who saves us through his substitutionary death, triumphant resurrection, and ascension (Jn 14:6; Rom 3:24-25; 1 Cor 15:1-4).
Justification:
Those who put their faith in Jesus are declared justified before God, That is: their sin is nailed to the cross, and the righteousness of Christ is credited to the believer, resulting in salvation from the guilt and penalty of sin.
Sanctification:
Sanctification involves salvation from the power of sin; that it is already complete for every saved person whose position towards God is the same as Christ's position (Heb 10:10, 14; 1 Cor 6:11); that while the standing of the believer is thus perfect ("in Christ"), his present state is as imperfect as his experiences in daily life and there is, therefore, also a progressive sanctification wherein the believer is to "grow in grace" and to be “changed" by the unhindered power of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 7:1; 3:18; 2 Ptr 3:18); that every saved person will yet be fully sanctified in his or her state, as he or she is now sanctified in his or her standing when he or she shall see the Lord and "shall be like Him" (1 Jn 3:2; 1 Thess3:13; 5:23).
Assurance:
We believe that believers have as a current possession the gift of eternal life (1 Jn 5:10-12), sonship in the family of God (Jn 1:12; 1 Jn 3:1-2), deliverance from all condemnation (Jn 5:24; Rom 8:1), and every spiritual resource needed for life and godliness (Eph 3:1; 2 Ptr 1:3); that every believer can be assured of eternal life from the very day of their salvation, based upon the promises of God.
Eternal Security:
We believe that all believers are saved forever (1 Ptr 1:5) because of the eternal purpose of God toward the objects of His love (Eph 2:6-7), because of His freedom to manifest His grace towards the meritless, on the ground of Faith in the Blood of Christ (Rom 5:8-10; Jn 10:28), because of the very nature of the divine gift of eternal life (Jn 5:24; 1 Jn 5:13), because of the present and unending intercession and advocacy of Christ in heaven (Heb 7:25; 1 Jn 2:1), because of the unchangeable promises of God (Jn 10:28), and because of the regenerating, abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of all who are saved (Jn 14:16-17; Eph. 1:13-14). We believe that since God is a holy and righteous Father (1 Ptr 1:15-16), and cannot overlook the sins of His children (Heb 12:14), He will, when His children persistently sin and fail to judge themselves (1 Cor 11:31), discipline them in infinite love (Heb 12:6), in order that He may at the last present them blameless before the presence of His glory and conformed to the image of His Son.
Humankind
We believe that humankind is the direct creation of God (Gen 2:7, 18-22), spirit and soul and body (1 Thess 5:23), and not in any sense the product of animal ancestry (1 Cor 15:39), but made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26-27), to be holy and blameless and to give praise to God.
We believe that, through voluntary disobedience to the revealed will of God, Adam and Eve fell (Gen 2:17; 3:11); that as a result, the human race became sinful and their relationship with God was broken. This spiritual death, or total depravity of human nature (Jer 17:9; Rom 7:18), has been transmitted to the entire human race (Rom 5:12), Jesus Christ the Son of God excepted, so that all human beings are sinners both by nature and by practice (Eph 2:3; Rom 3:23).
We believe God, consistent with His nature, cannot have fellowship with anyone whose sin has not been forgiven (Pas 34:16; Isa. 59:1-2). Jesus Christ, God’s Son, offered Himself voluntarily (Jn 10:17-18) on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for sin (1 Jn 2:2), the just suffering for the unjust (1 Pet. 3:18), bearing sin’s curse, and tasting death for every human (Jn 1:29; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; Heb. 9:11-12; 1 Tim. 2:5-6). Nothing
prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner on Earth, except unbelief, which is the voluntary rejection of Jesus Christ as the substitute for the penalty for sin (Jn 3:14-16; 3:36; Acts 16:31).
We believe every person will be raised bodily from the dead, the believers to eternal life, the unbelievers to eternal separation from God (Jn 5:28, 29).
The Church
We believe that the Church — which Christ began to build on the Day of Pentecost (Matt 16:18; Acts 2:47), and will complete at His second coming (1 Thess 4:16-17;) — consists of all regenerate believers, irrespective of
membership in an organized local church; that the members of this one Body should, wherever possible, assemble themselves together for worship, prayer, fellowship, and teaching (Heb 10:25; Acts 2:42), for the observance of the ordinances of believer’s baptism and the Lord's Supper (Matt 28:19; 1 Cor 11:23-26), to care for the needs of the body and to bear witness of Jesus Christ to the world (Acts 2:42-47).
Baptism
Water baptism does not save or cleanse from sin, but it is an act of obedience and public confession of the relationship into which one has entered with Christ (1 Ptr 3:21; Rom 6:3-4).