What We Believe
Beliefs about God
God is the creator and ruler of the universe. He is infinitely good and great. He has eternally existed in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God. God created everything including people and continues to care for and govern his creation, working out his sovereign purposes for all that He has made.
Beliefs about Jesus Christ
The eternal Son, the second person of the Trinity, came to earth and became fully human yet remained fully God. This incarnation was achieved through the virgin birth. Jesus lived a sinless human life in perfect obedience to the Father. He offered himself, according to God’s plan, as a perfect sacrifice for sin, receiving in his body the complete penalty for our sin on the cross. By the Spirit’s power, God the Father raised him bodily from the dead, thereby completing conquest over Satan, sin and death. The Father lifted the resurrected Jesus to his right hand of power and made him Lord of all. Jesus Christ is now interceding on our behalf and has sent the Holy Spirit to be his representative on earth. The gospel presents this crucified, resurrected and glorified Christ as the only saviour of the world, who is to return to earth in final victory to gather all his own to him and bring final judgement upon the world.
Beliefs about the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is co-equal with the Father and the Son and is the third person of the Trinity. He is revealed first in the Old Testament Scripture as the ‘Spirit of God’ In the New Testament it was through the Holy Spirit that Jesus discharged his ministry. Then from the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit became the ‘Spirit of Jesus Christ’ in the believers. The Holy Spirit is present in the world to make individuals aware of their sin and their need for Jesus Christ, and to bring them to salvation. The Holy Spirit is received at conversion and permanently indwells believers, empowering them for godly living, enlightening them to God’s truth, guiding them in right and wrong, and power to witness. He gives Spiritual gifts to the church through individual believers so that when believers act in unity, the work of the church is empowered.
THe Bible
The Bible (both Old and New Testaments) is today the living written word of God to humankind. It was written by human authors under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. God’s will in matters of Christian belief and living is revealed in or consistent with His Word. Because the Bible is inspired by God, its propositions as originally given, are true without any error.
Humanity
People are made in the image of God and are the pinnacle of God’s creative work. The value of each person comes from being made in God’s image, and this is true of all humanity and not just Christians. Although every human being still displays evidence of their divine creation, they also display a corrupt nature, having departed from their original created potential, due to what the Bible calls sin. Sin is rebellion against God and is embedded even in the good that we are and do, so that we can never attain to perfection. Sin cuts us off eternally from God and works as a dynamic festering of evil within our relationships, our attitudes and even our physical bodies. There is a final coming judgement where all will be destined to either eternity with God or eternally separated from him
Salvation
Salvation is effected by the work of the Holy Spirit in response to our faith in Christ’s substitutionary death and subsequent resurrection. Salvation begins with repentance towards and belief in Jesus Christ, and receiving the Holy Spirit. Through the power of the Holy Spirit it continues in sanctification through the ongoing practise of spiritual disciplines, including believer’s baptism, and culminates in the redemption of our bodies and glorification of our entire persons.
Beliefs about the Church
Christ alone is the recognised head of the church, both universal and local, and not any person, group or religious organisation. It is therefore the responsibility of any delegated leader or group of leaders of the local church or churches to continually seek and implement the mind of Christ in all things.
The church is a community called into being by God and formed universally and locally by persons who have personally and knowingly accepted and confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and have pledged themselves to practise the commands of Jesus Christ as they understand them.
We believe in the divine ordinances to be observed in obedience to Christ being baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is the immersion of believers upon profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a symbol of the fellowship of the regenerate in His death, burial and resurrection; the Lord’s supper being a memorial and a witness, until He comes, of the sacrifice of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.