Statement of Faith
STATEMENT OF FAITH
ARTICLE I - THE SCRIPTURES
We believe that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God that that is the collection of sixty-six books known as “THE HOLY BIBLE”; and that they were communicated by the Spirit of God to holy men of old and are free from any error in the original manuscripts. They are the supreme and final authority in faith and life. (Exodus 4:15;
2Timothy 3:16; 1Peter 1:10-12, 25; 2Peter 1:20-21)
ARTICLE II - THE GODHEAD
We believe in one God eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each having precisely the same attributes and perfections and worthy of precisely the same worship, confidence, and obedience. (Genesis 1:2-26; Job 26:13-33:44; Psalm 104:30; Matthew 28:19; John 1; 2Corinthians 5:19; Colossians 2:9; 1Timothy 3:16)
ARTICLE III - THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
A) His Person: We believe that Jesus Christ is the image of the Invisible God, which is to say He is Himself very God, that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of (Mary) the Virgin and received a human body and a sinless human nature. (Isaiah 53:9; 1Peter 2:22). See above references concerning His person.
B) His Atoning Work: He died upon the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of the world; He arose from the dead in the same body that He had been crucified; He ascended into heaven in the same body, now glorified, where He is now our interceding High Priest. (Luke 24:30, 40; John 20:25, 27; Acts 1:10-11; Romans 5:8, 8:34; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3, 7:25; 1Peter 3:18)
C) His Return and Future Things: We believe in the personal, imminent and bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust; in the eternal blessedness of the redeemed and in the judgment and conscious eternal punishment of the wicked. (Acts 1:10-11, 24:15; 1Corinthians 15:51-58; 1Thessalonians 4:16-18; 2Thessalonians 2:1-12; Revelation 20:11-15)
ARTICLE IV - THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, (although omnipresent from all eternity), took up His abode in the world in a special way on the day of Pentecost
according to the Divine Promise and that He now dwells in each and every believer thus
Uniting them to Christ in One Body which is the Church and that He as the Indwelling One is the source of all power. (Psalm 139:7; Matthew 28:19; Luke 24:49; John 14:16-17, 26, 15:26, 16:7; Acts 1:8; 1Corinthians 12:13)
ARTICLE V - SATAN (OR THE DEVIL)
We believe that Satan is a person, who was created as a holy, angelic being. He enjoyed an exalted place in heaven, but through pride and rebellion against God, fell and drew with him a host of other angels. He is now the malignant prince of the power of the air, the unholy god of this world. He is the enemy of God, man’s tempter, the accuser of the brethren, the author of false religions, the inspirer of apostasy, the lord of the anti-Christ, and the author of all powers of darkness. He is destined to final defeat at the hands of Christ and to suffer eternal torment prepared for him and his angels, the lake of fire. (Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:12-15; Luke 10:18; 2Corinthians 11:14; Ephesians 2:2;
1Peter 5:8; Revelation 12:10, 20:10)
ARTICLE VI – CREATION
We believe in the literal interpretation of the Genesis account of creation and discard any theory of evolution. “Everything” was to yield “After its kind.” (Genesis 1:24)
ARTICLE VII – MAN, HIS FALL AND SALVATION
Man was created in the image of God and by his voluntary disobedience fell from his sinless happy state. As a result, all mankind are sinners by birth and practice and as such are condemned without excuse. He is in a condition of total depravity and unable to do anything to merit salvation. He can through faith in the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ receive eternal life. He then becomes a new creation in Christ Jesus and his salvation is eternally secured by the sealing of the Holy Spirit. (Genesis 1:27, 3:1-19; Romans 5:12; John 10:27-29; Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30; 1Peter 1:5)
ARTICLE VIII – THE CHURCH
We believe that the Church is an elect company of believers, baptized by the Holy Spirit into one body (I Corinthians 12:13). Its mission is to witness of its Head, Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:18), preaching the Gospel among all nations. We believe in a New Testament local church, fellowshipping together and observing the ordinances of Christ. The Church’s duties are to preach the Gospel, teach the Word and minister to the poor. We believe that the local church should be autonomous, that is, self governing and free from any hierarchy of individuals or organizations. We believe that its officers are Pastors, Elders and Deacons who should meet the qualifications as are set forth in 1Timothy 3 and Acts 14:23.
ARTICLE IX – ORDINANCES OF THE CHURCH
We believe that there are only two ordinances for the Church in the New Testament in the following order:
A) Baptism – (Matthew 28:19-20). We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion into water of a believer, “in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. It shows our identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection; and of our being dead to sin and alive unto Christ. We hold it to be a condition for church membership.
B) The Lord’s Supper – (Matthew 26:26-28; 1Corinthians 11:23-24). We believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by our Lord Himself. That the eating of it is a privilege extended to believers only and should be received by self-examination. We hold that the bread and the cup are symbolical of Jesus’ broken body and shed blood and that we are called to celebrate it on a regular basis.
ARTICLE X – RESURRECTION AND FUTURE STATE
We believe in the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ who became the “firstfruits of them that still sleep” (1Corinthians 15:20). We believe that two resurrections are yet future (John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15).
A) We believe that the first of these two resurrections will be those who have died in the Lord (Revelation 14:13) and will be raised at our Lord’s return (1Thessalonians 4:13-16). Also at that time, the living believers will “be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord”.
(1Corinthians 15:51-58; 1Thessalonians 4:17; Revelation 20:6)
B) The second resurrection will be those of the unsaved unto damnation; this will take place at the end of the thousand years (Revelation 20:5), then follows the Judgement of the Great White Throne and the eternal damnation of the wicked, and of Satan, and his cohorts. (Revelation 20:10-15)
ARTICLE XI – CIVIL GOVERNMENT
We believe that civil government is by divine appointment, for the interest and good of human society; that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honoured and obeyed, except only in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the
only Lord of the conscience and the coming Prince of the kings of the earth.
(Acts 4:19, 5:29; 1Peter 2:13-17)
ARTICLE XII -MARRIAGE(DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE)
We resolve that as a matter of belief, doctrine and Biblical practice, our congregation reserves the term “marriage” for the covenant relationship between one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. (Genesis 2:24, Mark 10:7, Ephesians 5:31)