What We Believe
Our COnfession of faith
As a church we have adopted as our confession of faith the 1689 London Baptist Confession. You can find the confession here. Below is a summary statement of what believe.
1. The Scriptures
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.
(Matthew 5:17-18; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21)
2. God
There is one and only one living and true God. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
(Matthew 5:17-18; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21)
• God the Father
(John 4:24; 5:26; Ephesians 4:6)
• God the Son
(Matthew 1:18-23; John 1:1-18, 29;
Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Timothy 2:5-6)
• God the Holy Spirit
(John 4:24; 14:16-17, Acts 1:8;14; Ephesians 1:13-14)
3. Salvation
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
(John 10:9; Acts 4:12; Romans 10:9-10,13; Ephesians 2:8-22)
4. God’s Purpose of Grace
Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
(Romans 8:28-39;, 11:5-7; Ephesians 2:1-10; Colossians 1:12-14)
5. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.
(Matthew 3:13-17; Romans 6:35)
The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
(Matthew 26:26-30; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29)
6. The Lord’s Day
The first day of the week is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian
institution for regular observance.
(Exodus 20:8-11; Mark 2:27-28)
7. Last Things
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness.
(Matthew 16:27; Mark 8:38; Luke 12:40,48; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18)
8. Evangelism and Missions
It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.
(Matthew 9:37-38, 28:18-20; Acts 1:8)
9. Stewardship
God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. Christians have a spiritual debtorship to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel, and a binding stewardship in their possessions. They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time, talents, and material possessions; and should recognize all these as entrusted to them to use for the glory of God.
(Leviticus 27:30-32; Malachi 3:8-12)
10. The Family
God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.
(Genesis 1:26-28; Matthew 5:31-32; Mark 10:6-12; Romans 1:18-32; Ephesians 5:21-33)