What we believe
We delight as a fellowship of God's people in this area to declare our faith, consisting in the following beliefs:
- GOD: We believe in one GOD who exists as three persons united in love and purpose, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe that he is perfectly loving, wise and good and that he is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator and Ruler of all things. Picture of a Bible - God's word to us
- THE BIBLE: We believe that the supreme authority of God for ordering our beliefs and our lives is in the BIBLE, the written Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. It reveals all that we need to know for salvation and can be trusted completely in all that it affirms.
- HUMANITY: We believe that all PEOPLE are made in God's image and are worthy of respect and honour, regardless of age, race, gender, ability, belief or background. We believe that through Adam and Eve's disobedience all people are now born as rebels against God and as slaves to the devil. Therefore we believe that all possess sinful hearts that need God's forgiveness, cleansing and transformation. We believe that God's good creation shares in God's curse on humanity and thus life and work is frustrating and suffers the consequences of sin.
- JESUS CHRIST: We believe that God's eternal Son became a complete human being in JESUS CHRIST: he was born through the work of the Holy Spirit to a virgin mother, lived a perfect life and fulfilled all that God required of him as the Messiah and as his people's representative. We believe that he died on the cross, suffering God's judgement on sin and evil. We believe that he rose again and defeated death, ascended to heaven and now reigns as Lord until the time comes for his glorious appearing.
- SALVATION: We believe that we are saved from God's just condemnation by his grace alone towards us. We believe that God chose in Christ a people for his own glory. We receive salvation through faith in Christ's death and resurrection through which we are made right before God, adopted as his children and granted eternal life. This is seen in our turning from rebellion against God and in turning to follow our Lord Jesus in delighted love and obedience.
- THE HOLY SPIRIT: We believe that God the HOLY SPIRIT comes to bring new life in Christ and to live in every believer, uniting them to one another within the church to the people of God. We believe that he enables his people to grow into the likeness of our Lord Jesus and empowers each believer to build others up in Christ. We believe that his presence in the church is a foretaste of the age to come.
- THE CHURCH: We believe that the CHURCH is made up of all who have responded to the good news of Jesus and shown that Jesus is Lord of their lives through their words and actions. We believe that all who belong to the church are to show this through baptism as believers and then regularly sharing together in worship, fellowship, Bible teaching, celebrating the Lord's Supper and serving one another. We believe that we are sent by God into the world to proclaim the good news of Jesus. We believe that as a congregation we are responsible for ordering and ruling ourselves as a body before God and under the authority of a group of leaders chosen by church members. We believe that we are to express our fellowship with other biblical churches at a local, national and international level.
- THE FUTURE: We believe that our Lord Jesus will appear in glory and bring in God's final just judgement of all people, resulting in eternal delight for those whom Christ saved and eternal misery for those who rejected him. We believe that God will transform all his people (dead or alive) into the glorified likeness of the risen Jesus and that we shall reign with him over the new heavens and new earth.
