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What We Believe...
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.
God
There is one
and only one living and true God. …The eternal God reveals Himself to
us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes,
but without division of nature, essence, or being.
God
the Father
God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His
creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to
the purposes of His grace. …God is Father in truth to those who become
children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
God
the Son
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ,
He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the
virgin Mary. …He honored the divine law by
His personal obedience, and in His death on the cross, He made
provision for the redemption of men from sin.
God
the Holy Spirit
The Holy
Spirit is the Spirit of God. …He exalts Christ. He convicts of sin, of
righteousness and of judgment. …He enlightens and empowers the
believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.
Man
Man was
created by the special act of God, in His own image, and is the
crowning work of His creation. …By his free choice man sinned against
God and brought sin into the human race. … The sacredness of human
personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and
in that Christ died for man; therefore every man possesses dignity and
is worthy of respect and Christian love.
Salvation
Salvation
involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all
who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour,
who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In
its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, sanctification,
and glorification.
God's
Purpose of Grace
Election is
the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates,
sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. …All true believers endure to the
end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His
Spirit will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall
persevere to the end.
The
Church
A New
Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized
believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship
of the gospel…and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the
earth. …This church is an autonomous body. …The New Testament speaks
also of the church as the body of Christ, which includes all of the
redeemed of all the ages.
Baptism & the Lord's Supper
Christian
baptism is the immersion of a believer in water. …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 life, and the resurrection to walk in newness
of life in Christ Jesus.
The
Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members …
memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second
coming.
The
Lord's Day
The first day
of the week is the Lord's Day. …It commemorates the resurrection of
Christ from the dead and should be employed in exercises of worship
and spiritual devotion.
Last
Things
God, in His
own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate
end. …Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly…the dead will be
raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The
unrighteous will be consigned to Hell. …The righteous… will receive
their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.
Evangelism & Missions
It is the
duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and every church of the
Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations … to
seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by personal effort.
Education
The cause of
education in the Kingdom of Christ is co-ordinate with the causes of
missions and general benevolence … there should be a proper balance
between academic freedom and academic responsibility. …The freedom of
a teacher in a Christian school, college, or seminary is limited by
the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ, by the authoritative nature of the
Scriptures, and by the distinct purpose for which the school exists.
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.
Cooperation
Christ's
people should … organize such associations and conventions as may best
secure cooperation for the great objects of the Kingdom of God. Such
organizations have no authority over one another or over the churches.
…Cooperation is desirable between the various Christian denominations.
The
Christian & the Social Order
Every
Christian is under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ
supreme in his own life and in human society. ... The Christian should
oppose in the spirit of Christ every form of greed, selfishness, and
vice.
Religious Liberty
Church and
state should be separate. The state owes to every church protection
and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. …A free church
in a free state is the Christian ideal.
Family
God has
ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society.
…Marriage is the unity of one man and one woman in covenant commitment
for a lifetime. …The husband and wife are of equal worth before God,
since both are created in God's image. The marriage relationship
models the way God relates to His people. …Children, from the moment
of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. |
