STATEMENT OF FAITH

We Believe in

• ¨ The full inspiration of the Holy Scriptures; their authority and sufficiency, being in themselves the Word of God, (bearing witness to the Incarnate Word Jesus Christ; the reliability of the New Testament concerning the character and authorship of the Old Testament); their freedom from error as given in the original writings; and the need of the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit for a true and spiritual understanding of the whole of Scripture.
• ¨ The unity of the Godhead and the divine and co equality of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the sovereignty of God in creation, providence and redemption.
• ¨ The true and proper deity of our Lord Jesus Christ; His virgin birth; His real and perfect manhood; the authority of His teaching, and the infallibility of all His utterances; His work of atonement for sinners of mankind by His substitutionary sufferings and death, His bodily resurrection and His ascension into heaven; and His present and priestly intercession for His people at the right hand of the Father.
• ¨ The total depravity of human nature in consequence of the Fall, and the necessity for regeneration.
• ¨ The justification of the sinner solely by faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
• ¨ The necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit in conversion and regeneration, at which point the believer is baptised with the Spirit; also in sanctification, worship and ministry, for which He gives spiritual gifts.
• ¨ The universal Church, the body of which Christ is the Head, embracing all the redeemed, called by God through the Gospel, born of the Spirit and justified by faith; the local church comprising such believers as the expression of the universal Church, and fellowship between such churches manifesting the unity of the body of Christ.
• ¨ The ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as being instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ; but NOT in baptism as conveying regenerating grace; NOR in the Lord’s Supper as being a sacrifice for sin, nor involving any change in the substance of the bread and wine.
• ¨ The imminent personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ for His Church and His subsequent return to the earth in glory.
• ¨ The resurrection of the body, the judgement of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, with the eternal blessedness of the righteous and the eternal punishment of the wicked.