Statement of Beliefs
God
We believe there is only one God, who exists eternally in three equally divine and perfectly unified persons who are due equal honour: Father, Son and Spirit. He is the almighty and loving Creator, Saviour and Judge who sustains and governs all things, seen and unseen, according to his sovereign will for his own glory.
The Bible
We believe the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments as originally given, is the God-breathed and infallible word of God and as such, is entirely authoritative, trustworthy, necessary and sufficient for our knowledge of God and for salvation. God’s word is precious, life-giving, and, as the supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct, it is to be faithfully taught, believed and obeyed.
Humanity
We believe that God created human beings uniquely male and female, in his own image. He created men and women equal in worth, with equal access to God only through faith in Jesus Christ, and equally called to love and honour God with all their entire beings. However, since the fall, all people, everywhere, are guilty of rebellion against God and human nature is thoroughly corrupted by sin, alienating them from God and making them subject to God’s righteous anger and condemnation.
Jesus Christ
We believe God demonstrated his love toward us by sending his only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is both fully God and fully man, to live among us. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, and lived a sinless life in obedience to the Father. He died on the cross, rose bodily from the dead after three days, and ascended into heaven in his resurrected body, where he is seated at the right hand of God the Father and exalted as ruler over all things in heaven and on earth.
Salvation
We believe salvation is entirely the gracious gift of God and cannot be earned or deserved. It is accomplished only through the atoning death, once and for all time, of Jesus Christ, who is our representative and substitute, and the only mediator between God and sinners. By Christ’s death, sin is cancelled and God’s righteous anger is turned aside; we are redeemed from sin and death, whose power was broken by Christ’s resurrection, and we are declared to be righteous in God’s sight. This salvation is offered in the gospel and received only by turning to God from sin and trusting in Jesus Christ through faith.
The Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit has been sent from heaven by the Father and the Son. He convicts people of sin and enables them to turn to God, the Father, and to trust in Jesus Christ, the Lord. He makes the death of Christ effective to individual sinners, imparting spiritual life to spiritually dead sinners. God’s Spirit dwells in all those he has regenerated, progressively making them more like Christ in attitudes, actions and speech, to God’s glory and renown.
The People of God
We believe the Lord Jesus Christ builds his people, the church, through the proclamation and teaching of his word. There is one new, reconciled humanity in Christ, where all who have been saved through the work of Christ are united with one another as members of his church, and meet together under appropriate spiritual leadership as active members of a local church. God has equipped his people with gifts to be used for mutual edification in the church according to God’s word and for the proclamation of the gospel to the world.
The Future
We believe the Lord Jesus Christ will personally return from heaven on a day known and appointed by God alone. He will welcome his people into a life of eternal joy in fellowship with God, and he will execute God’s just and eternal condemnation on all who have not received him. Death will be destroyed on that day, and, because of Christ’s victory, the church will be presented faultless before God and live eternally with God in his new creation, where God will be glorified forever.