WHAT WE BELIEVE

THE SCRIPTURES

We believe that the Bible, consisting of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, is fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, plenary in content and inerrant in the original writings, and that they are the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and conduct. (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Deuteronomy 4:2; Psalm 19:7-10; Revelation 22:18-19)

GODHEAD

We believe that there is only one true and living God, eternally existing in three distinct persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are the same in nature, equal in attributes, power, glory and perfection. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 1:10, 11; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Isaiah 6:8; John 15:26)

CREATION

We believe that the heavens, the earth and all created forms of earth and angelic life, including man, were created by God in the six days of creation. Created by God in His image, man is responsible to God to manage God’s creation on earth according to God’s mandates and laws. We believe that God’s creation is maintained by His Son through the providence of God. (Genesis 1:1-31; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2-3)

GOD THE SON

We believe in the personality and deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation, He was begotten of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, truly God and truly man. He lived on earth a sinless life of perfect obedience to God the Father. (Psalm 2:7; Isaiah 7:14, 53:1-12; John 1:1, 14, 10:30; Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:30-31; Philippians 2:5-7; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 1:1-3, 2:9)

GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe in the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit Who inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. He is the infallible Interpreter of the inerrant Word of God, illuminating men to understand truth. He testifies of Christ and exalts Him. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He calls men to Christ and regenerates them. At the moment of regeneration He indwells each believer and baptises believers into the body of Christ. He produces the fruit of the Spirit in believers for spiritual growth and bestows spiritual gifts for serving God in the corporate life of the church. He seals each believer for the day of final redemption. His presence in the believer is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into full maturity in Christ. He seeks to occupy believers with Christ and not with themselves, their spiritual gifts or their experiences. Believers are commanded to be filled with the Spirit, evidenced by spiritual songs, giving of thanks to God and submission of believers one to another. (Genesis 1:2; Job 26:13; Psalm 139:7; Matthew 3:16; Luke 12:12; John 14:15-18, 15:26, 16:7-11, 13; Acts 1:8; Romans 8:9, 26-27; 1 Corinthians 2:12, 14, 3:16, 12:3-11, 13; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:13-14, 5:18-21; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21)

MANKIND AND HIS FALL

We believe that mankind was created by God in the image of God, male and female. The first man chose to disobey God and fell into sin. In fact the whole human race fell into sin in the fall of the first man, Adam. So mankind became subject to physical and spiritual death. Man’s moral nature was depraved by this fall with the loss of all spiritual life. Therefore all people are born with a sinful nature, being spiritually dead in sins and subject to Satan’s power. Man in his natural state cannot enter the kingdom of God. No human attempt by itself can help the sinner to overcome the deadly effects of this fall. A new nature imparted from above and implanted by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God is absolutely essential to man’s salvation. (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:23; Ephesians 2:1-3)

MANKIND AND HIS SALVATION

We believe that salvation has been provided for a repentant person only through the atoning work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ became the sinner’s substitute before God when He died as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.
He died for the sins of the sinner according to Old Testament prophecies. In tasting death for everyone, Jesus Christ completed the work that was necessary to satisfy God’s justice on our behalf. Therefore, no human action or effort can add to the value of the precious blood and the finished work of Christ on the cross.

We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of Jesus Christ, that His body was raised from the dead and that He ascended into heaven where, as the believer’s High Priest and Advocate, He sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for believers. Christ, in the fullness of the blessings He has secured by His death and resurrection, is received by faith alone of the repentant person. When a person savingly believes in Christ, he/she passes from death to life and receives all the blessings promised by God to the believer. At salvation the believer is justified, regenerated, sanctified and granted the gift of eternal life as an adopted child of God. (Romans 5:8, 12, 4:4-5; John 3:3,6-7, 5:24; Titus 3:5-7; Acts 2:38, 1:8,10-11; John 1:12; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 John 2:1-2; Hebrews 2:9, 9:22-28, 10:10,12; Luke 24:39; Ephesians 1:3)

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST

We believe that the universal church, of which Christ is the head, is composed of all those who are true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, dead and alive,
redeemed through His blood and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. The church, inaugurated at Pentecost, is the body and bride of Christ.
Every believer is baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit. Believers as members of this body are to keep the unity of the Spirit.
When the body of Christ is complete, the Lord Jesus Christ will appear in the clouds to gather all the believers to heaven.

The universal church is visibly expressed in locally organized congregations of believers for worship, prayer, edification through the Word of God, fellowship, presentation of the Gospel of Salvation and observation of the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Local churches enter into relationships with other like-minded churches, with similar statements of faith, for accountability, encouragement and evangelism. (Ephesians 3:6-12; 1:22-23; Acts 2:41-47; 2 Thessalonians 1:1, 4; Hebrews 10:25; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8, 11:19-30; 15)

BAPTISM AND THE LORD’S SUPPER

We believe that Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances established by the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism is a public act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. The person being baptised declares his rejection of the old Adamic life and his new “in Christ” life by personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Baptism is by total immersion in water.

The Lord’s Supper is an act of obedience of believers gathered together to remember the broken body and blood of Christ in His death. The symbols of bread and the fruit of the vine are used. The Lord’s Supper anticipates the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for the Body of Christ. (Matthew 3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 10:16, 21; 11:23-29; Colossians 2:12)

SANCTIFICATION

We believe that all believers are called into a life of separation from sin, self and the world to God. Sanctification is both a distinct event and a process accomplished through being filled with the Holy Spirit who gives power for holy living and sacrificial service. Separated or sanctified believers abstain from whatever will cause others to stumble morally and from whatever will bring reproach to Christ. They are able to accomplish the great commission of Jesus Christ to evangelise and disciple others, which is the supreme mission of the people of God in the world. (Matthew 28:19-20; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Acts 1:8; Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 5:16-25)

ESCHATOLOGY (FUTURE EVENTS)

We believe in the personal, imminent coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the air to gather together all who are in Christ, both dead and alive, and who are citizens of heaven. Following Christ’s BEMA Seat (Judgement Seat of Christ) judgment in heaven (where rewards will be given) and the marriage supper of the Lamb, also in heaven, and following the concomitant great tribulation on earth, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth to remove all opposition and establish His millennial reign and subsequently His eternal reign.

The souls/spirits of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation immediately pass at death into His presence where they remain until the resurrection of the body at Christ’s coming when the soul/spirit and body are reunited to be with the Lord forever.
All believers/saints will participate in this first resurrection.

The souls/spirits of the lost remain after death in misery until the final judgment of Christ’s Great White Throne when soul/spirit and body, reunited at this second resurrection, will be cast into the lake of fire (which is the second death) and into everlasting punishment and separation from the presence of the Lord. (Isaiah 2:4; Matthew 16:27, 19:28, 24:27, 30, 36, 44, 25:31-46; Mark 8:38, 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-26, 17:22-37, 21:27-28; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:11, 17:31; Romans 14:10; 1 Corinthians 4:5, 15:24-28, 35-58; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18, 5:1; 2 Timothy 4:1, 8; James 5:8; 2 Peter 3:7; Revelation 1:18, 21:5-7, 22:12-13; John 5:22-27)

SPIRITUAL WARFARE

We believe in the real existence and personality of Satan/Lucifer the arch spirit-enemy of God, liar, deceiver and murderer and in the reality of evil angels/demons who rebelled against God with Lucifer. Angels are powerful physically invisible spirits. Those who have remained true to God are the elect angels, serving God as ministering spirits to the people of God. Satan, as the prince of the power of the air, has created and nurtured the vast world system or cosmos that resists God. Variously called the “occult,” “abominations,” “things devoted,” “things under the ban,” “New Age,” “witchcraft,” “fortune-telling,” “spiritism,” “parapsychology,” “paganism,” “magic” and “sorcery,” all aspects of Satan’s antichrist worldview are to be acknowledged as real but strictly avoided according to both Old and New Testament commands. Believers are to be aware of the dangers of dabbling in occult expressions, however seemingly harmless, because, “My people are destroyed through lack of knowledge.” (Deuteronomy 18:9-12; Hosea 4:6; Acts 19:19; 1 Corinthians 10:20; Exodus 20:3; 2 Timothy 2:25-26; Ephesians 6:11-12;
1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 12:9)