We believe in one God, almighty, infinite in His existence, perfection, power and love. He alone is worthy of our worship. Scripture teaches that this one God is eternally existent in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit: the Trinity – who are equal in every divine perfection, but execute distinct yet harmonious offices in their great work of creation and redemption. He is the creator of all things visible and invisible. All things exist for His glory. He perfectly and exhaustively knows the end from the beginning, sustains and sovereignly rules over all things, and providentially brings about his eternal good purposes to redeem a people for Himself and restore His fallen creation. We believe that the Father is true God. He is the architect of creation and redemption. He sends the Son and the Holy Spirit to accomplish His sovereign purposes.
02
We believe that Jesus Christ is true God. He is the agent of creation and redemption. Motivated by love and in obedience to his Father, the eternal Son became human: the Word became flesh, fully God and fully human, one Person in two natures. He was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. He lived a completely sinless, perfect life making Him an acceptable sacrifice. He accomplished our redemption by dying for the sins of men as our substitute. He broke the power of death and was bodily raised and ascended to the right hand of the Father where He ministers as our High Priest and Advocate; and His return to complete His task of redemption is certain.
03
We believe that the Holy Spirit is true God. His ministry is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ; to convict people of their sin; to regenerate sinners; and to indwell, guide, instruct and empower believers for godly living, service and fellowship. The Holy Spirit is Himself the deposit of the promised inheritance.
04
God has graciously disclosed His existence and power in the created order and this is evident to the consciences of every man and woman. He has supremely revealed Himself in the person of his Son, the incarnate Word. Moreover, He is a speaking God who disclosed Himself and His plan of redemption in the Scriptures which are the 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament. They were written by men but were divinely inspired such that God is the ultimate author and they are without error or fault in the original writings. They are the true, authoritative and sufficient revelation of His will and are trustworthy for salvation and life. These books are authoritative over every domain of knowledge to which they speak and are the supreme and final authority by which Christians shall finally be held accountable. And as such they are not to be added to, superseded or changed by tradition, extra-biblical revelation or worldly wisdom. We confess that both our finiteness and our sinfulness preclude the possibility of knowing God’s truth exhaustively, but we affirm that, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, we can know God’s revealed truth truly. The Bible is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it teaches; obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; and trusted, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises. As God’s people hear, believe, and obey the Word, they are transformed, matured and equipped as disciples of Christ and witnesses to the gospel.
05
God created the very good heavens and the earth out of nothing through the exercise of His divine will. This includes the direct, immediate creation of a literal Adam and Eve. We believe that humanity – both male and female – was created by God in His image to glorify God and enjoy His fellowship. They were created without sin, but by voluntary transgression Adam sinned and now the image of God is defaced, but not erased. Adam forfeited his original blessedness – for himself and all his progeny. Thus, all men and women are now born with a sinful nature, meaning they are positively inclined to evil and are without defence or excuse. As a result, all human beings are born corrupted in every aspect of their being – physically, mentally, volitionally, emotionally, spiritually – alienated from God and condemned to death. Apart from God’s own gracious intervention they are utterly incapable of returning to Him. Thus the supreme need of all human beings is to be reconciled to the God under whose just and holy wrath we stand.
06
We believe that from all eternity God determined in grace to save a great multitude of guilty sinners from every tribe and language and people and nation, and to this end foreknew them and chose them. The salvation of sinners is by grace through faith on the basis of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, not at all on the basis of human merit or works. As the only truly perfect and innocent sacrifice, Christ’s death on the cross is alone sufficient to atone for our sins and His resurrection guarantees our resurrection and final redemption. This gift of salvation is available for anyone who truly repents regardless of gender, race, social status or other distinctives. Salvation does not erase these distinctives but unites them as one in Christ. Anyone repenting of sin by the regenerating work of God and trusting in Christ and His substitutionary death is declared righteous by God as a free gift and receives eternal life. Through Christ’s atonement for sin, an individual is reconciled to God and becomes His child.
07
True salvation is evidenced by godly lives exhibiting personal spiritual fruit and ongoing repentance from sin. The Christian is liberated from the law of sin and death into the freedom of God’s Spirit and begins an ongoing transformation of heart and mind. The Christian life is characterised by resisting sin and striving to live every aspect of life to the glory of God, in the likeness of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. However, because complete holiness awaits our final redemption in the age to come, indwelling sin remains a reality meaning we will never achieve complete holiness in this life.
08
We believe that the true church is composed of those from all ages who through saving faith in Jesus Christ have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and been united together in the body of Christ, who Himself is the Head. The church is called to be distinct from the world yet making Christ known to a lost world. A local church exists where believers united in the true Gospel of Christ gather in regular fellowship and where within the bounds of Christian orthodoxy the Word is preached and practiced, and water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are administered. The local church is governed by a biblical leadership where all the members encourage, admonish and assist each other to glorify God in their lives and to reach out to the lost.
09
We believe that water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordained by the Lord Jesus as proclamations pointing to spiritual realities. They are not a means of salvation. Water baptism is a one-time proclamation of entrance into a local church by personally identifying with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The Lord’s Supper is a regular proclamation of the unity of the local church because of their unity in the death of Christ.
10
We adhere to Christ’s command known as the Great Commission. The gospel of grace is to be sincerely preached to all people in all nations as the only means of salvation.
11
We believe that Jesus will physically and visibly return to complete His work of redemption and see the rightful rule of God over His creation universally acknowledged. At His return there will be a bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust. Satan, along with his hosts and all those outside Christ will pay the penalty of eternal punishment away from the benevolent presence and glory of God. The saints will be blessed eternally as they live and reign with Him forever, serving Him and giving Him unending praise and glory.
