Statement of Faith

1. God: We believe in one eternal, holy, sovereign and living God (Gen 1; Is 6:3; Is 40:9-26), in three equal, divine persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Jn 1:1-5).

2. Scripture: God desires to be known. He is a speaking God (Gen 1; Jn 1; Heb 1) who has graciously disclosed himself in creation (Ps 8:1-4; Rom 1:19-20) and has supremely revealed himself in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ (Heb 1:1-2). We believe that God has revealed himself by the inspiration and preservation of the Holy Scriptures – the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments. We believe that the Scriptures supremely point to the Lord Jesus Christ (Lk 24:27; Jn 5:39, 46) and need to be interpreted in-and-through him. The Scriptures alone are complete and uniquely constitute the verbally inspired Word of God (2 Tim 3:14-17; 2 Pt 1:21), which is utterly authoritative, without error in the original writing and final in authority over every domain of knowledge to which they speak. The Scriptures are sufficient for salvation and for all that God requires of humans to believe and do (2 Tim 3:14-17).
We confess that because of our limitations and our sinfulness we preclude the possibility of knowing God’s truth exhaustively, but we affirm that, enlightened by the Spirit of God, we can truly know God’s revealed truth.
The Bible is to be:
• Read, heard and believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it teaches;
• Obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires;
• Trusted, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises.

3. Creation and Humanity: We believe that God created human beings good, both male and female, in his image (Gen 1:27). Humans were created to live in devoted fellowship with God and to serve and care for creation as God’s agents (Gen 1:26). We believe that racism is an abomination and an evil to be opposed; and that God has made only one race – the human race.
God ordains a one-flesh marriage union between a man and a woman that establishes the only normative pattern of sexual relations for men and women (Gen 2:24). Men and women are created equal but they are not made the same and are instead made to complement each other (Gen 1:27). God ordains that they assume distinctive roles of service in family and the church which reflect the sacrificial loving relationship between Christ and his church (Eph 5:22-33). In the ministry of the church, both men and women are encouraged to serve Christ, using their Holy Spirit-given gifting for the glory of God (Rom 12:4-8; 1 Cor 12:4-20).
We furthermore believe that all human beings have sinned and are alienated from God, corrupted in every aspect of their being, worthy of condemnation and under the judgement of God (Rom 3:9-18; 2 Thes 1:8-9). The supreme need of all human beings is to be reconciled with the triune God.

4. The Gospel of God: We believe that from all eternity God determined in grace to save a great multitude for his glory from every tribe, language, people and nation (Rev 7:9-12), and to this end foreknew them and chose them (Eph 1:4). We believe that God justifies and sanctifies those who by grace have faith in Jesus (Rom 3:21-26). We believe that the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ born, crucified and raised according to the Scriptures in order to reconcile humans to God (1 Cor 2:2).

5. The Redemption of Christ: We believe that because of his love for us, God has sent his only Son into the world, the man Jesus Christ. Jesus is the eternal Son who is fully God and fully man (John 3:16). Jesus was the promised Messiah of Israel (Mk 8:29). He was conceived through the miraculous agency of the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:35), and born of the virgin Mary (Lk 2:6). He lived a sinless life (2 Cor 5:21), performed miraculous signs, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, rose bodily from the dead on the third day (1 Cor 15:3-4), and ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9). He is seated at the right hand of God the Father (Heb 1:3). He is our high priest and righteous advocate (Heb 4:14). We believe that by his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension Jesus Christ acted as our representative and died as our substitute (Rom 3:24, 5:6, 8:4). He did this so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21). On the cross Jesus cancelled sin (Rom 6:7), propitiated the wrath of God (Rom 3:25), and, by bearing the full penalty of our sins, reconciled to God all those who believe (2 Cor 5:18-20; Rom 5:10-11). By his resurrection Christ Jesus was vindicated by his Father, conquered death (Jn 11:25-26) and defeated Satan (Col 2:15). By his ascension Christ has been forever exalted as Lord.

6. The Justification of Sinners: We believe that Christ, by his obedience and death, fully discharged the debt of all those who are justified. By his sacrifice, he bore in our place the punishment due us for our sins, making a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice on our behalf (Rom 3:26). By his perfect obedience he has satisfied the just demands of God on our behalf. All humans must be born again of water and Spirit (Jn 3:5). The sacrifice of Christ is appropriated by repentance and faith to all who trust in Christ (Acts 20:21). Justification is completely of God and solely of grace, not by any human works in order that both the justice and the grace of God might bring glory to God (Eph 2:8).

7. The Holy Spirit: We believe in God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn 16:14). He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (Jn 16:8-9), and by his powerful work regenerates spiritually dead sinners (Tit 3:5), awakening them to repentance and faith, and in him they are baptised into union with the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit indwells all believers and by the Spirit’s agency, believers are renewed, sanctified, and adopted into God’s family. The Holy Spirit gives gifts of service for the building up of believers, the edification of the church and the glory of God (Rom 12:3-8; 1 Cor 12:7).

8. Holiness: We believe that those who are justified, who have been united with Christ by faith and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, begin to unavoidably live lives of holiness because of their growing love for God (Rom 12:1; 1 Pet 1:15). Faith in Christ results in the daily putting off of sin and the putting on of Christlikeness. Believers should neither withdraw into seclusion from the world, nor become indistinguishable from it: rather, we are to love our neighbours as ourselves (John 13:34), do good to all (Mat 5:16), seek holiness of life (1 Pt 1:15), grow in prayer and love for the Scriptures (2 Tim 3:14-17), and commit to the mission of sharing Christ with the world (Mat 28:18-20).

9. The Church: We believe that the church is the body and bride of Christ (Eph 5:32; Rev 19:9). Christians are saved into this heavenly community which is manifest in local gatherings of believers (Rev 7:9-12). To live distant from the body of believers is sin that needs to be repented of (Heb 10:25). The true church is distinguished by a growing love for God shown in a commitment to hearing his Word, by prayer and by increasing love for each other and for the world (Acts 2:42f).
10. The New Heavens and New Earth: We believe in the personal, glorious, and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ, when all things will be restored (Luke 21:25-28; Rev 1:7). When he returns, he will exercise his role as final judge, and his kingdom will be consummated (Mat 25:31f). We believe in the bodily resurrection, in a new heaven and a new earth (Rev 21-22), the home of righteousness to the praise of his glorious grace (1 Cor 15:50-55).