Beliefs

There is one God in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – unexplainable but true. 1Tim 2:5a; Mat 28:19; John 16:26b; Act 13:2b

The Lord Jesus Christ is the grand theme of the Bible (Luke 24:27; John 5:39) and that He, being deity (Heb 1:8), was lovingly sent by God the Father from heaven (John 3:16; John 6:38), miraculously became a man (Matt 1:18; 1Tim 2:5), perfectly lived His brief life (2Cor 5:21), died as a substitute for sinners headed for hell (Gal 1:4), powerfully rose again (Acts 2:24), sovereignly rules over all (Matt 28:18), and is coming again to raise the dead, to judge the world (Act 17:31), to burn up the universe and bring in a new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells (2Pet 3:13).

Mankind fell with Adam and Eve and all are under judgment, sinners by nature, needing to be saved from the wrath of God and hell’s consuming flame (Rom 5:19).

The chief purpose of man is to glorify God, to love Him and enjoy Him for time and eternity (1Cor 10:31).

Salvation is of the Lord – God the Father graciously elected a people for His name (Eph 1:4), the Son lovingly purchased their redemption (Rev 5:9b), and the Holy Spirit applies that redemption by miraculously calling them out of the darkness and into God’s marvelous light (John 3:8b). This new birth is a sovereign work of God producing repentance and faith (Rom 8:30) and a changed life, thereafter daily progressively conformed to Christ (Rom 6:14; 2Co 4:16b; Rom 8:29; Heb 12:14.

All are responsible to repent and believe (Luke 13:3). Repentance is a turning to God from a life of sin and all known sin. Faith is trusting that Jesus died to pay my sin-debt and that through His gracious work on the cross I have full, free, forgiveness forever and a title to heaven (Luk 24:47). Faith is a life of trusting the Lord in everything (Heb 11:6).

Baptism is for believers (Acts 2:41). It is an outward symbol of what is believed to have happened inwardly upon union with Christ, that is, the burial of the old sinful self and the raising up of a new life in Christ.

The gifts of the Spirit are still valid (Eph 4:11-13), though we ourselves are not Pentecostal, nor Charismatic.

The church meeting is to be an open, interactive meeting (1Cor 14:26b). The Lord’s Day meeting regularly includes the Lord’s Supper, that is, the symbols of the Lord’s broken body and shed blood.