Statement of Beliefs

STATEMENT OF BELIEFS

(a) About God

1. There is one unique and eternal God, who exists in an everlasting loving relationship of Father, Son and Spirit – one God in three persons.
2. God is sovereign in all things: including creation, revelation, redemption, judgement and the establishing of his kingdom.
3. As sovereign loving creator and redeemer, he is worthy of all glory, honour and praise.

(b) About Humanity, Sexuality and Marriage

1. Men and women together are created in the image of God, and are of equal value, dignity and worth, and together enjoy a unique relationship with God not given to the rest of creation.  Our identity as male and female is inherent to who we are, and important in God’s created order.  The Biblical account of creation indicates that God’s purposes for humanity are that each person is born as either male or female (1), that gender is definitively indicated by biological sex at birth, and that people should live as the gender they are born into, throughout life (11).
2. Biblical marriage is a holy relationship ordained by God and is the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life, and is the only proper context for sexual activity (111).
3. Tragically, human nature is universally sinful since the Fall and all are guilty before God. This leaves all people under the wrath and condemnation of God.
4. We are unable, without the prior regenerative work of God’s Spirit, to turn ourselves to God.

 (1) This is almost always the case, except in very rare cases where people are born lacking biological sex determination.

(11)Persons who believe that their gender is different to that to which they were born are not in any way to be objects of contempt nor are they to be hated.

(111) Persons engaging in sexual activity outside of Biblical marriage are not in any way to be an object of contempt nor are they to be hated.

(c) About the Bible

1. There is no other way to know God except that he reveals himself to us. The Bible is God’s revelation to us. The words of the Bible are divinely inspired and infallible, as originally given, and have supreme authority in all matters of faith, conduct and experience.
2. The Bible is sufficient for knowing God. It is not only central to the wellbeing of the church but is able to thoroughly equip the Christian community for life and godliness.

(d) About Jesus Christ

1. Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
2. He is both fully God and truly human. He entered fully into human experience. He endured temptation and he suffered and died. He was perfectly obedient to God his father.
3. Jesus took on himself the consequences of human sin. He died and was buried. On the third day he rose from the dead bodily and is now exalted as ruler over all.
4. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.

(e) About Salvation

1. There is only one name under heaven by which we can be brought into relationship with God: the name Jesus Christ.
2. It is only through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, that the guilt, penalty and power of sin can be removed. In that death God demonstrates his love to us most perfectly and establishes his victory over Satan and all his foes.
3. The work of the Holy Spirit is necessary to make the death of Jesus effective in an individual’s life. The Spirit enables the sinner to repent and put their faith in Jesus Christ, so that salvation is entirely of God’s grace and not of human merit or works.
4. Although we enjoy now the blessing of union with Christ and secure relationship with God, we await the final consummation of our hope with the return of Christ, the resurrection of our bodies and life with him eternally.

(f) About the Spirit in the believer’s life

1. The Holy Spirit is co-equal with the Father and the Son, and indwells in all true believers.
2. His role is to bring glory to Jesus Christ, thus making Jesus Christ central in all things.
3. The Spirit works to illuminate believers’ minds to grasp the truth of the Bible, producing in them his fruit, granting them his gifts and empowering them for service.
4. He grants his gifts for the purpose of service, not self indulgence. Their use is determined – not by personal desire for fulfilment, or satisfaction – but by the principle of building the church. Not every gift of the Spirit is given to the church at every moment of its life, only those necessary for building Christ’s body. 

(g) About the Church

1. The visible church is the gathering of believers around Christ in his word.
2. It is a community of people intended by God to bear witness to him and actively seek the extension of his rule.
3. Within its community both men and women are to seek proper expression of their gifts as they work to build the church in love.
4. The Bible makes clear that in church leadership, as in marriage, the roles of men and women are not interchangeable. In particular, the formal instruction of God’s people from the word of God within the mixed adult public assembly is only for biblically qualified men.  We are committed to expressing the differences within relationships of mutual dependence.