Statement of Faith
The Scriptures govern our faith, our teaching and our life. We confess the Christian faith in the evangelical, Reformed and Baptist tradition, seeking in all things to glorify God through Jesus Christ.
1. The Word of God
God makes His power and goodness known in creation and has revealed Himself fully in Jesus Christ. The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are His inspired Word, without error in their original writings and our final authority in faith and life. Scripture is necessary, sufficient and clear in what we must know for salvation. The Holy Spirit enables us to understand and receive it; Scripture interprets Scripture, and every teaching must be tested by it.
2. God and the Trinity
There is one living and true God, eternal, unchanging and sufficient in Himself. He is spirit, infinite in knowledge, power, wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness and love. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons, each fully God, sharing one undivided divine being. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. God alone deserves our worship, trust and obedience.
3. Creation and providence
God created everything, visible and invisible, by His word, and all He made was good. He sustains and governs all things according to His wise and holy purpose. Nothing lies outside His sovereign rule, yet He neither commits nor approves sin, and His purposes do not remove human responsibility. He ordinarily works through means and is free to work beyond them. His providence serves His glory and the ultimate good of His people.
4. Humanity and marriage
God created Adam and Eve, male and female, in His image, to know Him, care for His creation and glorify Him with their whole lives. Men and women share equal worth before God and equal access to Him through Christ. Marriage is the faithful union of one man and one woman, ordered to mutual help, sexual faithfulness and the nurture of children. Christians are to marry in the Lord. Husband and wife have complementary responsibilities: his leadership should express Christ's sacrificial love, and her willing support the church's response to Christ.
5. The fall and sin
Through Satan's temptation, our first parents disobeyed God and fell from their original righteousness. In Adam we inherit guilt and a corrupt nature, and we ourselves sin in thought, desire, word and deed. Sin affects every part of us, separates us from God and brings us under His righteous judgement. We choose according to our fallen desires and cannot make ourselves spiritually alive or earn reconciliation with God. Our only hope is His mercy in Christ.
6. God's saving purpose and covenant
Before creation, God freely chose a people for salvation in Christ, without regard to any foreseen merit or faith. He appointed both their salvation and the means by which they would receive it. His covenant of grace, promised after the fall and progressively revealed throughout Scripture, is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Everyone saved in any age is saved through Him. God commands all people to repent and believe, and freely offers life to everyone who comes to Christ.
7. Jesus Christ
The eternal Son became truly human, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus Christ is one person with two distinct natures, fully God and fully human, without sin. He is the promised Messiah, our prophet, priest and king, and the only mediator between God and humanity. He perfectly obeyed the Father, taught with authority and performed mighty works. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.
8. Redemption and the Gospel
Christ willingly stood in the place of sinners. Through His perfect obedience and once-for-all sacrifice, He bore the judgement His people deserved, satisfied God's justice and secured their forgiveness and reconciliation. He rose bodily on the third day, ascended into heaven and reigns at the Father's right hand, interceding for His people. His victory over sin, death and Satan guarantees their salvation. This is the Gospel: God's promised salvation accomplished in history by Jesus Christ and proclaimed by His apostles. Salvation is found in Him alone.
9. The Holy Spirit and the new birth
The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ and applies His saving work. Through the Word, He brings sinners to life, renews their minds and wills, and draws them freely to Christ in repentance and faith. He unites believers to Christ, dwells in them and seals them for their final redemption. He teaches, strengthens and equips them with gifts for the good of the church and for faithful service.
10. Faith and repentance
Saving faith receives God's Word as true and rests on Christ alone for salvation. Repentance turns from sin to God, with sorrow for sin, a desire for forgiveness and a purpose to walk in obedience. Both are gifts of grace and remain part of the Christian life. Neither earns salvation. No sin is too small to need forgiveness, and no sin is too great for God's mercy towards the repentant.
11. Justification and adoption
God freely pardons and declares righteous everyone who believes in Jesus. He credits Christ's obedience and satisfaction to them; their acceptance rests entirely on Christ, received through faith alone. The faith that receives Him also bears the fruit of love. God adopts believers as His children, giving them access to Him as Father, His care and discipline, and an everlasting inheritance. He does not cast them out of His family.
12. Holiness and good works
Those united to Christ are progressively renewed by His Word and Spirit. Sin remains a real struggle in this life, but its dominion has been broken. Believers are called to pursue holiness, love God and their neighbours, and obey His commands. Good works are the fruit and evidence of living faith, never the ground of acceptance with God. Even our best works are imperfect, yet God receives them graciously through Christ.
13. Perseverance and assurance
God preserves all who truly belong to Christ, so that they persevere in faith and are finally saved. Their security rests on His faithful love, Christ's intercession and the Spirit's abiding presence. Believers may fall into serious sin and lose the comfort of assurance, but God restores them to repentance. Assurance grows through His promises, the Spirit's witness and the evidence of His work in us, encouraging grateful obedience.
14. God's law and Christian freedom
God's moral law, summarised in the Ten Commandments, reveals His righteousness, exposes our sin and guides our obedience. Christ has fulfilled the law; Israel's ceremonial laws are fulfilled in Him, and its civil laws no longer bind as a national code, though their principles of justice remain instructive. Believers are freed from the law's condemnation and enabled to obey God in love. God alone rules the conscience: human traditions cannot replace His Word or require blind obedience. Christian freedom is freedom to serve Him.
15. Worship, prayer and the Lord's Day
We worship the Father, Son and Holy Spirit alone, through Christ, in the manner God teaches in Scripture. Prayer, Scripture reading and preaching, praise, baptism and the Lord's Supper belong to the church's worship. God is also to be worshipped personally and in our homes. We gather on the Lord's Day for worship, fellowship and rest, making room for works of necessity and mercy. Our worship should express reverence, faith, gratitude and joy.
16. The church and its fellowship
Christ is the only head of the universal church, made up of all His redeemed people. Believers are to join local churches for worship, teaching, fellowship, discipline and mission. Each congregation is accountable to Christ and His Word, appointing qualified elders and deacons; the office of elder is entrusted to qualified men. Churches should support their teachers, care for members in need and cooperate with one another. United in Christ, believers share their gifts and resources in love, without surrendering personal ownership.
17. Baptism and the Lord's Supper
Christ gave His church baptism and the Lord's Supper to be observed until He returns. Baptism is the immersion in water of those who profess repentance and faith, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It signifies union with Christ in His death and resurrection, forgiveness and new life. In the Supper, believers share bread and wine in remembrance of His death and receive spiritual nourishment through faith. The elements remain bread and wine; Christ's sacrifice is not repeated. Both ordinances strengthen faith and express fellowship with Him and His people.
18. Life in God's world
Christ's kingdom is already at work and will be fully revealed when He returns. His people are called to proclaim the Gospel, make disciples and do good to their neighbours. Civil government is appointed by God to uphold justice and restrain evil; Christians should pray for rulers and obey lawful authority under God. We must speak truthfully, honour lawful oaths and keep vows made to God. Our work, relationships and public responsibilities are to reflect Christ's lordship.
19. Death and resurrection
At death, believers are made perfect in holiness and enter Christ's presence, awaiting the resurrection of their bodies. The unbelieving remain under judgement. The soul does not cease to exist or pass into unconscious sleep. At Christ's return the dead will be raised bodily, and believers then living will be transformed. God's people will share in the glory of the risen Christ.
20. Christ's return and the final judgement
Jesus Christ will return personally, visibly and bodily in glory. He will judge all people and the fallen angels with perfect justice. Those who remain in unbelief will suffer eternal conscious punishment; those who belong to Christ will enjoy everlasting life with God in the new heavens and new earth. Sin, suffering and death will be gone. We await that day with hope and watchfulness, when God's people will delight in Him forever and all glory will be His.