THE GODHEAD
There is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4). He is infinitely good and great and has revealed himself to be personal and triune in essential being, eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (John 1:1&14, 10:30, 14:16-17).
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
The incarnate Son, Jesus of Nazareth, existed eternally as God (John 1:1) then was conceived by the virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20,23). Fully human and fully divine, he lived a sinless life of perfect obedience on earth (Hebrews 4:15), He died on the cross as a sacrifice on our behalf and in our place (2 Corinthians 5:21), then rose literally, physically, and bodily from the dead three days later (Luke 24:39). He ascended to the right hand of the Father to His present ministry of intercession in heaven (Hebrews 7:25). He will return personally in the future to complete salvation (John 14:2-3, Hebrews 9:28).
THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit convicts people of sin, gives new life to all believers and resides in them permanently (John 16:7-8; Titus 3:5; Ephesians 1:13-14). He makes them holy and enables them to grow into the likeness of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:16-18; 2 Thessalonians 2:13). Through his Spirit, God empowers all his people for life and witness, granting them various gifts for the well-being, functioning and mission of the church (Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 12). His ministry is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ (John 16:13-14).
THE BIBLE
God speaks to us through the Bible, the sixty-six Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Being God-breathed they are fully trustworthy, inerrant in the original writings and are supremely authoritative in all matters of faith and conduct (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:20-21).
CREATION
The account of origins presented in Genesis is a simple but factual presentation of actual events and the various life forms (‘kinds’), including mankind, were made by direct creative acts of God (Genesis 1 & 2). God created human beings male and female, equally made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-28), and marriage is between a man and a woman, as a type of the union between Christ and His church (Genesis 2:22-25; Matthew 19:4-5; Ephesians 5:22-33). The special creation of Adam (as one man) and Eve (as one woman), and their subsequent fall into sin, is the basis for the necessity of salvation for mankind (1 Corinthians 15:45-49).
MANKIND
Mankind was created innocent and pure; and Adam fell through the sin of disobedience (Genesis 2 & 3). Therefore, all people are corrupted in body, soul, and spirit; all people are lost and need redemption (Romans 3:21-24).
SALVATION
The Gospel, the good news concerning Jesus Christ and his reconciling work, is God’s powerful way of bringing salvation (2 Corinthians 5:16-19). All who respond in repentance and faith God sets right with himself, forgiving and cleansing them from sin, giving them his Holy Spirit and eternal life, and incorporating them into his church (John 5:24; Acts 2:38; Romans 5:1-2).
SATAN
Satan is a real created being and the deceiver who led mankind to sin against God (Genesis 3:1-7). He is the spiritual adversary of God and man (Genesis 3:4-5; 1 Peter 5:8) and a spiritually defeated foe (Genesis 3:14-15; Revelation 20:10).
BAPTISM and LORD’S SUPPER
Jesus Christ, the head of the church, has established both baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:26-28; Matthew 28:18-20). Baptism is the immersion of believers on their profession of faith, an act of identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and it involves commitment to a life of discipleship in fellowship with his people (Romans 6:1-13). In the Lord’s Supper, believers remember Christ’s sacrificial death, share in fellowship with their risen Lord and with one another, and look forward to his return (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). These ordinances are not to be regarded as necessary for salvation (Ephesians 2:8-10).
FELLOWSHIP
While all believers belong to the universal church, God gathers believers into local churches which exist to worship and serve him. The church is a body of interdependent believers, all of whom contribute to the functioning of the whole (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Through commitment to one another, believers grow in personal discipleship and contribute to the discipleship of those around them. This is called “fellowship” – partaking of Christian life together (Acts 2:41-42).
CHURCH GOVERNMENT
Jesus Christ alone is head of the Church (Colossians 1:18). The Church is the community called into being by God. In both its universal and local expressions, it consists of persons who have personally and knowingly accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, and have pledged themselves to worship, follow and serve him as a priestly community (1 Peter 2:4-10). The will of Christ for the local church is to be found as the Holy Spirit brings direction and conviction to the congregation gathered to seek his will in the light of the Scriptures. (Acts 13:1-2). On this basis the members’ meeting is the final authority under Christ for a congregation.
LOCAL CHURCH LEADERSHIP
Christ gives leaders to his Church, and it is the duty of the local church through the members’ meeting to recognise and affirm Christ’s call to such leaders, and to set them aside to serve through their leadership (Acts 20:28; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Hebrews 13:17). Mutual accountability is to operate between leaders and church (Hebrews 13:7).
THE FUTURE
Jesus Christ will return visibly and victoriously from his Father’s presence to gather his people to himself and to complete his conquest of sin and evil (Matthew 24:30; John 14:2-3; Acts 17:30-31). All people, both believers and unbelievers, will be raised bodily and be judged by God (1 Corinthians 3:10-15; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58; Revelation 20:11-15). Believers will enjoy eternal blessedness in God’s presence (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), while unbelievers will suffer the eternal punishment of exclusion from his presence (Revelation 20:11-15). The whole creation will be so transformed that righteousness will characterise the new heavens and the new earth forever (Revelation 21:1-4; Revelation 22:1-5).