What We Believe
The Christian message is essentially a simple one.
It is a message about God's love for us, shown in the saving death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Here is a simple summary of what we believe, in fellowship with Christians right across the world today.
We believe there is one eternal God, who exists in a relationship of Father, Son and Spirit – one God in three persons. We believe God is sovereign in all things: creation, revelation, redemption, judgment and the establishing of his kingdom. He is therefore worthy of our praise and honour.
We believe all men and women are created in the image of God, and therefore enjoy a unique dignity within creation and a unique relationship with God. God has given them rule over the created order. Tragically, at the beginning of creation, sin entered the world as humans rebelled against God’s loving rule over them. This rebellion continues today. The effects of sin are seen in our world and our lives. Because of this we are all guilty before God and under his righteous judgement and condemnation. We are unable, without the work of God’s Spirit, to turn ourselves to God.
We believe the Bible is God’s revelation to us. It is divinely inspired and has supreme authority in all matters of faith, conduct and experience. We believe the Bible (Holy Scripture) is God’s living word and contains all things necessary for us to know God. God reveals himself to us through his word so that we may know how to respond to his rightful and loving rule over our life.
We believe Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He is both fully God and truly human. He entered fully into human experience. He endured temptation, he suffered and died. He was perfectly obedient to God his Father. On the cross, Jesus willingly suffered the penalty for human sin. He died and was buried. On the third day he rose again bodily and is now exalted as ruler over all. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.
We believe that because Jesus died and rose again he is the only way we can be brought into right relationship with God. It is only through the sacrificial death of Jesus, 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. The work of the Holy Spirit is necessary to make the death of Jesus effective in an individual’s life. The Holy Spirit enables the sinner to repent and put their faith in Jesus Christ, so that salvation is entirely a work of God’s grace and not of human merit or achievement.
Although we enjoy now the blessing of union with Christ and a secure relationship with God, we still look forward to the return of Christ, the resurrection of our bodies, and life with him eternally.