We believe in one God eternally existing as one essence and three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Each person is Truly, equally, and eternally God, yet there is one God. Each person has precisely the same nature and attributes and is worthy of precisely the same worship, honour, and praise. The entire Christian faith is bound together with the confession of God’s Trinitarian nature (Matt. 28:18-20). We believe in God the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth. The source and eternal authority over all things in creation, and within the Godhead; shown and acknowledged, in the sending of the Son and later with the Son, the Spirit (John 14:26,28; Ephesians 5:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:18). God the Father determines those who will be saved from the foundations of the world (Jude 1) and keeps them for His Son through the preservation of the Spirit. We acknowledge that the general pattern of all prayer and supplications made to God, as seen in the N.T. are to be offered to the Father, through the Son, and by the Spirit. We also believe that prayer to the Son or to the Holy Spirit still Glorifies the Father. We believe in the Son, God from God, eternally begotten but not made, who in history assumed to Himself a human nature and embraced fully the hypostatic union in the incarnation for the sake of our salvation (John 1:14; Heb. 1:3). He is Truly God and Truly man. Through Him, all things came into being and were created. He was before all things, and in Him, all things hold together by the word of His power (Col.1:15-20). He suffered, died, was buried, resurrected, ascended, and sits at the right hand of the Father until He returns for the final judgment and consummation of the Kingdom. The Son in the incarnation was given the name Jesus – the one who would save his people from their sins. This name is above every name and no other name is given by which men and women can be saved.

We believe in the Holy Spirit who eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son and is sent by the Father and Son to give new life (John 15:26-27). The Holy Spirit unites believers to Jesus Christ in faith, brings about the new birth and dwells within the regenerate (Eph. 1:13-14). The Holy Spirit has come to glorify the Son who, in turn, came to glorify the Father. He will lead the Church into a right understanding and rich application of the truth of God’s Word. He is to be respected, honoured, and worshiped as God, the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is the Lord within the church whilst the Son is Lord over the Church. The Holy Spirit makes known to God’s people the mind and the will of God and is the one who is preparing the church for the day of Jesus Christ. The triune God: The Father, Son, and Spirit, is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible. As the immortal and eternal Creator, He sovereignly and righteously rules over all His creation (Ps. 24:1)

God has made Himself known to the world in Jesus Christ, the Scriptures and creation. We believe that God has made Himself known to His creation. He has revealed Himself to us in His Son, the incarnate Word (Heb.1:1-2), in Scripture, the inspired Word (2 Tim. 3:16), and in creation (Ps. 8; Rom.1:20). We believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the perfect revelation of who God is. Jesus Christ is the “image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), “the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb. 1:3) and a perfect reflection of God the Father (John 5:19). We believe the Scriptures, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, are the inspired Word of God and are therefore without error in their original writings. These writings alone constitute the verbally inspired Word of God, which is utterly authoritative and free from deceptive error. The Scripture is sufficient for all that God requires for us to believe and do and is therefore to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it teaches; obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; and trusted, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises (Is. 40:6-8). As God’s people hear, believe, and obey the Word, they are equipped as disciples of Christ and witnesses to the gospel (Rom. 10:14-17).

We believe that God created the world from nothing and governs all things, at all times, in all places. God created the whole world from nothing (Gen. 1:1-2; Ps. 24:1). God’s creative work is the overflow of the love present within the Trinitarian fellowship. Creation, according to the design of God, was good (Gen. 1:3-31). God doesn’t let the world exist; He makes the world exist. He upholds the universe by the word of His power, and He holds the world together in himself (Col. 1:17).

We believe that all humanity is created in the image of God and possesses intrinsic dignity and worth. God made humanity—male and female—in His own image (Gen. 1:27- 30). Set apart as His image bearers, every human being is sacred. All men and all women, bearing the image of God, are meant to represent God in His creation (1 Cor. 10:31). God declares the created order to be very good, distinguishing men and women as His agents to care for, manage and govern over it. They enjoy equal access to God by faith in Christ Jesus and are both called to move beyond passive self-indulgence to significant private and public engagement in family, church, and civic life. Adam and Eve were made to complement each other in a one-flesh union. Marriage is the covenant between one man and one women, under God, that establishes the only God-ordained pattern of sexual relations for men and women, the pro-creation of God honouring children, and the flourishing of the family unit, then by extension society, and the world. In God’s wise purposes, men and women are not simply interchangeable, but rather they complement each other in mutually enriching ways. Gender is not insignificant for the people of God, it cannot be ignored, changed, or over-ridden. God’s design is beautiful, and it should be honoured and seen as very good.

We believe that sin has fractured all things, leaving the world in desperate need of salvation, and under the coming wrath of God which is being stored up against those who do not believe and obey the Gospel. Through the temptation of Satan, humanity transgressed the command of God and fell from their original holiness and righteousness (Gen. 3). Now the entire human race inherits a corrupt nature that is opposed to God and His law (Rom. 3:9-20). Therefore, all humans are under condemnation. This depravity is radical and pervasive. It extends to the mind, will, body and affections. Unregenerate humanity lives under the dominion of sin and Satan (Eph. 2:1-3). He is at enmity with God, hostile toward and hateful of God. His Kingdom and those who are enslaved to him, who are at the present cursed and cut off from Christ (Rom. 9) through their sinful and dead state, reject God’s authority and do not submit to his law, ways, and his Christ.

We believe that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. We believe that, due to universal death through sin, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again (John 3:5-8); that salvation is only by grace through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ; and that all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ through faith are declared righteous by God and become children of God (Heb.10:19-25). We believe the Scriptures teach that regeneration, or the new birth, is that act of God by which the Holy Spirit imparts a new nature and a new spiritual life, not before possessed, and the person becomes a new creation in Christ Jesus (Gal. 2:20). The mind is given a holy disposition and a new desire to serve God, the dominion of sin is broken, and the heart is transformed from prizing a love of sin and self, to treasured love of holiness and God. Salvation takes place initially through the regeneration of the human spirit in the union with the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), then progressively through sanctification where the mind, will and emotions are transformed for the service of God – having dominion over the body so that our spirit might live to righteousness whilst in it (Romans 8), and eventually through the resurrection of the body in Glorification. In this pattern the whole person will be saved and redeemed.

We believe that the Church is the body of Christ sent into the world to shine forth the glory of God. God, by His Word and Spirit, creates the Church, calling sinful humanity into the fellowship of Christ’s body (1 Cor. 12:12–31). By the same Word and Spirit, He guides and preserves that newly redeemed humanity. The Church is made up of those who have become genuine followers of Jesus Christ and have personally appropriated the gospel. The Church exists to worship and glorify God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The ministry of the Church is an extension of the ministry of Jesus to the world in the power of the Spirit. The ultimate mission of the Church is to bring glory to God by making disciples (Matt. 28:18–20).

The Church is called to make disciples through worship, offer continual and fervent prayer, submit in all matters of life and practice under the Word through the primary administration of elder-led teaching and preaching, observe the ordinances (sacraments — baptism and communion), fellowship together, share with each other as each one has need, exercise our gifts and talents for the building up of one another, receive and contribute to the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Spirit with eagerness, availability, pliability, and continual humility, and individually believe and proclaim the gospel through word and deed to ourselves, our families, neighbours, communities, nation, and the world.

We believe in the process of salvation occurring in three distinct stages and works of God: Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification (Romans 8:28). This means that there is a moment of salvation, a process of salvation, and a final eternal consummation of that salvation; each a work of grace, tied distinctly to the other, evidencing and ensuring the others. Therefore, the person who is truly justified will also be sanctified; and the person experiencing sanctification should rightly feel a heightening confidence in their coming glorification.

Concerning the ordinances (sacraments) more particularly: there are two ordinances of the Church. One is believer’s baptism — by full immersion — into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the other is the Lord’s Supper, which is also called Communion.

Water baptism is the clear and commanded response of faith to the gospel, which is to be entered into with sincerity of repentance according to the mandate of Christ in Mark 16 and Matthew 28, and demonstrated in the New Testament Church in Acts chapters 2, 8, 10, 16, and 19.

One who is within the age of understanding but has not been baptised as a response of faith is not validated by the Church as a Christian because they have not come under the Lordship of Christ in obedience; baptism being the very first command of every disciple — given as the ordinary (normal) means of salvation. The unbaptised person still carries their sin with them and has not been cleansed by faith (see Acts 22:16) until they respond with and by faith. True believing always leads to clear evidence of faith.

Christ Himself was baptised, so that later by His own suffering, those who entered the waters after Him would be washed and cleansed by the sacrifice He made; entering both the water and, His suffering and death by faith.

Water baptism is not only a visual and symbolic demonstration of a person’s union with Christ in the likeness of His death, burial, and resurrection. Rather, the action of faith creates a real and spiritual appeal to God for a clean conscience, as the Scriptures teach (see 1 Peter 3). The emphasis of Peter in Acts 2, “…for the forgiveness of sins…” signifies that repentance and baptism form a single response of faith that is causative and not only symbolic.

Baptism is crucial in the washing away of sins, not because of the water — but because of the faith of the believer in entering the act of baptism as a response of obedience to what the Gospel of the Kingdom, and God Himself, commands.

As with water baptism, the Lord’s Table is to be observed only by those who have become genuine followers of Christ. This ordinance symbolises the breaking of Christ’s body and the shedding of His blood on our behalf and is to be observed repeatedly throughout the Christian life as a sign of continued participation in the atoning benefits of Christ’s death.

As we come to the Table with an attitude of faith and self-examination, we remember and proclaim the death of Christ, receive spiritual nourishment for our souls, and signify our unity with other members of Christ’s body.

Communion is fellowship with Christ through the real spiritual presence of Christ found in this act. It is not only symbolic but also causative. It carries the implication of life to those who partake worthily, and death to those who partake in an unworthy manner.

No one living in sin or conscious and continual disobedience is entitled to partake, and as such — none who are unbaptised, either because of ignorance or willful disobedience, may partake in what is holy.

We believe that Jesus Christ is returning to the world in the future to judge the living and the dead. The consummation of all things includes the future, physical, visible, personal, and glorious return of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the dead and the glorification of those alive in Christ, the judgment of the just and the unjust, and the fulfilment of Christ’s kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth. In the consummation, Satan, with his hosts is finally separated from the benevolent presence of God, enduring eternal punishment (Rev. 20:7-15). All those outside Christ will be cast into the eternal lake of fire with the condemned Kingdom of Satan and will experience the second death (Revelation 20:14). The righteous, in their glorious and resurrected bodies, will live and reign with Him forever, serving Him and giving Him unending praise and glory. Then the eager expectation of creation will be fulfilled, and the whole earth shall proclaim the glory of God, who makes all things new (Rev. 21:1-5). Just as humanity will be liberated from death, the final enemy, and be glorified and restored to the Edenic state, all creation will be liberated from its bondage in the (re)new(ed) heavens and earth.