The Nature and Unity of the Godhead

There is one God who is eternal personal Spirit. He is infinite in power, wisdom, holiness and love. He is Triune in essential being and revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Deity and Humanity of Christ

Jesus Christ as the second Person of the Godhead is eternally one with God the Father of Whose Person and glory He is the accurate expression. To become man He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, so that two whole and perfect natures, the nature of God and the nature of man, were united in one Person; truly God and truly man.

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit as the third Person of the Trinity is eternally one with the Father and the Son yet he is sent by Them to achieve the Divine purpose in the world and in the Church.

The Divine Inspiration of the Scriptures

The Scriptures, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the verbally inspired and infallible Word of God. They were written by holy men of God inspired by the Holy Spirit and have supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

The Sinfulness of Mankind

Man was made in the image of God and for fellowship with Him. By transgression of God’s command he fell from fellowship with God and his nature was corrupted. As a consequence, all people are spiritually dead under Satan’s dominion and control and subject to God’s wrath and condemnation. Therefore, apart from God’s grace, man is helpless and hopeless.

Christ’s Atonement for the Sin of Mankind

In order to redeem mankind from the guilt, penalty and power of sin, Jesus Christ became man and died a sacrificial death as our representative substitute. By His resurrection, God’s acceptance of His atoning death was demonstrated. This atonement is sufficient for the whole world but effective only in those who receive it. The sinner is justified and reconciled to God, not through any personal merit but solely on the basis of God’s gracious gift of salvation in Jesus Christ received through faith.

Love – God is love in His very essence.

The eternal, self-generating nature of God actuates itself in mutual self-surrender between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Love is fellowship between persons; it is an act of self-self surrender. Love is the mark of a true disciple of Jesus Christ. It is the key to happiness as well as virtue, for without love there is no life. Since God loved us while we were yet in our sins, we possess a vital motive for loving one another. Love is to be the most evident characteristic of our lives, in all that we do and say.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is necessary for the acceptance of God’s provision of salvation. The Holy Spirit convinces sinners of their sinfulness, leads them to personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and so brings them to spiritual birth as God’s children and to fellowship in Christ. Working within the life of believers the Holy Spirit makes real the presence of Christ, witnesses to their relationship with God, leads into all truth, and produces His fruit which is the evidence of growth and maturity. Subsequent to (occasionally, simultaneously with) the salvation work of the Holy Spirit which is evidenced by the release of the Spirit’s power through the Gifts, all of which are valid and operative today.

Divine Healing

Divine Healing of Spirit, Soul and Body as with all redemptive blessing of God, has been provided for us by the atoning death and victorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and is appropriated by faith in accordance with the Scriptures.

The Church

The Church is the body of people whom God has separated from the world through faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour and have been empowered by the Holy Spirit. All regenerate persons are members of the universal Church of God which takes local form wherever groups of believers unite for worship, Fellowship and service in accordance with scriptural principles. All believers are called to a priestly ministry in the offering of spiritual sacrifices and sent into the world to be witnesses. God calls individuals to positions of oversight and leadership or to special ministries. The Church recognises such by ordaining pastors, commissioning missionaries, appointing elders and other leaders, following New Testament practice.

The Baptism of Believers

There must be the evidence of ongoing, transforming and empowering of the life of each believer. Baptism is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a public declaration of a person’s faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, regardless of age in accordance with New Testament Scripture it should be administered ideally by total immersion which symbolises the believer’s identification with Christ in death, burial and resurrection, the remission of sins and the believer’s dedication of himself to God to live and walk in newness of life.

Communion

The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ, instituted by Him to be celebrated with the elements of bread and wine by believers in Christ until the end of the age. It commemorates and declares our thanks for the Lord’s substitutionary death. The celebration of the ordinance expresses our fellowship with and in the Lord Jesus Christ as members of the Body of which He is the Head.

Christian Social Responsibility

God is both the Creator and the Judge of all people. We therefore share His concern for justice and reconciliation throughout human society and for the liberation of all people from every kind of oppression. Because mankind is made in the image of God, every person, regardless of race, religion, colour, culture, class, sex or age, has an intrinsic dignity because of which he or she should be respected and served, not exploited. Although reconciliation with man is not reconciliation with God, nor is social action evangelism, nor is political liberation salvation, nevertheless we affirm that evangelism and socio-political involvement are both part of our doctrines of God and man, our love for our neighbour and our obedience to Jesus Christ.

The Return of the Lord Jesus Christ

At the end of this age, according to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in His glory to the earth. The full consummation of the Kingdom of God awaits His return.

The Resurrection of the Dead

At the end of the age, there is to be a resurrection both of the righteous and the unrighteous. After death the bodies of men return to dust, but their spirits return immediately to God – the righteous to be with Him and the unrighteous to be separated for eternity.