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STATEMENT
OF FAITH |
We believe that the Scriptures
of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired and infallible Word of
God, the final authority for the lives of believers in every culture
and age and their rule of faith and practice. They are to be interpreted
by the Holy Spirit according to their context and purpose, and in reverent
obedience to the Living Word, Who speaks through them in the power of
the Spirit.
We believe that there is one living and true God, Who eternally exists
in three distinct persons: the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit; equal in power and glory; each of Whom possesses
equally all the attributes of Deity and the characteristics of personality.
We believe that God the Father has revealed
Himself to be perfect in love, holiness and righteousness; that He created
all, upholds all and governs all; and He so loved the world, even in
the midst of its fallenness and sin, that He gave His only Son for its
redemption. Like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, Father
God is trustworthy and faithful to His children and all things are possible
for those who believe in Him.
We believe that Jesus Christ is God, the Living
Word, and is eternally preexistent and co-equal with God the Father;
that He became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit
and His virgin birth. Therefore, He is perfect Deity and true humanity
united in one Person forever. He lived a sinless life and voluntarily
atoned for the sins of men by dying on the cross as their substitute,
thus satisfying divine justice and accomplishing salvation for all who
trust in Him alone. He rose from the dead in the same body, though
glorified, in which He lived and died. He ascended bodily into
heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father, where He, the
only Mediator between God and man, continually makes intercession for
His own. We believe in the literal, physical return of the Lord Jesus
Christ to take authority and rule on earth, and to judge the living
and the dead.
We believe that the Holy Spirit is co-equal
and co-eternal with the Father and the Son; that He was active in the
creation of all things; that He has come into the world to reveal and
glorify Christ; that He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and
judgement; and that He regenerates, sanctifies, baptizes, indwells,
seals, anoints, illumines, guides and bestows His gifts upon all believers. His
fullness, power and holiness are appropriated in the believer's life
through faith and obedience.
We believe that man (male and female) was originally
created in the image and likeness of God. He was created to reflect
the glory of God and represent Him on this earth.He was tempted by the
devil and fell through disobedience to God. All men are born with
a sinful nature and are separated from the life of God. They can be
saved only through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We believe that salvation is by God's grace
and is a gift of God received by faith alone, apart from all good works
and merit, and includes the forgiveness of sins, the imputation of the
righteousness of Jesus Christ and the gift of eternal life. We believe
that those who receive Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord are miraculously
born again by the Holy Spirit and become children of God and partakers
of His divine nature. We are assured and know that all things are working
together and are fitting into a plan for good to and for those who love
God and are called according to His design and purpose. God has planned
from the beginning for man to be molded into the image of His Son, Jesus,
and share inwardly His likeness; therefore, man can only find his true
identity and destiny in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We believe in the universal Church, the living
spiritual body of which Jesus Christ is the Head and all regenerated
persons are members, and in the unity of all believers in Christ with
the evidence of that unity being shown by how we love one another. The
Church has been commissioned by Him to go into all the world as a witness,
preaching the gospel to all nations and making disciples through the
equipping of the saints. The Church has been given the anointing of
Isaiah 61 to continue the ministry begun by Jesus when He was upon this
earth. We believe that the believer possesses great authority through
Christ over the powers of spiritual darkness led by Satan, the ruler
of this world. We actively exercise this authority as we walk by faith;
pray; do spiritual warfare; minister healing and deliverance in the
Name of Jesus; exercise spiritual gifts; and progress to spiritual maturity
in Christ.