We believe in the absolute truthfulness of Scripture; that Scripture in the original manuscript does not affirm anything which is contrary to fact. We believe in the necessity of Scripture; that the Bible is necessary for knowledge of the Gospel, for maintaining spiritual life and for the knowledge of God’s will. We believe in the sufficiency of Scripture; that Scripture contained all the words of God, He intended his people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and that it now contains everything we need God to tell us for salvation, for trusting Him perfectly, and for obeying Him perfectly – reminding us that we are to add nothing to Scripture, and that we are to consider no other writing of equal value to Scripture. The sufficiency of Scripture reminds us that in our doctrinal and ethical teaching, we should emphasize what Scripture emphasizes and be content with what God has told us in the Scripture. In light of above, we do not teach or preach any doctrine apart from that which Scripture teaches.
1. There is only one God: God the Father who reigns over His entire universe with providential care [Isaiah 43:10, Deut 6:4-5, Isaiah 44: 6,8, John 17:3, 1 Cor. 8:5-6]
2. The Trinity: God exists eternally as three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; and each person is fully God.
3. God the Son: We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is fully God. We believe that He became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man.
We believe in the ‘Hypostatic Union’- The union of two natures, divine and human, in the one person of Jesus Christ. These natures are inseparably united without loss or mixture of separate identities, without loss of transfer of properties and attributes, the union being personal and eternal [Col 2:9, 1Tim 2:5, Heb 4:15] That Jesus is fully God is clearly defined by these scriptures [John 1:1-4, Christ being referred to as the ‘Word’, see Rev 19:13] ,[John 20:25-28, Phil 2: 6-11. Heb 1:4-10] In Col.1:16-19, the Bible says it pleased the Father that in Jesus, all the fullness of Godhead should dwell – the full attributes of God, the worshipful attributes. Jesus is the undiminished deity and true humanity in one person forever. 4. God the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit is fully God. [Acts 5:1-4, 2 Cor. 13:14. Matt 28:19]. Once we understand God the Father and God the Son to be fully God, then the Trinitarian expression in verses like Matt. 28:19 assume significance for the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, because they show that the Holy Spirit is classified on an equal level with the Father and the Son.
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life, and through whom the Church is empowered to carry on Christ’s great commission.
5. The Fall of Man: ‘All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.’ (Rom 3:23). ‘As it is, there is none righteous, not one.’ (Rom 3:10). By these scriptures, man is lost and totally separated from his creator. And the result is death, eternal death (Rom 6:23) To this end, man is in desperate need of a Savior.
6. Atonement: The atonement is the work Christ did in His life and death to earn our salvation. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures as a substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are redeemed by His shed blood. We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord Jesus Christ and in His ascension into heaven. He remains our High Priest and Advocate before God the Father [1 Pet 2:24, Matt 20:28, 1 John 2:2] - Four terms show how Christ’s death met the four needs that we have as sinners. i. We deserve to die as the penalty for our sin ii. We deserve to bear God’s wrath against sin iii. We are separated from God by our sins iv. We are in bondage to sin and to the Kingdom of Satan
These four needs are met by Christ’s death in the following ways i. Sacrifice: Christ died as a sacrifice for us to pay the penalty of death that we deserve because of our sins ‘He has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself ’ (Heb 9:26) ii. Propitiation: To remove from us the wrath of God we deserved, Christ died as a propitiation for our sins. ‘…. But that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10) iii. Reconciliation: To overcome our separation from God, we need someone to provide reconciliation and thereby bring us back into fellowship with God. Paul says that God “through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor. 5:18-19) iv. Redemption: Because we are sinners and are in bondage to sin and Satan, we need someone to provide redemption and thereby ‘redeem’ us out of that bondage. A ransom is the price paid to redeem someone from bondage or captivity. Jesus Christ said of Himself ‘For the son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ (Mark 10:45) We were redeemed from bondage because ‘the whole world is in the power of the evil one’ (1 John 5:19)
7. Salvation: i. We believe that salvation is a free gift of God (Rom 4:5-7, Eph 2:8-9) ii. Salvation cannot be gained or made more secure by meritorious works, but is freely bestowed upon all who put their faith in the finished works of Jesus Christ on Calvary (Rom 10:9, 10. Rom 6:23, Acts 16:30,31 Eph 2:8-9) iii. All who so trust the savior are forgiven of their sins and born into the family of God by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. (John 1:12) Salvation, all said, is faith alone in Jesus alone.
8. The Great commission: We believe in and constantly strive to fulfill the Great Commission; ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’ Until the return of Christ, it is the Christians’ duty and privilege to seek the fulfillment of Christ’s Great commission and to minister in His name to a needy world.
9. The Lord’s Ordinances: We believe in, and practice:
i. Baptism ii. The Lord’s Supper iii. Foot washing
i. Baptism : We believe;
a. That baptism is commanded by the Lord (Matt 28:19) and by the Apostles (Acts 2:38) b. That baptism is a pledge of a good conscience towards God and undertaken at repentance and conversion.(1 Pet.3:21) c. That baptism is a public profession of repentance and a change of mind about sin. d. That baptism is by immersion only (Mark 1:5, John 3:23, Act 8:36) All baptismal practices in scripture was done by immersion. When the candidate for baptism goes down into the water, it is a picture of going down into the grave and being buried. Coming up out of the water is then a picture of being raised with Christ to walk in newness of life (Col 2:12) e. That for one to be baptized, he must be old enough to be able to give a believable profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Baptism in the New Testament is a sign of being born again, being cleansed from sin, and beginning the Christian life. It seems fitting therefore to reserve this sign for those who give evidence that that is actually true in their lives. Mark 16:16 ‘whoever believes and is baptized, will be saved. It is noteworthy in this passage that ‘believing’ comes before the baptism. See also Acts 2:41
ii. The Lord’s Supper
a. We observe this sacrament in obedience to the Lord’s instruction. In LK 22:14, 19-20, the scripture says ‘do this, in remembrance of me’ b. We believe this should be observed once a year. The phrase ‘ In remembrance of me’ connotes, in this case, a memorial of his death. A memorial is an annual event. - We remember, Christians copy the example of Jesus (1 Pet 2:21) - Jesus instituted this ordinance only once in His ministry. On the night of the eve of the Passover, the Passover itself being an annual event. - It was this set time He introduced the symbols of the bread and wine, and how often they were to be taken. Jesus referenced a specific time- ‘And when the hour came…’ (Luke 22:41) to partake of the bread and wine. The example He set involved a definite time, or hour, for this supper. Matthew’s account of this same night states that this ordinance was instituted ‘as they were eating ’ (Matthew 26:26) This verse plainly shows that what they were eating was the Passover meal. - We celebrate this once a year, and that on the eve of the Passover . - We believe Acts 2:46 which speaks of the disciples who ‘continuingly daily.. .breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness’ does not refer to the Lord’s Supper. Reading from verse 45 through to 47, one would see that the passage speaks rather of love feasting, fellowship and communal sharing as typified in Acts 4:32-35 - A lot of Christians get confused by the wordings of 1Cor.11:26 KJV ‘For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He comes.’ The Lord’s Supper taken once a year for 50 years of a lifetime is ‘often. ’ The word ‘ often’ is relative to time. It should not necessarily be construed to mean ‘daily,’ ‘weekly’ or ‘monthly.’ The word should be taken to mean ‘whenever’ (1Cor.11:26 NIV). The fact is that the ordinance was instituted to replace the Passover meal which was undertaken once a year. The Passover commemorated the Israelites’ deliverance from the captivity of the Egyptians. Since Christians are not under captivity in Egypt, the Lord’s Supper is meant to commemorate our own deliverance from sin & Satan- by His death ( and observed by the Lord Himself at the time of His death). Since the Lord’s Supper was instituted, first century Christians ceased observing Passover. And since it is replacing an annual event, the ordinance becomes an annual event.
iii. Foot-washing:
We observe this ordinance as instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ in John 13:5, as part of the Passover service. We also do this once a year, at the time our Lord Jesus Christ ordained it – just before the Passover feast. We believe that as Baptism replaced circumcision (Col. 2:9-12), the Lord’s Supper replaced Passover meal, so the ordinance of foot-washing replaced the Old Testament practice of foot-washing (Gen 18:4, Gen 19:2, Gen 24:32, Gen 43:24, Judges 19:16-21, Luke. 7:38) which symbolizes HUMILITY, SERVICE and HOSPITALITY. In John 13:5, the importance of foot washing went further – to fortify the apostles against impending persecution and establish their feet upon the gospel, so that they will not fall away. That is why Jesus told Peter ‘unless I wash your feet, you have no part with me’ (of course one who has fallen away, is no longer a part of the Kingdom). In Rom 10:15, the scripture declares “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring news” When Jesus told Peter concerning the foot-washing,( John 13:7) ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but you will understand later’, He was referring to persecution. They had already realized humility and service from Jesus’ teachings. What they did realize later was the harsh reality of persecution.
10. Final Judgment and Eternal Punishment:
a. We believe there will be a final judgment. (Heb 9:27, 2 Peter 3:7) b. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved & the lost; those who are saved unto the resurrection of life and those who are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.(Rom. 6:5, 2Cor. 5:6-10, John 11:25,26 Rev 20:11-15) c. We believe God will create a new heaven and a new earth (2 Pet 3:13, Rev 21:1)