A Modern Statement of Historic Christian Belief

We believe the Bible to be the only inerrant Word of God. It is our only ultimate and infallible authority for faith and practice.

We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three Persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is omnipotent, that is, He is all-powerful. He is omnipresent, that is, He is present throughout all Creation but not limited by it. He is omniscient, that is, nothing is hidden from His sight. In all things He is limited by nothing other than His own nature and character. We believe the God we serve is holy, righteous, good, severe, loving and full of mercy. He created the heavens and earth, and everything in them, in the space of six ordinary days, and all very good. He is the Creator, Sustainer, and Governor of everything that has been made.

We believe in the true deity and full humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father and in His personal return in power and glory.

We believe in the full deity of the Holy Spirit, acknowledging Him together with the Father and the Son in the works of creation and redemption.

We believe that because of Adam's sin all mankind is in rebellion against God. For the salvation of such lost and sinful men, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary.

We believe that salvation is by grace through faith alone, and that faith without works is dead.

We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and lost; those who are saved to the resurrection of life, and those who are lost to the resurrection of damnation. We believe in the spiritual unity of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe that God has ordained various governments among men. The three basic governments are civil government, church government and family government. All of these governments are dependent on the grace of God, common or special, working in individuals to bring about self-government.

We deny that the authority of these governments should be set against one another. God has ordained them all, and assigned to them differing responsibilities.

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Civil Government

We believe that Christians are to live quiet and peaceful lives, in true submission to the civil magistrates ordained by God as His servants (Romans 13:1-7).

We deny that this submission is absolute. When civil authorities require something forbidden by God, or forbid some thing required by God, the duty of Christians is to humbly, respectfully, and submissively disobey (Acts 4:19-20).

We believe that Christians are to pray for those authorities that God has placed above them (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

We deny that this prayer should be limited to blessings (Psalms 139:19-24).

We believe that Christians should be involved in the political process. Christ required His followers to be salt and light in the world, and He did not exclude civil government from that Christian influence (Matthew 5:13-16).

We deny that the power of the gospel is to be found in political involvement. We do not believe civil government to be a saviour (2 Corinthians 10:3-6), and deny that the church is a political organization.

We believe that in the prohibition of stealing, God has ordained the institution of private property. We believe that the Christian church should teach against theft in all its forms (Exodus 20:15).

We deny that the institution of private property is a human invention. Rather, it is the result of a biblical understanding of God's ordination of private property. But because man is fallen, the institution of private property, like all God-ordained institutions, has been much abused (Ephesians 5:5).

We believe that the root cause of political disregard for the institution of private property is envy and covetousness (Matthew 20:1-16).

We deny that theft can be sanctified, even if it is done in the name of civil justice (Isaiah 5:20). If the civil magistrate oversteps the boundaries established for him in Scripture one result can be various forms of theft, including oppressive taxation.

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Click link below for full statement on God-ordained governments: individual, family, church, and state.