FELLOWSHIP OF CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES STATEMENT OF FAITH

THE LIVING GOD:
God is Almighty, Eternal and Unchanging. He is just and holy, gracious and merciful. He is the Creator and Ruler of all things, exercising sovereign power in Creation, Providence and Redemption, and is deserving of all glory and praise forever.

THE TRINITY:

God is One, existing through all eternity in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

THE WORD OF GOD:

God's greatness and holiness are such, that without His aid, man can neither understand God nor find the way to a right relationship with Him. In His mercy, however, God has made Himself known. He has done this partially through Creation but more fully and clearly to the people of Israel and explicitly and finally in Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God and the Word of God incarnate. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as originally given and divinely preserved, record, interpret and complete God's special revelation to us. We therefore accept the Bible as not merely containing but being the divinely inspired and infallible Word of God written and the final and sufficient authority in all matters of Christian faith and life.

SATAN:
Satan is a person, a malignant Spirit, the enemy of Jesus Christ and of the saints, deceiving mankind; and he has been condemned to eternal damnation.

MAN THE SINNER:
God created man perfect, but after being tempted by Satan, man by his own free choice, disobeyed God and became a sinner. Man's whole nature is now corrupted by sin and his fellowship with God is broken.

JESUS THE SAVIOUR:
God alone can deal with man's sin and bring about a reconciliation with Himself. In God's great plan of Redemption, God the Son became man through the Incarnation. Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless human life and taught with divine authority. He suffered and died in the place of sinners, bearing their sin and its guilt and punishment. He thus sets free all believers from the domination of Satan and the corruption of their own sinful nature, and removes from them forever sin's lasting consequences.

GRACE OF GOD:
God, by His Grace, forgives and reconciles to Himself all who turn to Him in true repentance, turning from sin and trusting in Christ's atoning death. God imputes to them the righteousness of Christ Himself and adopts them as His children.

THE RISEN LORD:
The Lord Jesus Christ was shown to be the Son of God by His teaching, by His miracles and by His bodily resurrection from the dead. He has ascended in power and glory to the presence of God where He now pleads on behalf of those who call upon Him in truth.

THE HOLY SPIRIT:
God, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, must work in a man before he can enter Salvation. He leads the sinner into an awareness of his sinfulness and brings him to repentance and trust in Christ. He brings to birth in him a new and eternal life and, by His continuing work, develops in this new life the fruits of love and holiness.

JUSTIFICATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH ALONE:
The Scriptures affirm that the sinner is justified by faith alone in the finished work of Christ, that is, by His substitutionary death upon the Cross and His resurrection from the dead. The works of men and the traditions of the visible Chross are of no avail in the Salvation and Justification of men.

THE VISIBLE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST:
God is bringing all human history to a climax which will be marked by the personal bodily return to the earth of the Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory.

JESUS THE JUDGE:
God has appointed Jesus as Judge and there will be a final judgement. Those who are saved will be raised in a glorified body and enjoy eternally and to the full the presence of their Lord in heaven. Those who have rejected Christ will also be raised and banished from God forever in hell.

THE ONE CHURCH:
All who have been personally redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ and upon whom God has bestowed His righteousness as a free gift, belong to Christ. They alone may rightly be called Christians. They alone are members of the one universal and eternal Church which is the Body of Christ.

THE GATHERED CHURCH:
Each local church is a fellowship of believers gathered by Christ and under His sole, sufficient and supreme authority. Through Him, as Head of the Church, it has direct access to God and enjoys fellowship with other Congregations of His people in a unity which transcends all barriers.

SPIRITUAL GIFTS:
The Holy Spirit gives many different gifts to equip all God's people for ministry, in order to build up the Body of Christ, and He determines what is given to each believer. A gift is to be valued in the Church according to its contribution to the common good.

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE:
Every Christian is called to love the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength; and to love his neighbour as himself. Therefore, all are to live godly lives, doing all things to the glory of God. The indwelling Holy Spirit makes this new life a reality as they yield themselves to Him.

THE SACRAMENTS:
Baptism is a sacrament ordained by Jesus Christ as a sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace. Where one who confesses faith in Christ is baptised, the sacrament is seen as an outward and visible sign of newness of life through faith in Christ on the part of the candidate.
Or
Where an infant of confessing parents is baptised, the sacrament is seen as an outward and visible sign of the Grace of God that works in the life prior to the response of faith, calling the one baptised to grow up into Christ and put on Christ.

The Lord's Supper is a sacrament ordained by Jesus Christ and is to be observed in the churches for a perpetual remembrance and showing forth of the sacrifice of Christ, the spiritual nourishment of believers and a sign of their communion with one another.

THE GREAT COMMISSION:
We affirm the obligation to fulfil the Commission given to the Church by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, to proclaim the Gospel and make disciples of all nations.