Statement of Faith

Our historic statement of faith - The Essentials We Believe:

i)The Trinity: that there is only one God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, eternal and co-equal in power and glory, the same in essence but distinct in substance.

ii)The sovereignty of God: that God is sovereign in creation, revelation, redemption and the final judgement.

iii)The essential deity and perfect humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ: that he is truly and properly both God and man.

iv)The saving work of Christ: that through his sacrificial death as our representative and substitute he has redeemed us from the guilt, penalty and power of sin; that he rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and will personally return in glory.

v)The work of the Holy Spirit in conviction, regeneration and sanctification: that the work of the Holy Spirit is necessary to make the death of  Christ effective to the individual sinner, leading him to repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ: that the Holy Spirit indwells the believer, enabling him to lead a holy life and equipping him for service.

vi)The divine inspiration, infallibility and authority of Holy Scripture: that the Scriptures, as originally given, are inspired by God, without error, and the supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

vii)The creation and fall of man: that man was created by God in his own image, innocent and in fellowship with God; that in consequence of the fall of man has become universally sinful and corrupt in every aspect of his nature, thus rendering him subject to God’s wrath and condemnation.

viii)The immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body and the final judgement of the living and the dead at the end of the age: that all who are justified by grace through faith alone in our Lord Jesus Christ receive eternal life, but that those who are outside of Christ go into everlasting punishment.

ix)The one, holy, universal Church: that the church is the body of Christ, consisting of all those in time and eternity who are united to Christ by faith, and that groups of professing believers in Christ who have organised themselves for the purpose of doing God’s will are the local expression of that Church.

x)The holy ordinances of the Church: that Christ has commanded the baptism of believers and the observance of the Lord’s Supper.

We are affiliated to the Baptist Union of GB & the Evangelical Alliance (they have a similar but updated Statement of Faith) – see Links page.