THE STATEMENT OF FAITH OF THE bible presbyterian church
Church adheres to the system of faith commonly known as the “Reformed Faith” as expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith together with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms.
In abbreviated form, the chief tenets of the doctrine of the Church, apart from the Apostles’ Creed, are as follows:
- We believe in the divine, verbal and plenary inspiration of the Scriptures in the original languages, their consequent inerrancy and infallibility, and, as the Word of God, the supreme and final authority in faith and life.
- We believe in one God existing in three co-equal and co-eternal Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
- We believe that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and is true God and true man.
- We believe that man was created in the image of God, but sinned through the fall of Adam, thereby incurring not only physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature and become sinners in thought, word and deed.
- We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died a propitiation and expiatory death as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who repent of their sins and believe in Him are justified before God on the grounds of His shed blood.
- We believe in the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His ascension into Heaven, and in His exaltation at the right hand of God, where He intercedes for us as our High Priest and Advocate.
- We believe in the personal, visible and premillennial return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to judge the world and bring peace to the nations.
- We believe that salvation is by grace through faith, not by works, and that all who repent and receive the Lord Jesus as their personal Saviour are born again by the Holy Spirit and thereby become the children of God.
- We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and to convict and regenerate the sinner; indwell, guide, instruct and empower the believer for godly living and service.
- We believe that Christ instituted the Sacrament of Baptism for believers and their children, and the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, which sacraments shall be observed by His Church till He comes.
- We believe in the eternal security, bodily resurrection and eternal blessedness of the saved and in the bodily resurrection and eternal conscious punishment of the lost.
- We believe in the real, spiritual unity in Christ of all redeemed by His precious blood and the necessity of faithfully maintaining the purity of the Church in doctrine and life according to the Word of God and the principle and practice of biblical separation from the apostasy of the day being spearheaded by the Ecumenical Movement (2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Revelation 18:4).
Objectives of the Church
The objects for which the Church is established are:
- the salvation of souls;
- the edification of Christians through the teaching of God’s Word;
- the promotion of godly worship;
- the defence of the “faith which was once delivered unto the saints”;
- the establishment and extension of Christian missions and institutions for the furtherance of God’s Kingdom on earth;
- the promotion of Christian relief for the poor and needy;
- the strengthening of mutual fellowship, encouragement and unity among other fundamental and Bible-believing churches of similar stand “for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Revelation 1:9).