What we believe

We believe that all believers are entitled to and should ardently expect and earnestly seek the promise of the Father, the baptism in the Holy Spirit according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the normal experience of all in the early Church. With the baptism in the Holy Spirit comes the endowment of power for life and service, the bestowing of the gifts and their practical application in the work of the ministry. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” can simply be a Scripture that rolls off our tongues, rather than our hope, our need, our expectation and our experience in Christian life and ministry. It is not churches filled with people that will change the world but people filled with the Holy Spirit.

We believe that Jesus will return for a Church that is the manifestation in the earth of Jesus in all His fullness and a Church that is walking in the fullness of all He achieved through His victory on Calvary.

We believe that marriage was ordained by God at creation as the sacred union of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of others. All sexual relations must therefore be reserved for that union. Christian marriage is a representation of Christ’s relationship to His church. We also believe that children are a blessing from the Lord. Thus all human life is sacred and worthy of protection from the moment of conception. (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:24; Psalm 127 & 128; 139:13-16; Matthew 19:1-10; I Corinthians 6:9-11; Ephesians 5:22-33; Hebrews 13:4)

Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in accordance with biblical standards for behaviour and conduct. Among these standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness. Scripture condemns sexual sin including:– adultery (Exodus 20:4, Matthew 15:19, Romans 2:2, Romans 13:9, 1 Corinthians 6:9, Hebrews 13:4, James 2:11), fornication (sex outside of marriage) (Acts 15:20 & 29, Acts 21:25, 1 Corinthians 6:9, Hebrews 13:4)– homosexual practices (Romans 1:26–28; 1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 1 Timothy 1:9–10)

Christians are therefore not to promote or celebrate sinful practices, but are to be free from them in Christ, through repentance and through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and the Word. Anyone refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the Scriptures refer to as sin should not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders, ministers, or in any position of leadership in our churches.

We believe in the true gospel that alone has power to save, the true gospel that is the power of the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first (as of first importance and priority) and also to the Gentiles (Romans 1:16).

The true gospel declares that all men everywhere are lost and face the judgment of God, that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, and that for the salvation of lost and sinful man, repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ results in regeneration by the Holy Spirit.

Christ’s death is the substitutionary and propitiatory sacrifice to God for our sins. His death satisfies the demands of God’s holy justice and appeases His holy wrath. It also demonstrates His mysterious love and reveals His amazing grace. Christ’s crucifixion is the heart of the gospel. His resurrection is the power of the gospel. His ascension is the glory of the gospel.

We believe in the Church that Jesus said He would build. All who repent of their sins and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and form the living Body of Christ of which He is the Head and of which we are all members.

We believe in Christ’s leadership of the Church through the ascension ministries of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry and for the unity, maturity and growth of the Church.

Israel was called by God as His chosen people, that He made an everlasting, unconditional covenant with Israel (the Abrahamic Covenant) that included giving them the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession, that though God said the people of Israel would be exiled from that land due to disobedience, He promised to bring them back, not just once, but this second time as well. Scripture calls Christians to comfort Israel (Isaiah 40:1), to bless Israel (Genesis 12:3), to pray for her (Psalm 122:6) and to encourage her with God’s precious Word. We stand with Israel and for Israel simply because God is with her and because He calls us to stand with her as well.