Declaration of Faith

I. The Bible

We believe and confess that the Bible or the Holy Scripture is the Word of God, verbally and plenarily inspired, written by men led by the Holy Spirit. We believe the Scripture to be true, without error or human addition as originally given, trustworthy in all respects, thus being the uttermost spiritual authority in all matters of life (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

We believe and confess that each biblical text lends itself to a sole interpretation, though it can have more applications (John 7:17; 1 Cor. 2:7-15).

II. God

We believe and confess the One True Eternal and Living God, Infinite Spirit, Personal and Sovereign, Creator, Preserver and Ruler of the Universe, possessing such a glory and holiness that human words cannot fully describe.

We believe and confess that the one God exists as a Trinity of Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, distinct but one in essence, co-equal and co-eternal, harmoniously working together to fulfil God’s eternal plan (Matt. 28:19).

III. Man

We believe and confess that man was directly created by God in His image and likeness from the beginning. He was made a living soul without sin, endowed with reason, affection, will and entrusted with responsibility before God (Gen. 2:6).

We believe and confess that God created man to bring Him glory, to have fellowship with Him, to live a life according to God’s will in complete obedience to Him and to be a steward of God’s creation.

We believe and confess that, as a consequence of the sin committed by Adam through disobeying God’s Word, man has lost his righteous state and part of the stewardship over God’s creation, falling under the curse of spiritual and physical death (separated from God), therefore becoming corrupt, completely depraved in his spiritual and moral condition and unable to choose or accomplish what is pleasing to the Lord except for the intercession of divine grace (Gen. 3:1-19).

We believe and confess that God has planned, assigned and instituted marriage, which, according to the teaching of the Holy Scripture, is the legitimate, freely consented, lifetime union between a man and a woman, with the prospect of starting a family. Therefore he who gets married must enter into this relationship being determined to preserve it, protect it and grow it (Eph. 5:22-33).

We believe and confess that God hates divorce. Divorce defies God’s purpose concerning family (Mal. 2:16).

IV. Salvation

We believe and confess that salvation is God’s sovereign work accomplished through the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, offered to man by grace, through faith, not through deeds (John 1:12; Eph. 2:8-10).

We believe and confess that salvation is not an event, but a process which has a starting point, when a sinner repents and receives God’s justification/accountance of righteousness, followed by two long-term stages: sanctification, which takes the whole earthly lifetime, and glorification, the eternal stage, which begins the moment the believer leaves to be with the Lord.

We believe and confess that God has not chosen man for damnation, but for salvation only (Rom. 8:28-30; 9:6-23).

God resolved that sinners be saved through proclamation of the Gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ preached the Gospel and commanded His disciples to do likewise (Rom. 10: 13-17, Matt. 28:19-20).

We believe and confess that Jesus Christ’s redemptive sacrifice is the only way to salvation for a sinner to be saved (John 14:6).

We believe and confess that the new birth (spiritual regeneration) is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit through which man is granted a new life and a new nature. New birth manifests itself through acts of repentance which can be seen in a righteous attitude and behaviour, not in speaking in tongues, prophecy or other miraculous gifts.

We believe and confess that each believer is sanctified (set aside) for God as a result of Christ’s justification.

We believe and confess that, in the believer’s life, the Holy Spirit works progressive sanctification by means of which the believer is counted righteous before God through submission to God’s Word (2 Cor. 3:18).

Therefore, we believe and confess that in the believer’s life there is a daily spiritual battle between the new life in Christ and the old sinful nature, but the believer is capable of gaining victory over sin because the Holy Spirit dwells in him (Rom 7:14-25; 8:1-16).

We believe and confess that those who believed in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and have the Son of God in their lives are saved and have eternal life. All those born again are kept and guarded by God the Father for the Lord Jesus (John 10:28-29).

V. The Church

We believe and confess that all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and accept Him as their personal Saviour and Lord make up the Church, which is the pillar and foundation of truth, the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-13).

We believe and confess that the Church is a unique spiritual organism, created by God from all those born again, from all nations, starting with Pentecost until its rapture. The Church differs from Israel, being the mystery of God revealed in the age of grace (Eph. 2:11-3:6).

We believe and confess that the Church was given spiritual gifts. Following the consummation of the New Covenant canon, the only mean to test the authenticity of a man’s message is the Scripture; this being the reason why the spectacular gifts (gift of miracles, gift of healing, gift of speaking in tongues, gift of interpretation of tongues) are no longer necessary to validate a man or his ministry today (2 Cor. 12:12; Heb 2:3-4).

The ultimate priority of the believer is the personal relationship with the grace-giving God, while the practice of the spiritual gift is done in the context of growing the Christian character and the fruit of the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 13:1-3). The Church should practice the spiritual gifts according to the teaching of the Holy Scripture (1 Cor. 14:26-33).