The Bible

We believe in the Divine verbal inspiration of the Scriptures, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. We accept them as infallible, believing that these contain the only record of God’s dealing with man and His will for man. We believe that these tell the only true way of salvation. We believe that these were given to men who wrote them as led by the Holy Spirit of God every thought and words recorded, were inspired by Him, then simply written down by men. ( 2 Peter 1:21; Matt 5:18; 2 Tim.2:16; Titus 1:2; I Thess. 2:13; Jeremiah 1:9; Prov. 30:56; II Sam. 23:2; Mark 12:30; Acts 4:25; Rev. 22:18-19)

 

Godhead

We believe in the existence of One and Only One living and true God, an infinite intelligent Spirit having a definite and distinctive personality. We believe that He is the Creator of all things and that He is the Supreme Ruler of His creation, inexpressibly glorious in His Holiness worthy of all-possible honor, confidence, adoration love worship and allegiance. (Deut. 6:4; Gen. 1:1; Isa. 40:28; John 1:3; John 4:24; Col. 1:16; I Tim. 2:5)

 

Trinity

We further believe that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, each the same in essence, same in nature and equal in attributes with the Godhead, each exercising distinct but harmonious offices in the work of creation, redemption and salvation. (Gen. 1:26; Isa. 9:6; John 1:1; John 10:30; Acts 5:34; Phil 2:6; Col. 2:9; I John 5:7)

 

Jesus Christ

a) We believe that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary and of the Holy Ghost, pure, undefiled, and that He is God manifest in the flesh. He became man without ceasing to be God, in order that He might reveal God (Isa. 9:6; Matt.1:18-25; Luke 1:26-37; John 1:1-14; Rev. 19:13; I Tim. 3:16; I John 5:7; Isa. 7:14)

b) We believe in the sacrificial substitutionary death of Jesus Christ upon the cross to make atonement for sin by the offering of Himself and shedding of His blood once and for all. We believe that He did no sin, but bore the penalty for our sins and for the sins of the world, God punishing Him instead of the sinner. We believe in His literal bodily resurrection, triumphant over death, hell and grave; His ascension into heaven, His intercession for us in Heaven; His offer to of life through His Spirit (Eze. 18:20; Rom. 6:23; I John 3:4; Isa. 53:4-8,10; Lev. 17:11; Rom.2:23-25; Heb. 10:1-18; I Peter 2:24; Heb. 9:11-28; I Peter 1:18,19; I Cor. 15:38; Luke 24:51; Acts 1: 10-11; Heb. 7:25; Rom. 8:34; Col. 1:27; II Cor. 13:5)

 

Holy Spirit

a) We believe in the person, Deity and power of the Holy Spirit, that He is one with the Godhead. (I John 5:7; Acts 5:34; John 14:26; I Cor. 2:11)

b) We believe in the necessity and efficiency of His work in the enlightenment, sanctification, regeneration and glorification of each believer. He comforts and seals those who believe in Jesus. (John 3:5; John 6:44; John 16:6-11; I Cor 2;11-14; I Cor. 12:13; Rom. 6:9-11; Acts 1:8; John 15:26; John 14: 16-17)

c) We believe He came forth from the Father, at the request of the Son, to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.

 

Man

We believe that Adam was created in righteousness and holiness, in the image of the Triune God (body, soul and spirit) by the direct act of God and not by any evolutionary process. We believe that man was made with a will, capable of making choice of obeying or disobeying God. (Gen. 1:26; Gen. 2:7; 16-17; Matt. 19:4; Col. 1:16; I Tim. 2:13-14)

The Fall

We believe in the terrible reality of the fall of man, that man through unbelief and disobedience by deliberate choice, lost his relationship to God and became spiritually dead and depraved and under the penalty of eternal death (separation from God) in a place of conscious punishment called hell. (Gen. 3:1-24; I Tim. 2:13-14; Eph. 2:3; Psalms 58:3)

 

The Depravity

We believe that the fall of Adam brought about the total universal depravity of all mankind and that from physical birth the natural desire of all men is to sin; that all men do sin first because of this, and secondly by deliberate choice (Jer. 17:9; Psalm 58:3; Romans 3:10-23; Romans 5:12; Isa. 64:6)

 

Universal Sin

We believe that because Universal Sin, it is impossible for any man to please God or in any way escape the punishment by anything he may or may not do apart from Jesus Christ. (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 8:7-8; Rom. 19-20; Jer. 2:22; James 2:10; Gal. 3:10-11)

 

Eternal Judgment

We believe in the doctrine of eternal judgment for sin as declared by Heb. 6:2. That Man’s sin, unless paid for, will take him at death to hell, a place of everlasting punishment in a conscious condition from which there is no return. (Heb. 9:27; Luke 16: 19-31; Rev. 20:10-15; Rev. 21:8; Rev. 14:10-13; Mark 9:43-48; Rom. 6:23)

 

Salvation I

We believe that the only approach that man can make to God is through the death and blood of Jesus Christ, that He alone can offer forgiveness of sins by the sacrifice of Himself; that unless forgiven through Him, man is hopelessly and eternally lost. (Acts 4:11; John 14;6; John 5: 39-40; John 6:28-29; John 3:35; Acts 13:38-39; Acts 16:3; Romans 8:7-9; Romans 3: 19-20; II Cor. 13:5; Hebrews 10:1-31)

 

Salvation II

We believe that in order to be saved a man must confess that he himself is a sinner, hopelessly lost, totally incapable of saving himself and entirely dependent upon the merits of Jesus Christ as his substitute in death and his substitute in life. He must call upon the name of the Lord for salvation; that mere belief in Christ or about Christ is not enough, but that each individual must appropriate for himself the salvation that is in Christ by receiving Him as personal Savior (Lev. 26:40-41; John 3:35; Rom. 7:4; 8:10; Eph. 2:8-12; gal. 2:20; Rom. 4:25; 10:13; John 1:12; 6:47; Rev. 3:20; John 3:15-16)

 

New Birth

a)We believe that when a man meets the conditions (as mentioned above) God miraculously imparts to him a new spiritual life through the spirit of God; that this new life is known as the new birth or regeneration: that this is absolutely essential to all salvation of any man that this is not brought about by water baptism or any other act or ordinance of man but by the divine influence of the Holy Spirit either directly or indirectly through the Word of God (John 3:35; I Peter 1:23; James 1:18; I Cor. 6:9-11; Col. 1:27; Eph.2:10; Rom. 8:9-10).

b)We believe that by this regeneration or new birth, whereby the Spirit of God takes up His abode in the believer, man receives a new life with new desires; that this new life begins a warfare against the old nature and things of the flesh to transform the individual and to make him like the Lord Jesus Christ; that this work is perfected at the appearing of Christ to receive His blood bought believers from the earth, that this work will be performed in the life of each one who truly accepts Christ as Savior. (I John 3:13; Rom. 8:29-30; I Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19-20; Gal. 5:17; Heb. 12:5-13; I Cor. 11:3-31; John 10:28-29; 6:37)

 

Baptism in the Holy Spirit

We believe in the baptism and fullness of the Holy Spirit as an essential for Christian service and as God’s command for every believer. We believe that this is received and maintained in the life of the believer by faith & obedience. We believe that the gifts of the Spirit are essential to proper Christian service as the Lord divides to each individual that such individual is responsible to seek His enabling through spiritual gifts to edifying of the Church; that these are not the sign of the fullness of the Spirit; we believe in the exercise of these gifts in love. (Eph. 5:18; Luke 11;5-13; Acts 5:32; I Cor. 12:7-11;31; Phil 2:2-13; gal. 5:16; I Cor. 14:1-12; I Cor. 13; Romans 12:1-2)

 

Holiness

We believe in holiness of life as a command from the Lord and the responsibility in every believer; that every believer must seek to shun the very appearance of evil, to have no fellowship with sin, to seek to give no offense to others, to maintain good works, to live a life of separation, to be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, to accept admonition from the brethren and to give admonition to the brethren. (Heb. 12:14; II Peter 2:11-21; I Peter 3:8-17; I Peter 4; I Thess. 2:22; Eph. 5:11; II Cor. 6:14-18; Titus 3:5; I Cor. 19:31-33; Gal. 6:1; II Thess. 3:14-15).

 

Baptism in Water

We believe in Baptism in water by immersion and for born again believers only, as identification with the Lord in His death, burial and resurrection for us, but to a far greater extent, a picture of consecration. Thus the believer shows forth his desire and will to commit his body into the hands of the Holy Spirit seeking His power and walking by His power in a life of holiness unto the Lord. (Romans 6:1-13; John 3:33; Matt. 3:16; Acts 19:1-6; Matt. 28:19-20).

 

Holy Communion

We believe in the worthy participation in the Holy Communion by all born again believer (Bread & Wine being symbolic of the Body and Blood of Jesus) This is their duty and privilege to remember His death till He comes again (I Cor. 11:23-34)

 

The Second coming of Jesus Christ

We believe in the personal bodily return of Jesus Christ in appearing in the air for His bride, the Church, and His coming in glory. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; those that are saved to the resurrection of eternal life and those that are lost to the resurrection of eternal damnation. (I Thess. 4:13-18; John 14:1-3; Zech. 14:1-9; Acts 1:10-11; Luke 11:39; Rev. 20:6; I Cor. 15:51-52)

 

Church

a)We believe in the autonomy of the local church. It is sovereign and independent answering to no authority except that of Christ. The churches planted eventually would be given autonomy.

b)We believe that members of the church are brethren in Christ standing on a plane of spiritual equality. They are to be cared for by a theocratic form of government (i.e. God’s will expressed through delegated authority operating in plurality). Each leader functioning according to the measure of grace given to him. We believes in the five-fold ministry viz. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. (Eph. 4:11-13; Rom. 12:3-8; John 12:44; Luke 10:16)

c)We believe that the local church is God’s authorized agency to usher in the Kingdom of God and to demonstrate the kingdom of God in all areas of life and relationship and to work with God and to extend His influence (Matt. 5:13-14; Mark 16:20; II Tim 2;12; II Peter 2;1-3 Luke 12:32; Luke 17:21)

d)We believe in the spiritual unity of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. Believers are united by the New covenant of Jesus Christ and together comprise the Church of Jesus Christ. Believer express their life in His Church through confession of faith in Christ, water baptism and commitment to a local congregation. The goal of His Church is to display the glory of God and make disciples of all nations.

 

Satan

We believe in the existence of Satan who is accuser of the brethren and the adversary of the saints, who has power over the world system which he keeps in rebellion against God, along with his fallen angels. We believe that he is defeated by Jesus at the cross and will be cast ultimately into the lake of fire which God has prepared for him and his fallen angels ( Rev. 20:10; Isa. 14:12-18; Eze. 28:12-19; Rev. 12:10-12; Eph. 2:1-2; Matt. 4:1-11; Job 1:6-12)

 

The Church and the State

We believe in religious liberty. The state shall not interfere with matter of religion except to protect every man in his right to worship God according to His light. (I Tim 2:1-3; Acts 4:19; Acts 5:29). However, the Church under God carries a prophetic voice to the nations. The church will submit to the Civil authorities and all the legal laws in every way except when it contradicts the commands of God as prescribed in the Bible

Our three-fold mission statement summarizes where we are going together:

 

Equipping the Church

Through teaching, training and encouraging
Through developing apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral and teaching ministry
Through strengthening discipleship and the pursuit of holiness in the local church
Through resourcing the local church by the ministry of the Apostolic Team
Through the publication of useful resource material
Through facilitating opportunities for leaders to enjoy fellowship and community beyond their local level.
Through the creation of an atmosphere of mutual support where leaders can find the protection that comes through a commitment to accountability

 

Extending the Kingdom

Through promoting personal growth
Through encouraging church growth and church planting
Through influence into areas of business, education, social need and public policy

 

Blessing the Nations

Through our commitment to a philosophy of going not staying.
Through sending teams and individuals to equip the church and extend the Kingdom in those nations God opens up to us.
Through supporting aid projects.

Value of Covenant

Upon receiving salvation man becomes bonded to God. The LORD makes all the arrangements and graciously offers His salvation-covenant to us. We submit in obedience to the terms of His covenant bond and in return we receive His covenant mercy, faithfulness and loving-kindness

When we enter into God’s covenant with His Son it brings us into a covenant relationship with one another. These covenant bonds exist between all believers and we are responsible to love all Christians. However, within the local church, we have the unique opportunity to experience the challenges and blessings of committed relationships being worked out in practical ways on a day-to-day basis.

God’s Holy Spirit generates and maintains this bond of love between us. We learn to walk in His covenant love but aren’t responsible for creating it..

 

Value of the Kingdom of God

Jesus Christ is a sovereign and current ruler over the entire universe and all things within it. He alone is responsible for establishing His kingdom, however, the administration of His kingdom is through appointed leaders and all those who serve Christ by the gifts and enabling of the Holy Spirit.

The Kingdom of God is eternal, permanent and unshakable. Further, His kingdom stands, unmovable and indestructible, influencing the human structures of family, church government and the market place.

 

Value of Biblical Authority

God’s revelation to mankind carries the authority inherent in His Person and Nature. Therefore, His statements concerning the created order, people, and life-styles are definitive. God shares His authority with those who fill certain roles within His Kingdom.

When we receive His authority, we receive with it the responsibility and accountability God demands. Those who abuse God’s authority face the consequences of His displeasure and discipline. Jesus describes the misuse of authority as leaders who make people feel the burdensome weight of their authority.

 

Value of Fatherhood

God the Father expresses His own fatherhood through Jesus Christ (the eternally begotten Son) and through all men on earth. His fatherly image pervades all men and stands revealed among all nations (tribes and societies) on earth. The responsibility that God the Father exercises over the entire human population. He shares with men as they lay down their lives for their wives and children. God the Father also shares His fatherhood in the spheres of business, education, profession, military ad etc.

 

Value of Family

God has created the family as a mirror image to that of Jesus Christ and His Church. Even as Christ is the Head of His Church, so also the Husband/Father is the head of his family. Even as Christ lays down His life for the Church, so also the Husband/father lays down his life for his own wife and children. The wife submits to her husband as to Jesus Christ. The Husband/father carries the responsibility before Jesus Christ for leading his wife and children in the ways of Christ.

 

Value of being Single

While the universal and general purpose for all people would be to pursue a married life, in certain cases and under special conditions, God’s purposes and values are also fulfilled in those who by the Spirit’s gifting, live and serve God as single people.
God especially covers and supplies the widow and the orphan and places single people under the protection of households within the local church.

 

Value of Distinctive Gender roles

God, out of His own Nature and in His revealed Word, has defined gender roles for people on earth.
The Scriptures define roles for men and women distinctly and specifically. The uniqueness of each role reflects the Image of God in men and women “equal in value but distinct in roles”. To confuse or exchange God-given roles brings confusion and self-destruction into society, whether the individual, family, local church, city or state. The God-given role carries the anointing and enabling of God for personal growth, fulfillment and success in God’s kingdom on earth.
(We believe that the role of church government is distinctively given to men and not to women)

 

Value of Personal Responsibility

God gives to each of His children a sphere of work (calling) with accountability for the responsibility given. Jesus continually exhorts believers to comprehend, enter into, and fulfill their calling. Believers, by their own initiative, reach out for God’s sphere of activity in their lives and seed to fulfill the unique destiny He has ordained for them.

 

Value of Pastoral Care

For each member of the Body Christ, a Spirit-gifted pastoral leader should be available. The ministry of pastoral care is to enable each believer to enter the maturation process, comprehend their destiny in God, become equipped for ministry and engage the sphere of ministry God has chosen for him or her. The pastor’s role is to intercede for, teach, exhort and confront as necessary. The pastor responds to the believer’s needs, providing loving care, oversight and wise counsel from the Scriptures and out of fellowship with his own circle of leaders to whom he is accountable. As the Great Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep, so the pastor is to lay down his own life for those in his care.

 

Value of Discipleship

Every believer is to yield his life to Christ’s leadership and training by asking to become accountable in his personal life and ministry to fellow pastors or workers. As with Jesus’ disciples, so with us.
Productive Discipleship has an overall focus, specific goals and time limit.
Personal Discipleship refers to developing a person’s individual walk with God in one’s family, church and business.
Training Discipleship refers to the process of identifying a person’s gifts and calling and equipping that person for serving God.

 

Value of Servanthood

The Isaiah hymns (Isaiah 42-53) set forth the character of the Messiah. He is God’s servant. Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, came to earth to serve the purposes of His Father, Jesus explicitly states that the greatest worker in His Father’s kingdom is the servant. Paul the Apostle presents the great servant hymn (Philippians 2) as the model for our lives as Christian men and women. The servant-leader is the only model for those who oversee the flock of God.

Servanthood means that we expend our lives furthering God’s purposes by the power of the Holy Spirit. Servanthood draws upon our time, our energies, and our resources to serve God without expectation of earthly reward.

In a special way we first serve the needs of the members of the Church, then we serve the needs of our society. In practiced humility, we give preference to others by considering their needs as priority over ours. And as servants with studied endurance, we bear the sufferings which rightly fall to all those who follow Jesus Christ in truth.

 

Value of the Gifts of the Spirit

Jesus Christ continues to distribute, as He wishes, the gifts of the Holy Spirit throughout His Church on earth. The gift of the Holy Spirit enable people to come to Christ, to mature as believers, to form into fellowship groups and churches, to minister the grace of God to one another, to equip for ministry and to carry God’s word to all the world. The gifts of the Spirit enable the believer to focus his lifes’ energies on what God is saying and what God is doing, rather than one’s own intellect, training or experience.

 

Value of Worship

God draws us to approach Him through progressive stages of thanksgiving, praise and worship. Worship may take the form of quiet and silent adoration of joyous effusive shouting of majestic and stately glorifying. Spirit- guided worship provides the context in which the gifts of the spirit emerge, especially the prophetic word. Believers who engage worship in the Spirit also engage the Life and Breath of the Spirit, as well as the truth about God.

 

Value of Small Groups

Clusters of believers within a local church meet together regularly for personal edification or for training in specific areas of ministry. Small groups can enhance the growth and ministry of the local church by attracting the unchurched, by providing training for potential leaders and by focusing believers on equipping for service.

 

Value of Mission

God has given to local churches the responsibility to engage the worldwide mission of the church, as stated by Jesus Christ just before His ascension:

(Acts 1:8) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Outreach as expressed in local evangelism, church planting, short-term mission and career missionaries all contribute to the fulfillment of the Great Commission for the local church.

(Matthew 28:19-20) “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

 

Value of Education

God gives to the leadership team of the local church the responsibility and gifting for equipping God’s people for the work of the ministry. The Word of God provides the mindset and content. The local church carries the gifting to train the people of God to serve Him appropriately and to confront the local society and nation. God’s gifts upon the local men and women determine just how the local church engages this process. It is primarily the responsibility of parents to educate their children, however the local church can support and enchance the parent’s responsibility by providing the following: (1) marriage and parenting classes, (2) adult and children’s Sunday School, (3) Christian Day School, (4) home schooling support, (5) Bible training for missions, and (6) Bible training in theology.

 

Value of “Priesthood of Believers”

Implying that every individual can directly worship God without the intervention and necessity of any human mediator. Both men and women are “royal priesthood” before God. The Leaders only play the role of being equippers and carry the government.

 

Value of being sons of the Lord

Just as a natural born son carries the name, values, distinctive, family genes of the father and the household, so also do we value the spiritual sons to embrace the values, distinctive and family genes of the Spiritual Leader. This we term it as “carrying the heart of another”.

 

Value of Proper Structure

“New wine being poured into new wineskins.” We value the importance of providing suitable structures at each stage in the growth of a church, to ensure the proper growth at each stage. We see the value of closing down the form of a particular kind of meeting which was useful in the past but now ceases to promote increase and growth, and substituting it with another pattern of a meeting which serves the purpose of taking the people on to the next stage of growth. Though the principles never change, the forms and style of the meetings change over a period of time.

 

Value of Relationships

That we build is essential relational, because we believe that the local church is an expression of God’s wider universal family. Hence the words like “belonging”, “commitment to the church”, “body-function” etc. will be essential. A wide scope is given to practice different action-words depicted by the words associated with the phrase “one another” in the Bible.

 

Value of Good Works

Depicted by the latter half of the greatest commandment “to Love thy neighbour as yourself.”