Beliefs & Values

God

There is only one God, who exists eternally in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is the almighty and loving Creator, Saviour and Judge who sustains and governs all things according to his sovereign will for his own glory.

The Bible

The Bible is God’s inspired and life-giving Word which is sufficient for our knowledge of God and the supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

Humanity

All people are created in God’s image and are called to love God with all their beings. However, all people are guilty of rebellion against God and human nature is thoroughly corrupted by sin. This makes everyone subject to God’s righteous anger and condemnation.

Jesus Christ

God demonstrated his love for us by sending his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is both fully God and fully human.  He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, and lived a sinless life in obedience to the Father.  He died on the cross for us, rose from the dead, and in his resurrected body ascended into heaven where he is exalted as ruler over all.

Salvation

Salvation is entirely the gracious gift of God and cannot be earned or deserved. It is accomplished through the atoning death of our representative and substitute, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. By Christ’s death God’s anger is turned aside and we are redeemed from sin and death. This salvation is offered in the gospel and received by trusting in Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit has been sent from heaven by the Father and the Son. He enables people to turn to God, to trust in Jesus and to grow in faith. The Holy Spirit dwells in all those he has regenerated, giving them his spiritual gifts and growing in them the fruit of godliness.

The People of God

All who have been saved through the work of Christ are members of his church and united with one another. The people of God are built up by the teaching of God’s Word (the Bible) and the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Future

One day the Lord Jesus Christ will return from heaven. He will welcome his people into a life of eternal joy in fellowship with God and he will administer God’s judgement on all who have not put their faith in him. Until that day the role of the Church is to proclaim the gospel and worship God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Christ

We value bringing honour to Christ. We value the saving work of Christ that has brought the church into existence. We believe that our life as individuals and as a community is based on the new life we have in Christ. Christ is the Head of the church. We value Christ as our model of how we should live our lives.

Spirit

We value being led by God’s Holy Spirit. We value the Holy Spirit’s work in drawing people to faith, growing them in godliness, giving spiritual gifts, inspiring expressions of creativity, and growing the number of people being released into ministry. We value the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of our corporate worship. We value the Holy Spirit’s direction in areas of prayer, guidance and healing.

Bible

We value the Bible as God’s Word. We value the regular exposition and application of the Bible. We value being trained to read and teach the Bible so that it is made intelligible and applicable to our whole lives.

Worship

We value the worship of God personally and corporately. We value services that use our Anglican heritage creatively to honour God and inspire us to serve him.

Prayer

We value prayer and see it as the foundation of all the ministries and activities of our church. We believe that God hears and answers prayer and will grow us in godliness as we pray. We value prayer ministry as an expression of God’s compassion and healing.

People

We value the equipping and releasing of people into ministry and mission. We value seeing individuals use their gifts so that the whole church is strengthened. We value the opportunities to use our gifts in growth groups, in the wider community and in Sunday worship services.

Mission

We value introducing people to Jesus. We value sharing the truth that forgiveness, hope for the future and a new life in the present are all available in Jesus. We value showing the love of God through word, spirit and deed and looking for creative ways of incorporating people into the Christian community. We value working with other churches and Christian groups in local and overseas mission.

Community