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What We Believe

Aadapted from the Doctrinal Basis from the Constitution of the Baptist Union of Victoria:

• The divine inspiration and supreme authority of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.
• The existence of one God in three persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
• The deity and incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
• The fallen, sinful and lost estate of all people.
• The salvation of men and women from the penal consequences and power of sin through the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, His atoning death, His resurrection from the dead, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His unchanging priesthood.
• The immediate work of the Holy Spirit in the regeneration of men and women, in their sanctification, and in their preservation to the heavenly Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• The necessity, in order to know salvation, of repentance towards God and of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
• The resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment of all people by the Lord Jesus Christ.
• The two ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ, namely Baptism and the Lord's Supper, which are of perpetual obligation: Baptism is administered, preferably by immersion, to believers upon the profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as a symbol of the fellowship of the regenerate in His death, burial and resurrection. The Lord's Supper is a memorial, until He comes, of the sacrifice of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and an act of worship honoured by the presence of the Lord.

We also consider the following important. This will be a more fluid list as we learn more about following Jesus, and some of them will be explained elsewhere in this site as the need arises:

• That there is no salvation except through the Lord Jesus Christ.
• That the resurrection of Jesus from the dead demonstrates that those who own him as Lord will also rise. He is the first man in Heaven.
• That salvation is not just an event, but also a process, and that eternal life begins the moment we are regenerated, not when we die.
• That it is the presence within the believer of the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of Jesus - the way, the truth and the life, that causes a believer to live and not die. All people without the Spirit are already dying.
• That when Jesus was on earth, he was fully man, filled with the Holy Spirit, in communion with the Father. As such he was able to fulfil the Father's will, and demonstrated that we are able, as people with the Spirit, to do the same.
• That the gifts of the Holy Spirit did not cease with the completion of the Biblical canon. They are available to us to help us fulfill the will of our Father.
• That the offices of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher are all essential for the church today.
• That hearing God's voice is possible for all Christians, and does not equate only to reading the Bible. God speaks in a multitude of sometimes surprising ways. However, these will never contradict the Bible, which remains the authoritative source for checking.
• That prophecy is not the same as preaching, although prophets may sometimes preach and preachers sometimes prophesy.
• That preaching is to be directed towards unbelievers, and exercised primarily outside the church, when appropriate. Teaching is for believers and is one appropriate mode of instruction within the church body. One primary aim of such teaching would be to enable and encourage believers to effectively present the gospel to those they meet in daily life, not necessarily by preaching.
• That the church in no way consists of buildings or property, nor is it an institution, but it is a body of redeemed people with Jesus Christ as their head.
• That the church does not exist to carry out public religious services. It exists as the physical representation of Jesus Christ on earth.
• That Christianity is not a religion among other religions. Christianity is not a religion at all. A religion is primarily a man made philosophy. Christianity is a body of people with a way of life and purpose that is in touch with the only complete and true reality. Its source is God himself.
• That the church is not a democracy, therefore decisions are not made on the basis of the majority of opinions held. Church members are obligated to be sure they have first sought and heard the Lord on any matter on which they intend to voice an opinion in a meeting at which important decisions are made.
• That the church is part of a local community and church members are also citizens of the state. Therefore, separation of Church and State does not mean that church leaders and members should stay out of politics.
• That the welfare obligations of the church are primarily to the members of the church, but each member of the church has an obligation to their neighbours, as the Lord leads. Being cared for by the church as a whole is one of the reasons a person would want to belong to the church, not an obligation on the church to prop up the failure of society.

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