Our Beliefs

God Alone.  We believe in one God, the creator and ruler of the universe.  God is all-knowing and all-loving.  Belief in God excludes the worship of other deities or entities.  We affirm the traditional Christian view of God as the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

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Jesus Christ.  We believe that Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish teacher of the 1st century AD, was not just a good moral example, but the unique Son of God.  We believe that his execution by the Romans and his subsequent return to life opened the way to a new relationship with God, one based on love and freedom.  As such, we refer to him as the Christ, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah, meaning "anointed one".

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The Holy Spirit.  We believe that God's Spirit is still active in the world today, and that, as believers in God, we can learn to access that Spirit.  Through it, we can discern God's will for our individual lives as well as for our community of faith, and draw the strength to be active participants in God's reshaping of the world.

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The Soul.  We believe that all human beings have a soul, the spiritual core of our existence.  Unlike the body, the soul is immortal, and is ultimately destined either for eternal communion with God, or eternal separation from him.  We believe that participation in the new relationship with God through Jesus Christ is key to the soul's communion with God.  All souls will be restored to physical bodies at the end of time, and those in communion with God will live in his full presence in a restored, perfected universe.

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The Bible.  We believe that the Bible is the primary testimony to God's nature and to our nature as his children, and as such is the primary source of our beliefs.  We affirm God's influence in the composition of the books that form the Bible; however, we acknowledge that each book was originally written in and for a particular time and place.  As such, we recognise that some parts of the Bible may have limited applicability for us today.  We also recognise that some parts of the Bible express themselves through poetry and metaphor.  We therefore reject the doctrines of literalism and inerrancy, and leave ourselves open to the guidance of the Spirit when interpreting the Bible for our own situation.

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The Congregation.  We believe that the walk with God is best done in a community with other believers.  We also believe that each Christian community, each congregation, has the freedom derived from God to manage itself.  While voluntary associations of congregations are beneficial, we reject all hierarchical authority and coercive power in church affairs.  In the same spirit, we affirm that all members of the congregation are responsible for its decisions: while we delegate leadership to our minister and deacons, the church meeting of all members is our true authority.  The church meeting has sole authority to choose its leaders, and may modify or overrule any decision of the leadership.

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Equality Before God.  We believe that all human beings were equally made in the image of God, and that the new relationship with him made available through Jesus Christ is accessible to everyone.  As a result, membership and leadership in the Christian community are open to all genuine believers, irrespective of gender, marital status, or social status.

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The Wider Community.  We believe that it is our duty as a Christian community to do good in and for our wider community, taking Jesus Christ as our model.  While we do not believe that our relationship with God is contingent on the performance of good deeds, we do believe that good deeds are the natural result of a full and genuine relationship with God.  It is our calling to manifest God's love through action in our wider community.