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The full inspiration of the Holy Scriptures: their authority and
sufficiency as not only containing but being in themselves, the
Word of God;
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The reliability of the New Testament in its
testimony to the character and authorship of the Old Testament;
and the need of the teaching of the Holy Spirit to a true and
spiritual understanding of the whole.
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The unity of the Godhead and the Divine co-equality of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit;
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The sovereignty of God in
creation, providence and redemption.
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The total depravity of man in consequence of the Fall, and the
absolute necessity of the Holy Spirit’s agency for mans’
regeneration and sanctification.
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The true and proper deity of our Lord Jesus Christ; His perfect
manhood; the authority of His teaching and the infallibility of
all His utterances; His work of atonement for the sins of all
those who believe by His death, His bodily resurrection, His
ascension into heaven and His intercessory ministry for His
people.
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The justification of the sinner by grace through faith in the
atoning merits of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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The personal visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory.
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The immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, the
judgement of the world by the Lord Jesus Christ, with the
eternal blessedness of the righteous and the eternal punishment
of the wicked.
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All who have been redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ,
and upon whom God has bestowed His righteousness as a free gift,
belong to Christ. They alone may rightly be called Christians.
They alone are members of the one universal and eternal Church
of Christ.
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The local Church is a fellowship of believers gathered by Christ
and has no need of, nor should acknowledge any other authority
than His. Through Him, it has direct access to God and enjoys
fellowship with other assemblies of His people in a unity which
transcends all barriers.
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We believe that Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church
universal, which is His body, and of each local Church.
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We
believe that each local Church is in itself a complete Church,
therefore autonomous, possessing all the rights and
responsibilities of the Church by the Holy Spirit as set forth
in the Scriptures.
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We believe that Jesus Christ exercises His authority in each
local Church by the Holy Spirit and through the Scriptures.
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We believe that each Church, through the Communicant Members
Meeting, is answerable only to Jesus Christ, and not to any
association, conference, council, synod or any other
ecclesiastical body.
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Given that marriage is ordained of God and the vows taken are in
His presence, we view divorce as a very serious matter and do
not accept its being entered into apart from the grounds of
adultery, desertion and abuse. Scripture allows for remarriage
in three instances.
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Firstly, when one’s spouse is guilty of sexual immorality
and is unwilling to repent and live faithfully with the
marriage partner, divorce and remarriage are permissible.
Secondly, when an unbelieving spouse deserts a believer,
divorce and remarriage are again permitted.
Thirdly, as an extension of the allowance for divorce and
remarriage when deserted by an unbeliever, remarriage is
permissible for those who have been married and divorced before
coming to Christ.
We also accept that where the grounds for divorce include
desertion or abuse, as named in paragraph one, remarriage is
acceptable.
The Minister and Deacons will exercise judgement and
discretion and each case will be decided on its own merits.
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This Church practices the following: (a) Infant Dedication (b)
Adult Believers Baptism by immersion. Parents seeking Dedication
should, by example, be regular attendees at church services and
give their children access to Sunday School, Church and the
youth organizations. The Minister and Deacons will exercise
judgement and discretion in all cases.
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We believe that our Church is a Society of Trinitarian
Protestants, Congregational Dissenters holding and maintaining
Calvinistic doctrines as represented in the Savoy Declaration of
Faith and Order of 1658, in accordance with our Trust Deed, with
the reservation that we do not assent to Infant Baptism.
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We reject all association with Roman Catholicism, the ecumenical
movement, theological liberalism, worldly Christianity,
charismatic tendencies, the New Age Movement or other mystical
views and world religions.
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We believe that the revelatory and sign gifts ceased with the
apostles.