about outlook

There is one true living God, who is Spirit, light and love; the Creator and Ruler of the Universe including everyone and everything in it; absolutely Holy, infinitely good and great, all-powerful, all-present, all-knowing and personal; eternally existing in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, being co-equal and one God.

John 4:24; 1 John 1:5; 1 John 4:8,16; Genesis 1:1,26,27; 3:33; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 2 Corinthians 13:14

Jesus Christ is God - the Son, the second person in the Holy Trinity, the One though whom the Father manages his affairs. He came to Earth and took on humanity, still fully God and now forever, also fully man. This incarnation was achieved through a miraculous conception and virgin birth. Jesus lived a sinless human life in perfect obedience to the Father and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for sin and a substitution in our place at His death of the cross.

2 Corinthians 3:17; John 16:7-13, 14:16,17; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 2:12; 3:16; Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 5:18

The Holy Spirit is God (with the Father and the Son), personally present to fulfill in power of all God's purposes in love. He is present in the world to make people aware of their sin and need to Jesus Christ. He indwells the individual though the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. He is the promise of the Father and the gift of Eternal Life, providing believers with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth and guidance in doing what please the Father. He anoints believers for ministry through the giving of spiritual gifts for the benefit of the Church. As Christians, we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit - that is, to live daily under His control.

Matthew 28:16-20; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; Romans 8:1-27; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

The Bible is God's Word; His self-communication written in form to us. It is a historical book written by human authors, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the revelation of the objective word of God no matter how subjectively we respond to it. It is the supreme source of truth and the final authority for Christian belief and living. It is not the means in itself but the means by which we came to knowledge of Christ. Because God inspired it, it is the absolute truth without any human mixture or error.

2 Thessalonians 2:10-13; 1 Timothy 2:4; 4:3; 2 Tim 2:25; 3:7, 16; Hebrews 10:26; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20, 21; 2 Timothy 1:13; Psalm 119:105,160; Psalm 12:6; Proverbs 30:5

People are made in the image of God and are the supreme focus of His creative work.

The value of human life is guaranteed from this divine likeness and parentage and this is true for all humanity, not just Christians. Although every human being still displays evidence of their divine creation, they also display marked fallenness from their originally created potential, due to what the Bible calls sin. Sin is the deep-seated rebellion of the human heart against God. Sin taints even the good that we are and do. Sin cuts us off eternally from God and works as a dynamic festering of evil within our relationships, our attitudes and even our physical bodies. From the moment the human race fell, every individual has been hopelessly lost and destined for an eternity in hell.

Genesis 1: 27; Psalm 8:3-6; Isaiah 53:6a; Romans 3:23, 5:12; Isaiah 59: 1,2; 1 Corinthians 15:22

Salvation begins when we receive the free gift of eternal life. This is the very life of Jesus Christ resident in us by the Holy Spirit, whom we receive upon repentance towards God an in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, declared in believer's Baptism. This gift of God's grace and mercy is what Jesus Christ has made possible for us by His perfect life, His atoning death, His powerful resurrection, His glorious ascension, His ongoing priesthood, and His certain return. Salvation is maintained by the grace and commitment to the power of God. As we live in dependence upon and obedience to the Holy Spirit, He provides power over sin, and ultimately, the resurrection of our bodies and the glorification of our entire person, when we will be freed from the very presence of sin.

Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2: 8,9; John 14:6, 1:12; Titus 3:5; Galatians 3:26; Romans 5:1

People were created to exist forever. We will either exist eternally alienated or separated from God because of our sin, in Hell (eternal loneliness or second death) or eternally in fellowship with God through salvation from sin, in heaven (eternal union or Life). Heaven and hell are real places of eternal existence. There will be a resurrection of the body, a final judgment of all people by the Lord Jesus Christ and the creation of new heavens and earth where sin is no more.

John 10:29; 2 Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 7:25; 10:10,14; 1 Peter 1:3-5

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the only two ordinances that were given by Jesus Christ through Scripture to be observed by the Church till His return. Baptism is the immersion of believers in water, upon their profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a declaration of union with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection and an initiation into the body of Christ, the Church. The Lord’s Supper is a memorial of thanksgiving for the sacrifice of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, regularly practised until he comes. It relates to pardon from sin, present sanctification and future glorification in Jesus Christ and is a sign of our continuing fellowship in the body of Christ, the Church.

John 3:16; John 2:25; John 5:11-13; Romans 6:23; Revelation 20:15; Matthew 1:8; 2:44,46; 1 Corinthians 15:42-48; Hebrews 9:27

Christ alone is the Head of the Church - no other person, group, or religious organization can profess to be the head of the church. The Church is the instrument of the display of the redemptive activity of God. Each local church is a full manifestation of the Church; wherever the Church operates it is the one universal Church and is competent to function. The universal Church is not the sum of all the individual churches but the Church of Jesus Christ applicable everywhere. It is composed of believers, that is, all persons who have been born again by the Spirit of God and through Baptism have been initiated into its membership. The Church is not a democracy but a theocracy; therefore oneness in the Church is not consensus of opinion but an awareness of the directives of the ‘head’ – Christ. The authority of Christ is in the Church, and the Church exercises this authority through its leaders but never transfers authority to them.

Ephesians 2:14-22; Ephesians 4:1-16; 1 Corinthians 3:10-17; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31

The Bible (Scripture) is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice. Where the Scriptures are silent, believers must exercise liberty of conscience in line with the principles of God’s word and in the light of the One to whom they are ultimately accountable.

Our primary concern is being a biblical church not entrenching ourselves in particular camps of theological thought. While we don’t want to “major in the minors” we have to land somewhere.

Here is where we land on non-essential but important topics:

The Gifts: Continuationists
Women & Leadership: Egalitarian (mutualists)
Marriage & Gender: Traditional (orthodox)