Chapel Statement of Beliefs

We believe, affirm and teach:

1. God is. He exists as One God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is almighty, and has need of nothing. He is eternal and He is Love.
   
2. God, who is Spirit, has chosen to create space and time and matter, and all that exists. He has planned this in His wisdom, and created all things by His power. He has life in Himself, and all life has its source in Him. He continues to be Lord and active sustainer of this world and all that He has made.
   
3. The crown of God’s creation is humanity, whom He has made in His image to reflect His glory. He made Adam and Eve male and female, and breathed into them the spirit of life so that they became living souls capable of enjoying a personal relationship with him. He established the relationship of man and woman in marriage as a covenant. He also gave them the power of choice which, tragically, they used to disobey Him, and in so doing passed on their fallen nature to all humanity.
   
4. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, came to earth to be the Saviour of the world. He is the complete revelation of God in human form (John 1:18). He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, fully God and fully human. He lived among us on this earth, fulfilling the will of God, speaking the words of God, and doing the works of God.
   
5. He was crucified – an act of sinful men – but his death was also his own act of obedience to God by which he offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins and for the sins of the whole world. He was raised to life again by the power of God, on the third day, left the tomb and, after showing himself alive to his disciples, ascended to heaven, whereby God has bestowed on him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
   
6. God planned, before the world was created, that there should be a way of salvation for sinful people. We are accountable for our choices, but we are totally unable to achieve peace with God by our own efforts. God has acted in grace, and chosen to call men and women into His family and kingdom. At the same time, He invites all people to respond to Him by faith in Jesus Christ. Redemption from the guilt, penalty, dominion and pollution of sin, is solely through the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, as our representative and substitute.
   
7. As we receive salvation, we are justified, forgiven, born of God, and have the gift of eternal life. By the Spirit of God, we begin to be changed to live according to God’s design, and to become like Christ. Our growing likeness to Jesus Christ is evidence of our coming into relationship with God. God’s greatest requirement of us is that we love Him with all of our heart, and that we love our neighbours as ourselves.
8. At the time that anyone receives the gift of salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within them. It is by the Spirit of God that we are born again. The Holy Spirit is eternal and divine. He reveals Jesus Christ, God’s Son to us. He teaches the truth and communicates the life and power of God to us.
   
9. The Holy Spirit has inspired the Scriptures (the Old and New Testaments). The Scriptures are God’s Word. They are sufficient for our guidance and are our final authority in all matters of faith and conduct. Scripture is true and fully reliable. We do not judge Scripture – rather, we stand under its judgement, and seek in humility to understand it by the Holy Spirit’s aid, and then obey.
   
10. All who have received salvation become members of Christ’s church. They are his disciples. To them is given the task and privilege of being his ambassadors to represent their master to the world, and to proclaim the good news of reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ, God’s Son, and his sacrifice. The Church functions as a body. God, by his Spirit, gives gifts which equip every member to contribute to the church’s ministry, and, for the church to be healthy, every member must be playing his or her par All believers are priests, with access to God in prayer and worship solely on the ground of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. The typical pattern of church government, presented by the New Testament, is that of oversight by a group of elders. This provides the pattern for church leadership in our own day. The Lord Jesus Christ has asked his disciples to remember him regularly in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper (or Communion). This is a focus of the shared spiritual life of the Church and expresses the unity of believers in Jesus Christ. Baptism by immersion in water is a symbolic act in which believers publicly declare their commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ.
    
11. Evil is real. Satan, the enemy of God, is active in this world. There is a hell, as well as a heaven. But Satan, sin and death have been overcome by Jesus Christ, God’s Son in his death and resurrection.
    
12. The salvation which God has planned for His people, is not yet complete. The Lord Jesus Christ will soon return to this world as King of kings. Evil is yet to be finally put down in a process of judgement and, in this process, God’s people are vindicated. God’s promises to His covenant people will be fulfilled in a way that demonstrates God’s faithfulness. God’s wise justice will be vindicated and His people’s salvation perfected. The dead will be raised – those who have been born of God to eternal joy, and the unrepentant to eternal sorrow. Creation will be renewed, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. All creatures will sing God’s praise.
    
13. We believe that all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are distributed by the Spirit, as He wills, to
    all believers and are essential for the efficiency and effectiveness of the Body of Christ
    today.

Statements 1-12 have been adopted from CCCNZ.