“Our desire is to see the Father glorified, the Son exalted and the Spirit honoured in the life and witness of this church.”
(BEC Covenant of Fellowship)
Our Statement of Faith below summarises our common beliefs…
Statement of Faith
- The divine inspiration and authority of the Holy Scriptures. The Bible alone speaks with final authority and is sufficient for all matters of belief and practice.
- The unity of the Godhead, comprising the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to whom equal honour is due.
- The Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the Eternal God:-
- who became truly man, being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary
- who died on the cross as a sacrifice for his people’s sins
- who was raised from the dead on the third day
- who ascended to the right hand of God where he serves as the only mediator between God and man
- who will come again to receive His people to Himself and establish His kingdom.
- The fall of man and the sinfulness of human nature as a result of that fall.
- Salvation is entirely a work of God’s grace and cannot be earned or deserved.
- It has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ and is offered to all in the gospel. God, in his love, forgives sinners whom he calls, granting them repentance and faith. All who believe in Christ are justified by faith alone, adopted into the family of God and receive eternal life.
- The necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit to bring about the new birth and to enable the believer to live a new life.
- The ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as being instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ.
- The resurrection of the body; the judgement of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; with the eternal blessedness of the righteous and the eternal punishment of the unrighteous.
Our Covenant of Fellowship helps to express the kind of church we aspire to be.
Covenant of Fellowship
We have come together, as the people of God, conscious that we have been called, by grace, into fellowship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and into fellowship with each other.
We accept the benefits and responsibilities that come with the privilege of being part of the church. We are therefore committed to living in ways that commend the gospel of our Lord Jesus to those who do not know Him. We recognise that our witness in word must be matched by a life lived under the Lordship of Jesus, in obedience to the Word of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
In accepting our differing and complementary roles within the church, we recognise our need of each other as we seek to serve the Lord and live together as the family of God. We can only do this as the Holy Spirit produces his fruit in our lives and so we affirm our total dependence on Him, asking Him to make us what God calls us to be.
We commit ourselves to each other, conscious of our own failings and our need for God’s daily forgiveness. We therefore covenant together to be gracious and forgiving so that when difficulties arise among us we will not simply walk away, but will, in humility, make every effort to work through the difficulties and seek to resolve the situation.
We acknowledge our differing backgrounds, attitudes and personalities but seek to accept one another in the Lord aware of our own inadequacy and sinfulness. With God’s help, we seek to express our love for the Lord and for each other in the fellowship by mutual support, accountability and encouragement, ready always to give of ourselves, our time and resources.
We look to the future with confidence and expectancy, delighting in the goodness and faithfulness of our gracious and loving God. Our desire is to see the Father glorified, the Son exalted and the Spirit honoured in the life and witness of this church.
We look forward to the return of our Saviour and ask the Holy Spirit to empower us to live each day in the light of our Lord’s coming again.
Our Distinctives set out the approach we take on certain issues.
Distinctives
Prayer and the Ministry of God’s Word
Because we believe we are incapable of changing anyone’s life we make prayer a priority of our church life. We believe the way that God brings about change is through his Word.
We are an evangelical church. Evangelical is not a denomination. It’s a conviction about Scripture – the Bible is a sure word from God. We cant know everything about God, but we can know God truly because he has enabled us to do that through his word. Consequently the Bible is our authority in all matters. As the Bible is taught so God’s voice is heard.
Baptism
Baptism is the sign of belonging to God. Those who wish to become members must be baptised. We practice ‘Believers Baptism’, regarding it to be the mode commended in the New Testament. We respect those who come from a infant-baptist tradition and do not make the mode of baptism an issue in relation to membership.
The Priesthood of all believers
The new covenant appoints one mediator the Lord Jesus. The Bible calls the church a ‘holy priesthood’ appointed to offer spiritual sacrifices. Leadership at the Lord’s Table will normally be the responsibility of one of the elders.
Men and Women
We believe that people, men and women share an equal status in Gods sight. Believing husbands and wives are described as ‘joint heirs’. Alongside this we believe God assigns different duties to men and women. As men are appointed to lead in their homes so they are entrusted to exercise Christlike leadership in the church. Consequently the responsibility of eldership is committed to men whereas both men and women may serve as deacons.
Sexual relations
Sex is a good gift of God. It is given to be enjoyed in the particular context of marriage. Marriage is the exclusive union of one man and one woman and is a picture of the relationship between Christ and his bride the church. Sexual intimacy is a gift from God to be enjoyed only within the context of marriage.
