What we believe

The Bible: God's Manual for Man
Most would agree that the Bible is the Word of God. But what do we mean when we say that? Is it all trustworthy? Or could God possibly err in any of that which He has revealed? Might our world of high technology and scientific findings force us to adjust that belief? Where do our long-held traditions of the Church stand in relation to the Bible? We, the people of the Faith Fellowship Baptist Church believe, from the Scriptures, that God has revealed Himself to us through His creation as a glorious and powerful God and through His Word as a loving and gracious God Who desires to restore sinful mankind to a position as His children through the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus Christ. We believe that the Spirit of God moved chosen men to record exactly what He desired mankind to know. The ensuing written documents, therefore, as originally penned in the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, both verbally and in every part, are the very breath of God; they are without error. These documents, which we call the Bible, are composed of the Old and New Testaments, sixty-six books in all. We believe that the Bible is, therefore, trustworthy in a day of high technology and scientific findings, and authoritative over any and all Church tradition. It is completely sufficient for faith and practice, and every aspect of man's conduct should be evaluated in its light. (Deuteronomy 4:1-2; Psalm 19 & 119; Matthew 5:17-19; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12; 2 Peter 1:19-21; and Revelation 22:18-19.)

The Godhead: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
Recent years have seen accomplishments by man that would have been unimaginable several generations ago. It would seem that nothing is unaffected by these changes. Some ask, "Is there still room for God?" Increasingly there are those that question whether God even exists. We, the people of the Faith Fellowship Baptist Church believe from the Scriptures that God's existence is not only affirmed, it is assumed. The Bible does not attempt to prove God; it rather proclaims Him. In the Scriptures we see a God Who is living and unchangeable from day to day, holy, righteous, faithful and sovereign over His creation. The Word of God teaches that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory and executing distinct and harmonious offices in the great work of redemption. We believe, furthermore, that God is everywhere present, all-powerful, and all-knowing. His presence fills the heaven and the earth indeed, He dwells in eternity and there is no place man can go and be removed from God. The might of God the Father is beyond description, for while He created the universe and controls both the movements of planets as well as the decisions of rulers, He also cares for the needs of the sparrow. He knows the end from the beginning, and will accomplish His purpose; He also knows the thoughts and intents of every man's heart, leaving nothing hidden from His searching eyes. One day all will render account before this Judge of all the earth. God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God and accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross. Our redemption is made sure to us by His bodily resurrection from the dead and He continues as our great High Priest in Heaven, making intercession for us before the Father. God the Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son and is of the same nature. His ministry is to bring conviction of sin to an unbelieving world, and as the agent of the new birth He seals, indwells, in-fills, and guides and teaches us the ways of righteousness. We very thankfully believe that God is loving and gracious. Throughout His dealings with Israel, God remained giving and forgiving, ever-imploring His disobedient children to turn and come back to Him. His greatest display of this love and grace is expressed in the sending of His unique Son, Jesus Christ, through Whom He has offered reconciliation, and a personal relationship with Him. We rejoice in the hope of one day living with Him, and enjoying Him forever. (Genesis 1, 18:25; Deuteronomy 32:4; Judges 2; Psalm 139; Proverbs 21:1; Isaiah 6,40, 46 and 57; Jeremiah 2-3; Hosea 11; Matthew 6:26; John 1:12; 3:16; Romans 5:8-10; Titus 3:4-5; Hebrews 10:31; James 1:17; 1 John 1:5; Revelation 21-22. 

The Church: God's Programme for Today
The towering walls, bell-tower and beautiful stained glass windows are often what present themselves as being the "Church," but these buildings, although useful, are lifeless. In contrast, the Bible speaks of a living, dynamic church of "called out" and assembled believers in Christ. We, the people of Faith Fellowship Baptist Church, recognise that the church is distinct from Old Testament Israel. God ceased working with Israel nationally when they rejected His Son. God's fulfilment of His promises to Israel comes later. In the mean time, God is working with His church in this age until the return of Jesus Christ "in the clouds" where the church will be bodily redeemed for all eternity. Local churches are comprised of believers who have been fully immersed in water, by obedience to our Lord's command and as a beautiful emblem of our identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of our Saviour. Personal faith in Christ, coupled with immersion into the “Body of Christ” constitutes the only requirements of local church membership for the one who is obediently "walking in newness of life." We practice the Biblical responsibility of meeting together regularly to worship God, especially on the first day of the week, to pray, sing, and submit to the teaching of God's Word. We also enjoy the wonderful privilege of remembering "the Lord's death till He comes" by sharing the memorial of the "Lord's Supper" together regularly. God has ordained two offices for the shepherding and service of the local congregation, those of Pastors (including the descriptive titles of Elders and Bishops) and Deacons. These men are chosen by the congregation on the basis of Biblical qualifications and lifestyle. We do understand clearly, however, that God has called every believer to be ministers, equipped to edify one another and to evangelise the lost. At Faith Fellowship, both our combined Sunday services and our "small group" neighbourhood discipleship plan are designed to move us deeper in our relationship with God, and closer in our fellowship with one another. All in all our goal is to bring glory to God alone. (Matthew 16:15-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-42; 5:11-14; Romans 6:1-10; Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:8-11; 5:22-32; 1 Timothy 3:1-15; 4:14; 1 Peter 5:1-4) 

The End Times:
Are we, in this generation, totally justified in our preoccupation with future? Is there any reason to know what lies ahead for us and our world? How should we live in light of what we learn? Has God abandoned this earth which appears to be headed in a course toward self-destruction? We, the people of the Faith Fellowship Baptist Church, are convinced from God's Word that far from having abandoned the earth to the consequences of man's sin, God is unfolding a wonderful plan whereby all things, in His time, will be judged, rewarded, and made right. Although God is primarily working through the church today, the book of Daniel reminds us that God has an unfinished programme with Israel to complete. It is a programme of a fixed time period of seven years which was postponed when the Nation rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as their promised Messiah. This designated period will be a time of Judgement by God on Israel and the world for their rejection of Christ. It will also bring in the greatest period of evangelism in history spearheaded by 144000 Jewish believers who will lead a "great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindred, and people, and tongues" to Christ! The war, earthquakes, famine, physical suffering and death at that time will be unprecedented in the history of the world. Jesus said, "except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. Those days will be "shortened" by the second advent of Christ to this earth to vanquish all opposition and to set up his 1000 year Kingdom. A time where pollution, poverty, wars and wickedness will have no place under His righteous rule. After this God will go on to create a new, eternal heaven and earth of unimaginable beauty and perfection. The good news is that as believers we are not looking for a time of judgement, for 1 Thessalonians 5:9 tells us that "God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." What are you looking for as you consider the future? The writer of the Book of Titus declares that he is "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ!" Titus 2:13. Consider joining the ranks of believers who are resting in the hope of His soon return in the clouds! (Jude 14-15; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; John 14:2Ð3; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; 1 Corinthians 3; Revelation 19:11-16; Revelation 20:6; 22:17-21) 

The Sinfulness of Man and Salvation by Faith:
The Bible teaches that man was created by a direct act of God and did not evolve from any previously existing form of life. By a direct choice, man fell from the state of innocence in which he was created. As a consequence all men and women are sinners by nature, utterly devoid of righteousness and are therefore under just condemnation to eternal punishment, separated from God. The only hope of mankind is reconciliation to God on the merits of Jesus Christ and His substitutionary death, burial, and bodily resurrection. On what basis then can we claim the name "Christian"? Do we acquire such a privileged name and position by our family heritage or national identity? How are we "saved," and how is the assurance of an eternal heavenly home achieved? How do we find forgiveness from our fallen sin-nature? Let us look at what the Bible says about what God has done, and what we must do ourselves. We, the people of the Faith Fellowship Baptist Church believe God tells us in His Word that He is Holy. His very character defines those things that we readily accept as good, such as love, faithfulness, honesty and mercy. The fact that He is infinite means that He must be infinitely holy. If God were to turn a blind eye to sin, that in it’s self would be a compromise of His Holy nature. His righteousness demands that retribution be made for our sinful shortcomings. The penalty, the Bible says, is eternal death and separation from Him. But now the good news! The Bible also reveals that God is loving and merciful. He has provided the "scapegoat" to bear the sin-debt, or punishment that is due to us. God's Son Jesus Christ, literally God in the flesh, became that substitution for us on the cross. He shed His blood, as a perfect sacrifice, bearing our terrible transgressions on the cross. He was condemned in our place! The penalty of the sin-debt of all mankind was effectively paid in full on that historic day. God's righteousness therefore was satisfied by Christ's obedience. Yet, the message is clear as the hymn-writer put it, "it is not enough that Jesus died, but that He died for me!" We all have the responsibility of confronting our own sin, and personalising this gift of salvation at some point in our lives. It is a onetime decision to acknowledge our sin, to turn around completely from our own way, asking His forgiveness and accepting His free gift of eternal life. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life" John 3:16. If you are under conviction of sin today, won't you right now, by faith, believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ, accepting Him as your Saviour? We are sure that you will have many questions, but don't let these stand in the way of your eternal relationship with your Creator. Ask us, and we will point you to the answers in God's Word today. Tomorrow may be too late. (Genesis 1:26-30; 2:5-22; Psalm 1; Isaiah 6:5; Acts 17:26-31; Romans 1:16-32; 3:10-23; Romans 7:14-25; 8:14-18; 10:9-13; 1 Corinthians 1:21-31; Ephesians 2:1-22; Colossians 1:21-22; 3:9-11) 

A Spiritual Warfare:
Since before the beginning of time, God has been engaged in a Spiritual battle with Satan. Satan was created a holy and perfect being, but through pride and wicked ambition he rebelled against God, thus becoming utterly depraved in character. He is the great adversary of God, and since the creation of the world, man has been drawn into the battle. Resulting from the fall of man from holiness to sinfulness, man is condemned to fight on the side of his "father the Devil." After receiving Christ as personal Saviour, the believer is enlisted to the side of God and righteousness, but the battle continues. The verse in 1st Peter 5:8 reminds us to "be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." However, we are encouraged by the understanding that the battle is the Lord's, and that He is fighting it, even though He is pleased to equip and use us for His purposes (Ephesians 6:10 – 18). In fact, we are further encouraged by the fact that, according to Genesis 3:15, Satan was effectively defeated through the death of Christ on the cross and by His resurrection from the dead. Therefore Satan's final doom is sure. 

The Christian Life:
First, there is the Christian's individual relationship with God. The individual, because he is created in the image of God, is responsible for his moral and religious decisions. He is competent under the leadership of the Holy Spirit to make his own response to God's call in the gospel of Christ, to commune with God, and to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. With his competence is linked the responsibility to seek the truth, and having found it, to act upon it and to share it with others. The Christian is never free to be neutral in matters of conscience and conviction. There is then the relationship of Christian with Christian. In the event of disputes and difficulties between Christians, we are to follow the Biblical instruction for the resolving of such disputes by taking heed to and following the instruction set out in Matthew 18:15 – 17 and bearing in mind the exhortation of preserving the unity we have been given as described in Ephesians 4:1 – 32. Then there is the Family's Corporate Relationship with God. The home is God's basic unit in society. The building of enduring Christian homes should be of primary concern to all believers in Christ. Such homes are built upon the union of a Christian man and a Christian woman who are emotionally, spiritually and physically mature, and who are bound by a deep and genuine love. The two share similar ideals and ambitions and should be dedicated to the raising of their children in the instruction and discipline of the Lord. This calls for regular Bible study and family worship in the home. In such homes, the Spirit of Christ permeates all the relationships of the family. Our church is under obligation to guide and prepare young people for marriage, to train and assist parents in their responsibilities, to help parents and children face adequately the tests and crises of life, to assist those who suffer from broken homes, and to help the bereaved and aged to find continuing significance in life. With regard to the Christian and Society. The Christian is a citizen of heaven, a stranger and a pilgrim on earth, though in this world, yet not of this world, he should be obedient to the law of the land as well as the higher law of God. If a choice must be made, the Christian must obey God rather than man. They should be respectful to those who interpret and enforce the law; and they should participate actively in the life of the community, seeking to permeate social, economic and political life with Christian spirit and principles. The Christian's stewardship of life includes such responsibilities as paying taxes, voting and supporting worthy legislation. He should pray for those in authority and should encourage Christians to accept civil responsibility as a service to God and man. Acts 5:29; 1 Timothy 2:1 – 4.