What we believe.
We share in common with Christians all over the world that together we love, trust and serve Jesus Christ, and aim to live for him and make him known.
Christian.
We are a Christian Church. Jesus Christ is the centre of all we believe and do. So with Christians throughout history we hold to what the Bible teaches about him and what he has done for us as taught in the The Apostles’ Creed. This creed from the 2nd century briefly summarises core truths of Christianity as taught in the Bible:
I believe in God, the Father, Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
The third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
and he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic* Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
*universal
Reformed.
We are a Reformed church. This means we align ourselves with the 16th Century Protestant Reformation. This movement sought to bring the church back to the core truths of Christianity. One way the movement has been summarised is with the "Five Solas" ('sola' meaning 'only' or 'alone'):
Scripture alone
Christ alone
Faith alone
Grace alone
Glory to God alone
The Bible — God’s word, given by the Holy Spirit and used by him to teach and change us — is the only authority for what we are to believe. Central to the Bible’s message is that the only basis for our redemption is Jesus Christ, who is to be received only by faith. This redemption is all by God’s grace and not a result of any efforts we make to redeem ourselves. As such, all glory belongs to God alone.
Presbyterian.
We are a Presbyterian Church. Following the Reformation, Reformed churches wrote several foundational confessions of faith that were designed to outline Christian belief in greater detail. These confessions build on the summary found in The Apostles’ Creed and the Five Solas of the Reformation. As a Presbyterian church we hold to three of these documents called the Westminster Standards, which can be found here:
Westminster Confession of Faith
Westminster Larger Catechism
Westminster Shorter Catechism
The term ‘Presbyterian’ comes from the Bible’s word for elder. So our church is led locally by a group of elders who are supported and kept accountable for what they teach and how they live by a wider group of elders of other churches known as a ‘presbytery.’ Christ Presbyterian Church is a congregation of the International Presbyterian Church and more details of how the church is run can be found in the IPC Book of Church Order.
