1. The Scriptures

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We believe in the sufficiency and authority of the Holy Bible; that every word of the original writings were inspired (verbal inspiration) in all of the sixty-six books (plenary inspiration), being the product of spirit-controlled men, and therefore the Bible is absolutely reliable and without error in all matters of which it speaks.

 

We believe that God preserved His Word down through the centuries, so that the Bible accurately reflects the original manuscripts.

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We believe the Bible to be the true centre of Christian unity and the supreme standard by which all human conduct and belief shall be tested. With the last written book of the New Testament we believe that God completed what He wanted to reveal to man in this age.

 

II Timothy 3:16-17, II Pet 1:19-21.

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Note: The versions of the Bible to be used in ministry and why these versions are used, are set out in the church constitution (11.1.2 All Ministry to Use the New King James Version or King James Version.)

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2. The True God

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We believe there is one and only one eternally living and true God, who is an infinite Spirit, the Maker and supreme Ruler of Heaven and earth; inexpressibly glorious in holiness, and worthy of all possible honour, confidence and love. We believe the Father is God, the Son is God and the Spirit is God; yet we believe in one God. The Father, Son and Spirit are equal in every perfection, but exercise distinct and harmonious roles as they act. In particular they had different roles in the great work of redemption.

 

Exodus 20:2-3, I Cor 8:6, Rev 4:11

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3. Jesus Christ

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A. His Identity

 

We believe that Jesus Christ is the one and only Son of God who has always existed eternally with God. He is the Saviour whom God sent into the world to redeem the world. He is, in Himself, truly God.

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John 1:1-34.

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B. His Incarnation

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We believe that He took upon Himself a body and lived amongst men; being fully God and fully man.

 

Philippians 2:6-8.

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C. His Virgin Birth

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We believe that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Sprit in a miraculous manner, born of Mary, a virgin, as no other man was ever born or can be born of a woman, and that He is both the Son of God and God the Son.

 

Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:35, John 1:14

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D. His Death

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We believe He died on the cross as man's substitute, suffering the full force of God's righteous anger against sin, thereby paying the penalty of sin for each and every individual. We, who have believed in Him, are therefore no longer servants of sin, but belong to Christ. Because of the penalty He paid, Christ is said to have redeemed us.

 

Matthew 27:35-54, I Corinthians 15:3, Luke 23:33, II Corinthians 5:21, I John 2:2, Titus 2:14, Romans 6:17-18.

 

E. His Blood

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We believe that His blood, which was given in death at Calvary, is the only permanent and sufficient cleansing for the sins of men.

 

Hebrews 9:22, Ephesians 1:7, I John 1:7.

 

F. His Resurrection

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We believe that He rose bodily from the tomb, and through His resurrection, each redeemed individual, has new life in Christ now, and will experience a resurrection like that of Christ, in the future.

 

Luke 24:1-7, I Corinthians 15:4, Romans 4:25.

 

G. His Ascension

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We believe that He ascended into (went back to) Heaven from where He came and is now at the Father's right hand, carrying on His ministry of prayer for us (intercession), as our High Priest.

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Luke 24:50-51, Acts 2:31-33, Hebrews 7:25, 12:2, I John 2:1, Hebrews 2:17, 5:9,10.

 

H. His Return

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We believe that the Lord will return bodily before the tribulation period, in order to take His people home. After the tribulation period, He will return to earth in judgement, before the millennium, where He sets up His Kingdom. (See also Section 18 "The Things to Come".)

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I Thessalonians 4:13-5:9, Revelation 19:11-20:6.

 

I. His Lordship

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We believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, being the Head of the Body of Christ, His church.

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Acts 2:36, Colossians 1:18, I Corinthians 12:13.

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4. The Holy Spirit

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We believe the Holy Spirit is a person, equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature; that He was active in the creation; He restrains both the world and the Evil One until God's purposes are fulfilled; He convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgement; He convinces of the truth of the Word of God in preaching and testimony; He is the one who gives the new birth; He seals, enables, guides, teaches, bears witness, and helps the believer setting him/her apart unto God. We believe the Holy Spirit indwells each and every believer from the moment he receives Jesus Christ as Saviour; simultaneously the believer is given a 'gift of the Spirit' for the purpose of building up other Christians and reaching others for Christ. We believe the sign gifts, namely Healing, Working of Miracles, Tongues, and Interpretation of Tongues were temporary for the purpose of confirming and authenticating the message of the apostles and others in the apostolic era. We believe the Spirit-filled life is to be the normal experience of every Christian, and that regardless of one's occupation or profession, he is filled with the Spirit when he is in fellowship with Jesus Christ and His Word.

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John 14:16-17, Matthew 28:19, Hebrews 9:14, John 14:26, Luke 1:35, Genesis 1:1-3, John 16:8-11, Acts 5:30-32, John 3:5-6, Ephesians 1:13-14, Mark 1:8, John 1:33, Acts 11:16, Luke 24:49, Romans 8:14,16,26,27, I Corinthians 6:19-20, 13:8-13, 14:22, Hebrews 2:3-4.

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5. The Devil, or Satan

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We believe in the reality and personality of Satan, the Devil; that he was created by God as an angel, but through pride and rebellion became the enemy of His Creator; that he became the unholy god of this age and the ruler of all the powers of darkness; that he is justly destined to judgement in the eternal lake of fire.

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Matthew 4:1-11, II Corinthians 4:4, Revelation 20:10, Ephesians 2:2, John 8:44, Isaiah 14:12-21, Ezekiel 28:12-19, Colossians 2:15, I Peter 5:8, John 16:11.

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6. Creation

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We believe the Biblical account of the creation of the physical universe, angels and man; that this account is neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of the direct, immediate creative acts of God without any evolutionary process; that man was created by a direct work of God and not from previously existing forms of life; and that all men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve, first parents of the entire human race.

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Genesis 1,2, Colossians 1:16-17, John 1:3.

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7. The Fall of Man

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We believe that man was created without sin, in the image and likeness of God- under the law of their Maker. By choice Adam disobeyed God, falling from his happy and sinless state; thereby incurring not only physical death, but spiritual death which is separation from God; that all men sinned in Adam, so that all men are sinners by nature, partaking of Adam's fallen nature, demonstrating their nature by acts of sin, and are therefore under just condemnation without defence or excuse.

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Genesis 3:1-6 Romans 3:10-19, 5:12, 19, 1:18, 32.

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8. Salvation

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We believe that sinners are saved by God's initiative and His heart of grace (undeserved favour to us) through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who, by the appointment of the Father voluntarily took upon Himself our nature, yet without sin, and honoured God's law by His personal obedience, thus qualifying Himself to be our Saviour; that by the shedding of His blood in His death He fully satisfied the just demands of a Holy God regarding sin; His death being a voluntary substitution in the sinners place (not just an example), the Just dying for the unjust, Christ the Lord bearing our sins in His body on the tree; that having risen from the dead He is now on His throne in Heaven, and uniting in His Person the tenderest sympathies with godly perfection, He is in every way qualified to be a suitable, a compassionate and an all-sufficient Saviour.

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We believe that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition that needs to be filled before a person is saved. Repentance is a change of mind and purpose toward God, prompted by the Holy Spirit, and is always present with saving faith.

 

Salvation is open to each and every individual through the gospel; nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner except their own rejection of the gospel, this rejection means that he is condemned already.

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Jonah 2:9, Ephesians 2:8, Romans 3:24, Matthew 18:11, Philippians 2:7-8, Hebrews 2:14-17, Isaiah 53:4-7, I John 4:10, I Corinthians 15:3, II Corinthians 5:21, I Peter 2:24. John 3:15-21

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9. Grace and the New Birth

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We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be 'born again'; that the new birth is the means by which a person becomes a new creation in Jesus Christ; that it is instantaneous and not a process; that in the new birth the one dead in trespasses and sins is adopted into the family of God and receives eternal life, the free gift of God; that the new birth is brought about by our sovereign God in a manner outside of our comprehension, solely through the Holy Spirit and the Bible, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the gospel; that the evidence that it has really occurred is in the holy fruits of repentance, faith and a new godly lifestyle. At the moment of the new birth every individual is baptised into the body of Christ, once and for ever.

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John 3:3, II Corinthians 5:17, I John 5:1, Acts 16:30-33, II Peter 1:4, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13, John 3:8, Titus 3:5, I Peter 1:23.

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10. Justification

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We believe that justification is that act of God whereby He counts the sinner as being righteous (without sin) upon the basis of Christ's righteousness; that God, in that act, in no way considers any right acts that we have done, but only the adequacy of Christ's shed blood and the sinners faith in it.

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Romans 3:24, 4:5, 5:1,9, Galatians 2:16, Philippians 3:9.

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11. Sanctification

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We believe that sanctification is the act and process of a believer being set apart unto God. It is accomplished in a threefold manner; first an act of God, never to be revoked, based upon redemption in Christ, whereby the believer moves into a position of holiness at the moment he trusts Christ as Saviour; second a continuing process in the believer as the Holy Spirit applies the Bible to the believer's life making them progressively more like Christ; third, when the believer is made perfectly like Christ at the moment of the Lord's return.

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Hebrews 10:10-14, John 17:17, II Corinthians 3:18, I Corinthians 1:30, Ephesians 5:25-27, I Thessalonians 4:3, 4, 5:23, 24, I John 3:2, Jude 24, 25, Revelation 22:11.

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12. Assurance of Salvation

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We believe that all who are truly born again are kept by God the Father for the Lord Jesus Christ; only true believers endure to the end; this is the primary evidence of the eternal life that is in them.

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Philippians 1:6, John 10:28, 29, Romans 8:35-39, Jude 1.

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13. The Church

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The local church is a congregation of immersed believers, associated by a common commitment of faith and fellowship in the gospel. 

 

The local church is to remember the Lord's Supper and encourage obedience in Baptism. 

 

The local church is to obey all His word, recognising that this will require the help of the Holy Spirit. 

 

The local church is to exercise the gifts of the Spirit, along with all the rights and privileges given them by the Bible. 

 

The local church has the absolute right of self-government, under the only two offices of Pastor and Deacon.  The elected positions within the church must either be a Pastor or Deacon.  The exception to this is a woman holding the elected position of the Administration and Compliance Officer, or a Ministry Leader. A Ministry Leader is in a subservient role to the Pastors and Deacons, assisting them to carry out the Lord's work in a spirit of teamwork and mutual cooperation, mutual respect and deference.  

 

The local church is to be free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organisations or government (except in its proper sphere of influence). Its only overseer is Christ through the Holy Spirit. 

 

It is Scriptural for a local church to cooperate with other local churches in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the gospel. However, each local church must decide, under Christ, the measure and method of this cooperation, especially on matters of membership, policy, government, discipline, generosity and kindness. On all such matters, the decision of the local church is final.

 

The local church is the only place in which the commands of Scripture can properly be followed. However, we also believe that all New Testament believers throughout the church age are baptised into ‘one body’ at the moment of their salvation. This one body is ‘the church’, which is the body of Christ. Every member of the body of Christ (the church) will be found in heaven. 

 

Acts 20:17-28, I Timothy 3:1-13, Acts 2:41,42, I Corinthians 12:12, 13, Ephesians 1:22,23, 4:11, 5:23, Colossians 1:18, Acts 15:13-18, Philippians 1:1, Acts 6:1-6, Titus 1:5-9, Matthew 22:17-21.

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14. Baptism

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We believe there are only two ordinances.

 

The first ordinance is baptism. 

 

We believe that christian baptism is the single immersion of a believer in water to symbolically show our unity with the crucified, buried and risen Saviour, through whom we died to sin and rose to a new life. 

 

Baptism is to be performed under the authority of the local church. It is normally undertaken by the Lead Pastor, but may also be performed by someone else appointed by the Lead Pastor or membership. 

 

Baptism is a prerequisite to church membership.

 

Note:

The public declaration by a parent of their intention to bring their child/children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord in a church meeting is not a christian baptism.  Likewise, neither is the public dedication of babies or children (sometimes referred to as ‘infant baptism’ or ‘christening’).

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15. Lord's supper (or lord's table)

 

The second ordinance is the Lord’s Supper (or Lord’s Table). 

 

We believe that the Lord's Supper is the commanded way to remember the Lord's death until He comes. 

 

We believe that the Biblical order is for a believer to be baptised and then commence taking the Lord's Supper. That is that participants in the Lord's Supper should be immersed believers who are walking with Christ.

 

The Lord’s Supper is to be preceded by serious self-examination. 

 

Since it is the Lord's table, all that are saved, baptised and walking with the Lord are welcome to participate in this ordinance with this church. 

 

The Lord's Supper will regularly be served to the assembled church by the Lead Pastor and Deacons at such times as may be decided by the Lead Pastor, in consultation with the church. This would normally be at least twice a month. 

 

The elements are unleavened bread and grape juice. 

 

The Lord's Supper is not to be served outside of a church meeting. 

 

Acts 8:36, 38, 39, John 3:23, Romans 6:3-5, Matthew 3:16, Colossians 2:12, I Corinthians 11:23-28, Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 2:41,42.

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16. Separation from the world, false teaching and apostasy

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We believe in obedience to the Biblical commands to set ourselves apart from the world and from false teaching (i.e. denying any of our Articles of Faith) and in particular apostasy (i.e. denying the fundamentals of the faith - see 8.2 Definition of Apostate)  We believe we are to draw towards God.

 

II Corinthians 6:14-7:1, I Thessalonians 1:9, 10, I Timothy 6:3-5, Romans 16:17, II John 9-11, Titus 3:10.

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17. Civil Government

 

​We believe that all levels of government are put there by God for the interests and good of society. 

 

We believe that all in authority are to be prayed for, conscientiously honoured, and obeyed except in those things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ; who is to be obeyed first.

 

Romans 13:1-7, Acts 23:5, Matthew 22:21, Acts 5:29, 4:19, 20, Daniel 3:17,18.

 

18. Israel

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We believe that God chose Israel for His own purposes, that Israel is now spread around the world because of disobedience and rejection of Christ, and that Israel will be regathered to the Holy Land and, after the completion of the church, that is, after the rapture, will experience a national revival before the return of Christ.

 

Genesis 13:14-17, Romans 11:1-32, Ezekiel 37.

 

19. The Things to Come

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We believe that Christ will return before the millennium. This return could occur at any moment, where the bodies of those already dead will be raised as 'glorified bodies', and those of us who are alive shall also be given 'glorified bodies' without tasting death, and all shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (this is called the rapture) before the seven years of the terrible time called the 'Tribulation'.

 

We believe that this tribulation will end when Christ returns visibly to the whole world in power and great glory to sit upon the throne of David and establish His earthly reign (Millennial Kingdom). After this Kingdom's reign, God will create a new heaven and a new earth that has no end.

 

I Thessalonians 4:13-18, I Corinthians 15:42-44, 51-54, Philippians 3:20-21, Revelation 3:10, Daniel 9:25-27, Matthew 24:29-31, Luke 1:30-33, Isaiah 9:6, Revelation 20:1-4,15.

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20. The Godly and the Wicked

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We believe that there is a basic difference between the ‘godly’ (the ‘saved’ or ‘believers’) and the ‘wicked’ (the ‘unsaved’ or ‘non-believers’) that puts them into two distinct groups. 

 

1. Those that have been counted as ‘godly’ by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and set apart by the Spirit of our God. Such a person is indeed truly right in His esteem.

2. Those who continue to refuse or neglect to repent and believe, or who have not believed, are in God’s sight 'wicked' and will be punished 

 

This distinction of ‘godly’ and ‘wicked’ holds both in and after death, in the everlasting joy of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the wicked in the Lake of Fire. 

 

After the rapture (see 9.19-The Things to Come) those that are saved will be judged by Christ according to what was done in Him and for Him.

 

Later, after the millennium, the wicked will be judged because of their sin which has not been cleansed by the blood of Christ.

 

Malachi 3:18, Romans 6:17,18,23 7:6, I John 5:19, Proverbs 14:32, Luke 16:25, Matthew 25:34-41, John 8:21, Revelation 20:14,15.

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21. family principles

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9.21.1 Marriage and Parenting 

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We believe that marriage is a permanent and public commitment, between one man and one woman to the exclusion of all other relationships. 

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At the time of marriage, a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife. The husband is head of the wife as Christ is head of the church. The husband is to love their wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it (willingly, unreservedly, unselfishly, untiringly, and humbly). 

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The wife is to respect her husband, to defer to him, and submit to him. 

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The children are to obey their parents. 

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The parents are to train the children in the Bible, formally and informally, and to discipline them firmly, but in love. 

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Genesis 2:18-25, Ephesians 5:22-6:4, Deuteronomy 6:4-9.Matthew 5:31-32, Exodus 20:14, Mark 10:1-12, Matthew 19:4-10, Romans 7:1-3, I Corinthians 7:1-16, John 8:3-11

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9.21.2 Divorce

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Divorce was not God's plan in the beginning. 

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Where sin exists in a marriage, the Biblical course is loving confrontation, repentance, and restitution.  Failing reconciliation, and where separation occurs, the Scriptural ideal is to remain unmarried. Nevertheless, because of the sinfulness of man, God in His grace has allowed divorce in certain circumstances, most notably sexual indecency, including adultery. 

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Where divorce is allowed by Scripture, remarriage is also allowed (only in the Lord). However, because it is not the Scriptural ideal, it will be the church’s policy to discourage and minimise both divorce and/or remarriage. 

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Where divorce has occurred outside Scriptural warrant, remarriage is adultery and will not be condoned by the church.

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Matthew 19:4-9, Deuteronomy 24:1-4, 1 Corinthians 7:10-16, Matthew 5:31-32, Exodus 20:14, Mark 10:1-12, Matthew 19:4-10, Romans 7:1-3, I Corinthians 7:1-16, John 8:3-11

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22. monetary principles​

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The regular giving of money for the support of the work of the Lord is worship as well as duty. It must be kept on the plane of voluntary giving without hope of material gain. 

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All members are expected to give regular financial support to the church and to the projects that it will sponsor. 

In determining the amount to be given, the Scriptures teach that everything we have is a result of the Lord's enabling and that returning one tenth (tithe) is a Biblically modelled requirement to be given faithfully and cheerfully by each one. Many can and should give more than the tithe.

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No money is to be raised except by the Biblical plan of tithes, offerings, and gifts (and any interest earnt on these monies).

 

II Corinthians 9:6-7, I Chronicles 29:14, 16, Acts 4:32-35​

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