Doctrine

The Church believes:

a) in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament in their original writings as fully inspired of God and accepts them as the final authority for faith and life.

b) in one God eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

c) that Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary and is true God and true man. That the Lord Jesus died for our sins, a substitutionary sacrifice, according to the Scriptures, and that all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood.

d) in the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, His ascension into heaven
and His present life as our High Priest and Advocate.

e) that the Lord appointed two ordinances - Believer's Baptism and the Lord's Supper to be observed as acts of obedience and as perpetual witnesses to the cardinal facts of the Christian Faith. Believer's Baptism is an act of obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ and a sign of personal repentance, faith and regeneration; it consists of immersion in water into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Lord's Supper is the partaking of bread and the cup as symbolical of the Saviour's broken body and shed blood, in remembrance of His sacrificial death "until He comes".

f) that God created man in His own image; that man sinned and thereby incurred the penalty of death, physical and spiritual; that all human beings inherit a sinful nature which issues, in the case of those who have reached moral responsibility, in actual transgression involving personal guilt.

g) in the resurrection of the just and the unjust, the eternal blessedness of the redeemed and the eternal banishment of those who have rejected the offer of salvation.

h) that the one true church is the whole company of those who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. The local church, being a manifestation of the universal church, is a gathered community of believers in a particular place where the Word of God is preached and the ordinances of Believer’s Baptism and the Lord's Supper are observed. The Church is fully autonomous.

i) that the priesthood of all believers is that by which we understand that each Christian has direct access to God through Christ our High Priest and shares with Him in His work of reconciliation. This involves intercession, worship, faithful service and bearing witness to Jesus Christ, even to the ends of the earth.

j) in the personal return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

k) that the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, equal with the Father and Son. The Holy Spirit is the agent of the New Birth. At the moment of conversion a believer is regenerated, indwelt, sealed and baptised into the Body of Believers.
After conversion, the Holy Spirit is the strength and guide of the believer's life.
The believer is commanded to continually be filled with the Holy Spirit. The yielding to the control of God in our lives results in the fullness of the Holy Spirit for power and guidance.

l) in the principle of religious liberty, namely, that no individual should be coerced either by State or by any secular, ecclesiastical or religious group in matters of faith. The right of private conscience is to be respected.

m) in the principle of separation of church and state, in that, in the providence of God, the two differ in their respective natures and functions.

n) that God has sanctioned marriage between a man and a woman. Therefore we believe in heterosexual relationships between a natural man and a natural woman within the confines of lawful matrimony. Adherence to this stated principle of sexual behaviour is an inherent requirement for membership with the Horison Baptist Church.