The church adopts\u00a0The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689<\/b>. This is in no way equal to the Holy Scriptures. A summary of this confession and what we believe is as follows.<\/p>\n1.\u00a0The Holy Scriptures<\/b><\/h4>\n
We believe that all the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are given by inspiration of God and that they are therefore inerrant in all matters and our only final authority, being the only true rule for faith and practice. We believe the Scriptures to be complete and that they are not to be added to in any way, since the prophets and apostles, with the miraculous signs given through them were provided by God for the foundation of the New Testament church and until the Scriptures were completed. We believe there is only one living and true God Who has been pleased to reveal His glorious character in creation but especially in the Scriptures. We believe that God has revealed Himself in the Scriptures as existing in three distinct persons within the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Who are equal in nature, power and glory. The Son and the Holy Spirit are as truly God as the Father. We believe that before the world began God chose unto everlasting salvation those whom He did predestinate to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. This choice was not due to any forseen faith or good works in those chosen but was according to the free and sovereign grace of God. We believe that God the Father made a covenant of grace and peace with His Son Jesus Christ on behalf of those chosen, who were put into the hands of Christ and made His special care and charge, He agreeing to come into the world to keep the law for them and give His life on the cross for their sins and so obtain for them eternal life. We believe that God created the universe, all originally very good, in six literal days and that the purpose for the creation of man was that he should love and glorify God his Maker which he was able to do in the beginning. We reject the theory of evolution and all’long-age’ opinions of the earth. We believe that Adam stood as the Head and Representative of mankind and that in sinning all his posterity sinned in him. Therefore the sin of Adam is imputed to all his offspring and they all derive a corrupt and sinful nature from the womb. From this corrupt nature all other sins proceed. We believe that because of Adam’s original sin, and actual sins that men commit, that all men are by nature spiritually dead, that they are subject to physical death and to eternal punishment in hell. We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, being established from everlasting as the Mediator of the New Covenant, having engaged to be the surety of His people, did, in the fulness of time, really assume human nature, consisting of a true body and soul. We believe that He was born of the virgin and that His taking a human nature did in no way mean that He ceased to be the Divine Son of God but was, during His earthly life and is for ever, both God and man in one person. We believe that as the Mediator He really suffered and died as a substitute for His people in paying the penalty for their sins, having obeyed perfectly every commandment of God’s law for them. Christ died particularly and only for those who were entrusted to Him in the covenant of grace. We believe that Jesus Christ was buried, that He rose again on the third day in the same body that ad been crucified, though now glorified, that He appeared to many and ascended into Heaven to intercede for His people. We believe that Jesus Christ has given His church the responsibility to preach the gospel to every creature and that we are to use all available means within God’s Word to this end. The doctrines of God’s sovereign grace in salvation should in no way inhibit evangelistic zeal and enterprise. We believe that although the gospel is to be preached sincerely and passionately to all, that only those who have been chosen by God in eternity and redeemed by Christ on the cross will actually respond to the call of the gospel, the Holy Spirit irresistibly working in their dead souls in order to enable them to believe and repent. We believe that justification is an act of God’s free grace whereby He pardons sin and accounts the sinner righteous in His sight. This is not based on anything we have done but only on the righteousness of Christ imputed to the sinner which is received by faith alone. We believe that the sinner who is enabled by the Holy Spirit to trust in Christ and repent of sin becomes new creature in Christ. However, due to remaining corruption there is a continual need and responsibility to progress in holiness through the power of the indwelling Spirit. Without a holy life no man will see the Lord. We believe that all those chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son and called by the Holy Spirit through the gospel shall certainly and finally persevere, that not one will perish but shall enter into everlasting life. This in no way contradicts the need for holiness but means that God will keep and preserve His people in the way of holiness. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is Head of the Church, which is composed of God’s elect in every age. The Lord’s people, according to His command, are to gather themselves into local churches. To each of these churches Christ has given authority and responsibility for administering order, discipline and worship according to the Scriptures. The officers of a church are elders and deacons. We believe that there are but two ordinances appointed by Christ in His church, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These are positive commands to every believer. Baptism is to be administered by total immersion in water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is a symbol of union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. It signifies the washing away of sins and is a prerequisite to church membership. We believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ on the same night He was betrayed. The broken bread represents His body broken, and the wine, His blood which was shed for His people at Calvary. It is to be observed until the return of Christ. It is in no sense a re-sacrifice of Christ. Its purpose is to commemorate the death of Christ. We believe ‘believer’s baptism’ to be a prerequisite to communion at the Lord’s Supper, that only they who have obeyed the Lord’s command to be baptised and who are in fellowship and good standing in their local church may partake in he remembrance of the Saviour’s death. We believe in the visible, personal and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that there will be at Christ’s return a general resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust and that they will be gathered to the judgement seat of Christ. We believe that the wicked shall be cast away into everlasting punishment whereas the righteous will be welcomed into Heacven where they will live and reign with Christ and enjoy His presence for ever. Even so come Lord Jesus! The church adopts\u00a0The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. This is in no way equal to the Holy Scriptures. A summary of this confession and what we believe is as follows. 1.\u00a0The Holy Scriptures We believe that all the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are given by inspiration of God and that they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westoningbaptistchurch.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/517"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westoningbaptistchurch.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westoningbaptistchurch.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westoningbaptistchurch.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westoningbaptistchurch.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/westoningbaptistchurch.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westoningbaptistchurch.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n2 Timothy 3:13<\/a>,\u00a02 Peter 1:21<\/a>,\u00a0John 10:25<\/a>,\u00a0Isaiah 8:20<\/a>,\u00a0Acts 17:11<\/a><\/p>\n
\nRevelation 22:18<\/a>,\u00a02 Corinthians 12:12<\/a>,\u00a0Ephesians 2:20<\/a><\/p>\n2.\u00a0God \u2212 The Holy Trinity<\/b><\/h4>\n
\nDeuteronomy 6:4<\/a>,\u00a01 Timothy 2:5<\/a>,\u00a0Romans 1:20<\/a>,\u00a0Psalm 19:1-11<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMatthew 28:19<\/a>,\u00a02 Corinthians 13:14<\/a>,\u00a0John 10:30<\/a>,\u00a0Romans 9:5<\/a>,\u00a0Acts 5:3-4<\/a><\/p>\n3.\u00a0The Covenant of Grace<\/b><\/h4>\n
\nEphesians 1:4<\/a>,\u00a0Jeremiah 31:3<\/a>,\u00a0Romans 8:29<\/a>,\u00a0Ephesians 1:5<\/a>,\u00a02 Timothy 1:9<\/a>,\u00a0Romans 11:5<\/a><\/p>\n
\nPsalm 89:3<\/a>,\u00a0Isaiah 42:6<\/a>,\u00a0Hebrews 13:20<\/a>,\u00a0John 6:37<\/a>,\u00a039<\/a>,\u00a0John 10:27-29<\/a>,\u00a0Galatians 4:4-5<\/a><\/p>\n4.\u00a0Creation and the Fall of Man<\/b><\/h4>\n
\nGenesis 1:31<\/a>,\u00a0Exodus 20:11<\/a>,\u00a0Matthew 22:36-38<\/a>,\u00a01 Corinthians 10:31<\/a>,\u00a0Ecclesiastes 12:13<\/a>,\u00a0Ecclesiastes 7:29<\/a><\/p>\n
\nRomans 5:12<\/a>,\u00a0Ephesians 2:3<\/a>,\u00a0Psalm 51:5<\/a>,\u00a0John 3:6<\/a>,\u00a0Matthew 15:19<\/a>,\u00a0Matthew 7:17-18<\/a><\/p>\n
\nGenesis 2:16-17<\/a>,\u00a0Ephesians 2:1<\/a>,\u00a01 Corinthians 15:22<\/a>,\u00a0Romans 6:23<\/a>,\u00a0Matthew 25:46<\/a><\/p>\n5.\u00a0Jesus Christ The Mediator<\/b><\/h4>\n
\nProverbs 8:23<\/a>,\u00a01 Timothy 2:5<\/a>,\u00a0Galatians 4:4<\/a>,\u00a0Hebrews 10:5<\/a>,\u00a0Matthew 26:38<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMatthew 1:23<\/a>,\u00a0John 5:17-18<\/a>,\u00a0Acts 20:28<\/a>,\u00a0Hebrews 5:6<\/a><\/p>\n
\n2 Corinthians 5:21<\/a>,\u00a0Isaiah 53:4-6<\/a>,\u00a0Mark 10:45<\/a>,\u00a0Matthew 3:15<\/a>,\u00a0Matthew 1:21<\/a>,\u00a0John 10:15<\/a><\/p>\n
\n1 Corinthians 15:4-8<\/a>,\u00a0John 20:27<\/a>,\u00a0Acts 1:9-11<\/a>,\u00a0John 17:9<\/a>,\u00a0Hebrews 9:24<\/a><\/p>\n6.\u00a0Evangelism and Effectual Calling<\/b><\/h4>\n
\nMark 16:15<\/a>,\u00a0Acts 1:8<\/a>,\u00a02 Timothy 2:10<\/a>,\u00a0Romans 9:1-3<\/a><\/p>\n
\nRomans 8:29-30<\/a>,\u00a0Acts 13:48<\/a>,\u00a0John 10:16<\/a>,\u00a0Psalm 110:3<\/a>,\u00a0Matthew 22:14<\/a>,\u00a0John 3:3<\/a><\/p>\n7.\u00a0Justification<\/b><\/h4>\n
\nRomans 3:21-22<\/a>,\u00a028<\/a>,\u00a0Psalm 32:1-2<\/a>,\u00a0Romans 4:1-4<\/a>,\u00a0Romans 5:19<\/a>,\u00a0Galatians 3:10-13<\/a><\/p>\n8.\u00a0Sanctification and Perseverance<\/b><\/h4>\n
\n2 Corinthians 5:17<\/a>,\u00a0Philippians 2:12-13<\/a>,\u00a0Galatians 5:16<\/a>,\u00a01 Corinthians 6:19-20<\/a>,\u00a0Hebrews 12:14<\/a><\/p>\n
\nRomans 8:29-30<\/a>,\u00a0John 10:28-29<\/a>,\u00a0Matthew 24:12-13<\/a>,\u00a01 Peter 1:15-16<\/a><\/p>\n9.\u00a0The Church<\/b><\/h4>\n
\nEphesians 5: 23<\/a>,\u00a025<\/a>,\u00a027<\/a>,\u00a01 Corinthians 1:2<\/a>,\u00a0Revelation 2, 3<\/a>,\u00a0Philippians 1:1<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMatthew 28:19<\/a>,\u00a01 Corinthians 11:23-26<\/a>,\u00a0Mark 16:16<\/a>,\u00a0Acts 2:38<\/a>,\u00a0John 3:23<\/a>,\u00a0Romans 6:3-4<\/a>,\u00a0Acts 22:16<\/a>,\u00a0Acts 18:8<\/a>,1 Corinthians 1:2<\/a><\/p>\n
\n1 Corinthians 11:23-26<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMatthew 28:19-20<\/a>,\u00a0Acts 2:40-42<\/a>,\u00a0Acts 18:8<\/a>,\u00a0cf<\/i>\u00a01 Corinthians 11:12-34<\/a><\/p>\n10.\u00a0The Future<\/b><\/h4>\n
\nMatthew 24:27<\/a>,\u00a030<\/a>,\u00a0Acts 1:11<\/a>,\u00a01 Thessalonians 4:16<\/a>,\u00a0Revelation 1:7<\/a><\/p>\n
\nActs 17:31<\/a>,\u00a02 Corinthians 5:10<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMatthew 7:23<\/a>,\u00a0Matthew 25:46<\/a>,\u00a0Mark 9:48<\/a>,\u00a02 Thessalonians 1:1-10<\/a>,\u00a0Matthew 25:34<\/a>,\u00a0Revelation 22:3-5<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"