What We Believe
God
- We believe that God is Trinity: He is one God eternally existing as three divine persons: Father, Son and Spirit. The three are so united as to be one God, yet distinct in their being that they cannot be merged together.
- We believe our God is eternal: He has no beginning and will have no end.
- We believe that He is the sovereign creator of all things. Everything that exists, (besides God Himself) was made by God.
- We believe that our God is perfect and right in every way and worthy of praise, glory and honour.
- We believe that the only way we can know God is because He has made Himself known to us. He has done this by His Word, which we have in the Bible.
Bible
- We believe the Bible to be written by God through men, and that its message is infallible.
- We believe the Bible to be sufficient for all that God requires us to believe for our salvation and do as individual Christians and as a church of believers.
- We submit our lives to the authority of God as communicated in the Bible.
Mankind
- We believe that the creation of both man and woman was the centrepiece of God’s creative work, and that we were created to share in His glory and love. As such, men and women were made in His Image – to be relational beings and rule over the rest of the created order under God.
- We believe that mankind wilfully rejected the authority and rule of God at the Fall. This rebellion is called sin. As a result of the Fall, all humans are sinful by nature from conception, affecting every aspect of our lives, whether we are conscious of it or not.
- We believe that our sinful condition means that we deserve the wrath and condemnation of God.
- We believe that our sinful condition means that we are unable, without God’s help, to turn back to God.
Jesus Christ
- We believe that from eternity, the triune God determined that God the Son (the second person of the Trinity), would became incarnate for the purpose of saving people from the condemnation of sin and to redeem all of creation as its Lord.
- We believe that His conception was the work of the Holy Spirit into the virgin womb of Mary.
- We believe that although he was born of a woman, he was without sin, and though he was tempted and suffered, He lived His life sinlessly, to the glory of God.
- We believe that the signs, miracles and wonders performed by Jesus are literally and historically true.
- We believe that at the cross, Jesus Christ took the punishment of God’s wrath deserved by sinful people. After six hours at the cross, he was dead and buried in an empty tomb.
- We believe that on the third day, Jesus was raised by God the Father from the dead to eternal life demonstrating the acceptability of his sacrifice at the cross and His Lordship over all things, even death.
- We believe that after 40 days, Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven, where He rules until the Day he returns again to judge the living and the dead.
Salvation
- We believe that salvation comes through Jesus, and no-one else.
- We believe that a person is predestined to be a believer by God from eternity.
- We believe that the Spirit of God works on a person to make their sinful heart and mind able to understand the Gospel, understand their sinful condition and ready to believe in Jesus.
- We believe that by faith our life is enjoined to Jesus, and that His death on the cross was effective in removing the guilt, power and penalty of our sin before God.
- We believe that when a person believes for the first time, they are considered righteous and forgiven by God because of Jesus, and their sins will never be counted against them.
- We believe that a person is only saved by this grace of God, through faith and not by any works or actions. We can do nothing to achieve or supplement our salvation.
- We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and has been sent into the World by the Father and the Son. His desire is to perfect the work of God and bring glory to the Father and the Son.
The Holy Spirit
- We believe that the Spirit reaches out into the world and brings unbelievers to faith. At the moment a person accepts Jesus as their Lord, He dwells in them.
- We believe that the Spirit works within a Christian to point them towards Jesus, and make them more like Jesus in thought, word and deed. He enables us to say ‘no’ to the devil and sin, and ‘yes’ to lives that give glory to God.
- We believe the Spirit also equips us corporately as a church. He builds up the church into the mature family that God intends. He gives gifts to all members to make us appreciate one another and serve one another.
Church
- We believe that the visible church is the gathering of Christians around Jesus in His Word.
- We believe that our services at St Andrews are local gatherings of God’s church, in fellowship with God’s worldwide church across all nations, and an expression of the heavenly church of all God’s people from all time.
- We believe that the true church of God is built by Jesus and Him alone and is therefore no man-made institution.
- We believe that our gatherings are an opportunity for our members to continue to declare the Gospel together through preaching, prayer, song, creeds and sacraments, so that the body of believers is built up and encouraged onto works of good service in Christ’s name.
- We believe that our church family is to take our place in the great commission, going out into our community to make Christ known and serve our community in prayerful dependence on the Holy Spirit that God might save Sans Souci and beyond.
- As part of the Anglican Church, St Andrews upholds the 39 Articles and the Nicene, Apostolic and St Athenasian Creeds as true and historical statements of the Christian faith and the Book of Common Prayer 1662 with the Bible in matters of doctrine and worship.
End Times