The foundation of Wetherden Baptist Church is what the Bible teaches. This teaching governs and directs the ministry of the church, its life, witness and the way that it is structured and organised.
We are always very happy to chat through what we believe and why we believe it. If you have a question then please contact us – we would love to hear from you.
The key elements of this teaching are summarised below:
1. God – There is one true God who exists eternally in three distinct but equal persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God created everything and controls all things.
2. The Bible – God has revealed Himself in the Bible, which consists of the Old and New Testaments. Every word was inspired by God through human authors, so that the Bible is the holy, written word of God. The Bible alone speaks with final authority in every matter of Christian faith and how this faith is to be lived out.
3. The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who became a real human being – truly God and truly human, but without sin. He was born of the virgin Mary, died on a cross, was buried, but rose physically from the dead and ascended to Heaven.
4. The Human Race was created by God in His own image, but is now fallen and lost as a result of sin that first entered the human race through Adam. The consequence of this is:
- that the entire nature of every human being is corrupted by sin – leaving them unwilling and unable to meet the demands of God’s holy laws.
- the relationship we were designed to have with God has been broken.
Although human beings are unable to meet the demands of God’s holy laws, they are fully responsible for their sins and accountable to God for them. Human beings will answer for those sins on the Day of Judgement unless they are brought to repentance and faith.
5. The Cross – The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to reconcile sinful humans with God and restore our broken relationship with Him. Jesus achieved this by His atoning sacrifice on the cross: dying in our place, paying the price of our sin so that we can be forgiven.
6. Salvation – Those who repent of their sin and put their faith in Jesus Christ are eternally saved by what He achieved on the cross. They are brought back into a right relationship with God that they will enjoy forever. None of us can earn a right standing with God through personal merit, good works or effort – we only receive it by God’s grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even our faith is a gift from God.
7. The Holy Spirit draws people to repentance, convincing them of sin, giving a true understanding of God’s word and leading them to put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation. He gives new spiritual life to the people He saves and lives in them, enabling them to live for Christ and working to make them more like Him. He does all this by His irresistible grace and power, in accordance with the will of God.
8. Assurance – Those who God draws to Himself in repentance and faith will never lose their right standing with Him. They will be kept for all eternity by His power and love.
9.The Church – both local and universal, is the body of Christ united in love and service for Him. All Christians have been given spiritual gifts (i.e. talents and abilities) by the Holy Spirit which they are to use faithfully to worship God and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.
10. The Future – At the end of human history, the Lord Jesus Christ will return to judge all the people of the world, resurrecting those who have died. He will bring everlasting punishment to the lost but bring His saved people into eternal life.
11. Baptism – The Lord Jesus Christ commands that when someone becomes a Christian, they publicly announce their faith and identify themselves as one of His followers by being baptised. The pattern of the early church is that Christians are baptised prior to becoming members of a Christian church or participating in the Lord’s Supper (Communion).
12. Lifestyle – A Christian’s life must be consistently lived out in accordance with the Bible’s teaching.
