What We Believe
The Statement of Faith of Clare Baptist Church.
What We Believe
At Clare Baptist Church, our faith is centred on Jesus Christ. We seek to know Him, follow His teaching, grow together as a community of believers and share His love with those around us. The following is our Statement of Faith, reproduced in full.
3.1 Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour
We believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and we confess our faith in Him as our Lord and Saviour. We affirm the need for personal, experiential faith in Jesus Christ and formative discipleship into His likeness.
3.2 One God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit
We believe that Jesus of Nazareth reveals God to us. Because of this revelation we confess faith in one God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In affirming this we acknowledge ourselves to be a part of the whole, world-wide Christian Church.
3.3 Jesus Christ and the Scriptures
Our final authority in faith and practice is Jesus Christ, as revealed in Scripture and present among His people through the Holy Spirit. We recognize the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, interpreted under the leadership of the Holy Spirit and in the community of God’s people, as the primary authority for knowing God’s revelation in Christ.
3.4 The Church
We understand the church to be the People of God, the Body of Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. We believe that God calls a local fellowship of believers into a shared life as a means of grounding His presence among His people within particular communities in the service of His mission to the world. These called, local communities of faith spiritually nourish themselves by worshipping, meeting around God’s Word (the Scriptures) and sharing together in the Lord’s Supper.
3.5 Believer’s Baptism
We practice baptism for believers only, in the triune name of God, into the Body of Christ. Where possible, by immersion in water as a symbol of our becoming partakers in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
3.6 Discipleship and Mission
We believe that every believer in Jesus Christ is called to witness, with love and compassion, to the Lordship of Jesus. We believe that the church is to share in the whole mission of God in the world.
3.7 The Priesthood of All Believers
We affirm the priesthood of all believers in which the only mediator between God and humanity is Jesus Christ. We affirm the gift of the Holy Spirit to all God’s people and recognize that all members of the church have a role to play using their God-given gifts, skills and talents for the good of the church and the community in the service of God’s mission.