Our Beliefs
As a Christian church, our beliefs about who Jesus is and the Gospel message are absolutely foundational to our existence. These we share with the vast majority of other protestant church denominations. However, as a church of the Elim Pentecostal denomination, we also hold to some foundational truths about other aspects of faith and Christian life that may differ slightly from other churches, making these truths a central part to Elim’s unique identity.
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All these foundational truths can be summarised by the following statements, which can also be found on the Elim International website. Whilst most of our congregation would agree with all of these statements, we do still welcome and value members from a wide variety of church backgrounds and heritages, even when we perhaps think slightly differently on some matters of faith.
The Bible
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We believe in the spiritual unity and the priesthood of all believers in Christ and that these comprise the universal Church, the Body of Christ.
The Trinity
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We believe that the Godhead exists co-equally and co-eternally in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and that these three are one God, sovereign in creation, providence and redemption.
The Saviour
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We believe in the true and proper deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His real and complete humanity, in His sinless life, in His authoritative teaching, in His substitutionary and atoning sacrifice through His blood shed, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, in His heavenly intercession and His second advent to receive His Church.
The Holy Spirit
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We believe in the deity of the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son and the necessity of His work in conviction of sin, repentance, regeneration and sanctification, and that the believer is also promised an enduement of power as the gift of Christ through the baptism in the Holy Spirit with signs following. Through this enduement, the believer is empowered for fuller participation in the ministry of the Church, its worship, evangelism and service.
Mankind
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We believe in the universal sinfulness of all men since the Fall, rendering man subject to God’s wrath and condemnation.
Salvation
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We believe in the necessity for salvation of repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by which the sinner is pardoned and accepted as righteous in God’s sight. This justification is imputed by the grace of God because of the atoning work of Christ, is received by faith alone and is evidenced by the Fruit of the Spirit and a holy life.
The Church
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We believe in the spiritual unity and the priesthood of all believers in Christ and that these comprise the universal Church, the Body of Christ.
The Ministry
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We believe in the ministries that Christ has set in His Church, namely, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers and in the present operation of the manifold Gifts of the Holy Spirit according to the New Testament.
The Ordinances
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We believe in the baptism of believers in water in obedience to the command of Christ and the commemoration of Christ’s death by the observance of the Lord’s Supper until His return.
The Commission
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We believe that the Gospel embraces the needs of the whole man and that the Church is therefore commissioned to preach the Gospel to the world and to fulfil a ministry of healing and deliverance to the spiritual and physical needs of mankind.
The Coming King
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We believe in the personal, physical and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to reign in power and glory.
The Future State
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We believe in the resurrection of the dead and in the final judgement of the world, the eternal conscious bliss of the righteous and the eternal conscious punishment of the wicked.