What We Believe

St Mellons Baptist Church is an evangelical church.

That is, we base all that we believe on the Bible – as our statement of faith below says, it is our ‘infallible authority in all matters’. It is infallible (without error), and our authority (it directs all that we do) because it is God’s Word.

That means all of the members of the church know they were not born as Christians – the Bible teaches clearly that the opposite is true. At different times, and in different ways, each one of us was given faith to believe that Jesus had died to save us, and repentance to turn around a godless life, both as a free gift from God. Following this gift, we were baptised into the church as an expression of our new life and unity in Jesus Christ.

Statement of Faith

The Church’s formal statement of faith is a summary of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith:

• The eternity, equality, and distinct personality of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and the unity of the Godhead.

  Deut. 6:4 / Luke 3:21-22 / John 10:30.
• The perfect Divinity and perfect Humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  John 1:1-4 / Hebrews 2:14
• The plenary and verbal inspiration of the Old and New Testaments, and their infallible authority in all matters pertaining to faith and practice.
  2 Tim. 3:16-17 / 2 Peter 1:20-21
• The fall of mankind in Adam – their guilt and condemnation – together with their entire and universal depravity, by which they were alienated from God.
  Romans 5:12 / Romans 3:10-18
• Regeneration and sanctification by the direct agency of the Holy Spirit, through the instrumentality of Divine truth.
  John 3:1-8 / Col.2:11 / 1 Pet.1:22-23
• Justification by grace through faith, by the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and His substitutionary sacrifice.
  Eph. 2:8 / Romans 5:1 / Romans 4:1-7 / Gal. 2:20 / 1 Peter 2:24
• The personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The resurrection of the body.
  John 14:3 / Acts 1:11 / Rev. 1:7 / 1 Thess. 4:16-17 / 1 Cor. 15:1-58
• The eternal security and everlasting happiness of the righteous, the conscious eternal punishment of those who remain impenitent.
  John 10:27-29 / Heb. 10:14 / Rev. 21:4 / Mark 9:47-48 / Luke 16:23-28 / Rev. 20:10
• The binding character of the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The immersion of believers as the only Christian Baptism and its necessity in order for Church fellowship and admission to the Lord’s Table. The Congregational Order of Churches.
  Matt. 26:26-29 / Matt. 28:19-20 / 1 Cor. 11:18; 23-30 / Acts 2:38, 41-42 / Acts 8:35-39 / Acts 20:7 / Acts 14:23 / Romans 16:5 / 1 Cor. 4:17 / 1 Thess. 2:14
• The responsibility and necessity of all members to attend regularly, the House of God and to observe the means of grace given of God.
  Heb. 10:25 / 1 John 3:22 / Eph. 6:10-18 / 2 Tim. 2:15
• …and to live soberly, righteously and Godly in this present world.
  Titus 2:11-14

How we apply  our Faith

We aim to teach the Bible in a way that is applied, Biblical and contemporary:

Applied

Because we don’t just want to understand the Bible with our minds – it needs to change our hearts.

Biblical

Because God’s Word is far more important than a man’s ideas.

Contemporary

Because although the Bible is an ancient book, it is God’s Word to us today.