What we Believe

We believe there is a God

And God is good.
And God loves you.
Because God is good, and because God loves you:
     You don’t have to be afraid;
     You don’t have to suffer alone;
     You don’t have to worry about riches, or status, or pretending to be someone you’re not;
     You don’t have to feel insignificant, unnoticed or unloved;
     You don’t have to be trapped in guilt or shame;
     You don’t have to be scared of death because death is not the end.
     You don’t have to walk through this world alone.

We believe in Jesus

We believe Jesus fulfilled God’s promises that he would send a rescuer who would liberate us from sin, freeing us for a life characterised by peace and joy.
Jesus’ words and actions demonstrated a radically new way of relating to God and living in the world. His actions matched his teaching. In all things he demonstrated his love for his Father and love for others.
Jesus died on a Roman cross and then he rose from death three days later, dealing with the implications of our sin, demonstrating God's power over death and enabling us to become part of Gods family and members of his kingdom.

We believe there is a different way to live

We believe that following the example and teaching of Jesus is the way to know God and please Him. It also enables us to live our best lives. Followers of Jesus are invited to share in his work by applying his values of justice, truth and grace in all situations.
That’s why God invites us to a different life, a life of freedom, kindness, hope, courage, honesty and forgiveness. We can live this life by copying Jesus, who shows us what God is like and by asking God’s Spirit to work with us, because we can’t do it on our own.

We believe the Bible

We believe that the Bible is a unique record of God’s love for the world and guides us in understanding God and in the teaching of Jesus.
The teaching of Jesus, which is found in the New Testament, provides the definitive and authoritative truth about how we live in relationship with God.

We believe in the church

We call those who follow Jesus the church and we believe it exists wherever followers of Jesus gather. It’s God’s community where we find love, support and encouragement in all the complexities of life. And it is God’s tool for sharing the good news of his love for our world.

We believe all people are loved by God

We welcome people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, physical and mental abilities, neuro-diversities, education, classes, economic status or political outlook.
We welcome all people who are seeking to follow Jesus to participate in all areas of church life including baptism, communion, church membership, child dedication, leadership of mission, ministry and eldership. We also warmly receive same sex couples into our community to participate in all areas of church life.
We believe in Church which is Scripturally faithful, seeks to proclaim the Gospel afresh for each generation and, in the power of the Holy Spirit, allows all people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus Christ.

We believe in adult baptism

One of the things which mark out Baptist churches is our practice of ‘believer’s baptism’. When someone decides to follow the example and teaching of Jesus we hold a special service to celebrate this which includes being lowered under and raised up from a pool of water – it’s called baptism, literally being plunged or 'dunked' under water.
It is a public declaration of the decision to follow Jesus for the rest of our lives and is full of symbolism. The being lowered under the water is a picture of being buried and then raised to new life as a follower of Jesus. Water washes, so going into the water is a symbol of having the failures of our old lives washed away.
Although we value this greatly and the majority of the Church community at ABC have been baptised, your place in our church family is not conditional on this, and we recognise a Christian commitment which has previously been expressed in a different part of God's Church.