{"id":356,"date":"2021-04-08T12:34:15","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T11:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deva.ocf.org.uk\/?page_id=356"},"modified":"2021-04-10T20:43:08","modified_gmt":"2021-04-10T19:43:08","slug":"beliefs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ocf.org.uk\/?page_id=356","title":{"rendered":"Beliefs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our beliefs centre around Jesus Christ as Son of God, and that God has made himself known to <\/span>us through the Bible, which is infallible.\u00a0 In it God declares His deep and personal love and interest <\/span>in us, and has shown it by giving the Lord Jesus Christ to die that we might be forgiven and have <\/span>eternal life.\u00a0 We believe in living a life-style, with the help of the Holy Spirit, which is pleasing to <\/span>God, and caring to others. For a fuller explanation of our teachings and beliefs, see the statement <\/span>of faith below.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Statement of Faith

<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

God the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We believe in the one true God who lives eternally in three persons \u2013 the Father, Son and Holy <\/span>Spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n

We believe in the love, grace and sovereignty of God in creating, sustaining, ruling, redeeming <\/span>and judging the world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Humanity<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We believe in the dignity of all people, made male and female in God\u2019s image to love, be holy and <\/span>care for creation, yet corrupted by sin, which incurs divine wrath and judgement.<\/span><\/p>\n


The Incarnation<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We believe in the incarnation (God becoming flesh) of God\u2019s eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ \u2013 <\/span>born of the virgin Mary; truly divine and truly human, yet without sin.<\/span><\/p>\n


Jesus as Saviour<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We believe in the atoning (make us one with God) sacrifice of Christ on the cross: dying in our <\/span>place, paying the price of sin and defeating evil, so reconciling with God eternally everyone who <\/span>comes to Him.<\/span><\/p>\n


The Resurrection<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, a first demonstration and proclamation of our own <\/span>resurrection from death; His ascension to the Father, and His reign and mediation as the only <\/span>Saviour of the world and only way to the Father.<\/span><\/p>\n


Justification<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We believe in the justification of sinners solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ and that <\/span>this justification is available to all who come to Him in faith and receive Him as their Lord and <\/span>Saviour.<\/span><\/p>\n


The Holy Spirit<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We believe in the ministry of God the Holy Spirit, who leads us to repentance, unites us with Christ <\/span>through new birth, leads us into understanding, empowers us to grow and be transformed to <\/span>become more like Him, and enables us to demonstrate His love to the world.<\/span><\/p>\n


The Bible<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We believe in the divine inspiration, authority and infallibility of the whole Bible as the written Word <\/span>of God, fully trustworthy for faith and conduct.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Church<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We believe in the church as the body of Christ both local and universal and in the priesthood of all <\/span>believers.<\/span><\/p>\n

We believe the church is given life by the Spirit and that all believers are equipped with the Spirit\u2019s <\/span>gifts to worship God and declare the good news of Jesus Christ, to demonstrate the blessings of <\/span>God\u2019s kingdom in justice and love to the whole world pointing the way to eternal hope and <\/span>everlasting joy in Him.<\/span><\/p>\n


Baptism and Communion<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We believe in the baptism of believers in water in obedience to the command of Christ, and in the <\/span>remembrance of Christ\u2019s death by observance of the Lord\u2019s Supper until His return.<\/span><\/p>\n


Ministry<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We believe in the ministries and the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God for the <\/span>building up of the church and the demonstration of his kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

We believe in the preaching and demonstration of the whole gospel bringing salvation, freedom, <\/span>blessing, healing and deliverance, meeting the spiritual and physical needs of the whole world.<\/span><\/p>\n


The Return of Jesus<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We believe in the personal and visible return of Jesus Christ to fulfil the purposes of God, who will <\/span>raise all people to judgement, bring eternal life to the redeemed and eternal condemnation to the <\/span>lost, and establish a new heaven and new earth.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our beliefs centre around Jesus Christ as Son of God, and that God has made himself known to us through the Bible, which is infallible.\u00a0 In it God declares His deep and personal love and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-356","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=356"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/ocf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":440,"href":"https:\/\/ocf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/356\/revisions\/440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}