The Gospel

We realise that we are currently in a time in church history where there is much confusion of what the Gospel actually is, how we should communicate it, what God’s part is, along with the required response from man.

Because the Gospel is the very foundation of what the church is all about, we believe that it is important to clearly communicate our understanding of it, according to God's Word.

What we believe the Gospel is

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures [1 Corinthians 15:1-4].

What we believe about the application of salvation

We believe that all people are by nature separated from God [Romans 5:12-21] and responsible for their own sin [Romans 3:9-25], but that salvation, redemption, and forgiveness are freely offered to all by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [John 3:16, Romans 5:8, Romans 10:9-10, Titus 2:11-14].

God initiates the work of salvation in a person’s life [1 John 4:19, Philippians 1:6, Hebrews 12:2] by sending the Holy Spirit to convict that person of sin [John 16:7-11], resulting in godly sorrow [2 Corinthians 7:8-9].

Genuine godly sorrow then leads that person to repentance (a change of mind, leading to a change in direction away from wilful sin, towards a life of obedience to and dependence upon God) [Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19, Romans 10:9-10, 2 Corinthians 7:8-9, 1 John 1:9].

As that person then turns to God by faith, believing in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, and trusting Him alone for salvation, they are immediately born again and sealed by the Holy Spirit [Ephesians 1:13-14].

At that point they receive forgiveness of their sins, and are adopted and justified as a child of God, destined to spend eternity with the Lord [John 3:16, John 10:28-29, , 1 John 3:1, 1 John 5:11-13].

Conversion is evidence that the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in that person, enabling them to have power over sin, and to live in obedience to God’s Word, as He sanctifies them (helps them to become more and more like Christ) [John 14:26, Acts 1:8, Galatians 5:16-17].

What we believe about how the Gospel should be presented

Before sharing the “good news” of the Gospel with a person [1 Corinthians 15:3-4], we believe that it is necessary to first bring understanding of the “bad news” by clearly communicating the truth about a person’s present standing before God [Romans 3:9-25; 6:23].

The way that we seek to bring a person to an understanding of their sin and guilt before God, along with the just penalty of hell, is by using the Law of God to do so [Romans 3:19-20], knowing that a person will only be responsive if the Holy Spirit is actively at work [John 16:8; 1 Corinthians 2:9-16].

Once a person understands the “bad news” about themselves, they will be more ready to receive the “good news”, that God is rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loves us [Ephesians 2:4-7], and that it is by His grace alone, through faith alone that we can be saved [Ephesians 2:8-9].

Once the Gospel is shared with a person, we believe that it is good to encourage a response, rather than forcing a response. We discourage the methods of asking people to “make a decision” to “pray the sinner’s prayer”, or to "ask Jesus into their hearts", simply because these methods are not found in Scripture, and because we believe that they have a tendency to lead to false conversions.

Instead, we encourage the Biblical response which is to urge people to repent and believe/trust in Christ [Mark 1:15; Acts 2:37-38; 16:30-31].

Recommended teaching

To better understand what the Bible teaches about the Gospel, the application of salvation, and how to share the Gospel, we recommend listening to the following teachings: