Adelaide Christian Centre | Adelaide, SA Australia[[@Headword:C144]]

ACM: Adelaide College of Ministries | Klemzig SA Australia [[@Headword:C145]]

What We Believe

A. The Scriptures

We believe that the Old and New Testaments, being the completed canon of 66 books, are God's revelation given through men and directed by the Holy Spirit. These Scriptures as originally given are verbally and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit and stand free from error in any and all parts. They are the final and supreme authority.

B. The Doctrine of God

We believe that God is spirit, eternally existing in three persons - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - and these three are of one essence and equal in power and glory, therefore to be honoured and worshipped equally as true God. God is above and separate from His creation yet active in it.

(i) The Father

We believe that God the Father is the author of one eternal plan that includes all things and He is directing this plan to glorify Himself. Although God is the creator of the universe and the human race, He is the spiritual Father only of those who receive Jesus Christ by faith.

(ii) The Son: Jesus Christ

We believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is eternal and was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born a man by the virgin birth, sinless in nature and action. He voluntarily gave His life in substitutionary death on the cross for our sins and in the same body was raised from the dead. He appeared in His glorified body then ascended to the Father as our Mediator to continue forever as true God and true man. He will come again, first to receive from the earth His own and then to establish His righteous kingdom upon the earth.

(iii) The Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, is eternal and infinite. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment; regenerates all believers; indwells all who are saved; baptises all believers into the body of Christ; seals believers until the day of redemption; bestows spiritual gifts upon the members of Christ's body according to His own will; and controls for guidance power and sanctification those among the saved who are yielded to Him and subject to His will.

C. Creation

We believe that supernaturally God created the world in six successive 24-hour days through the mediation of Jesus Christ and the operation of the Holy Spirit. Man is the direct creation of God, not in any sense the product of evolution, but made in the divine image. The Genesis account is the trustworthy, historical record of creation.

D. Man

E. Salvation

We believe that salvation is a free gift of God's grace, offered to us on the basis of Christ's substitutionary death for sin on the cross. It is received personally by repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and is in no way obtained or increased by human effort. This salvation contains within itself deliverance from the guilt and penalty of sin, a perfectly righteous standing before God, the provisions for victory over the power of sin, and the promise of future glorification in God's presence.

F. The Church

We believe that the Church is composed of all those who by faith have been united to the risen and ascended Son of God. The Church, which is distinct from Israel, began at Pentecost and will be completed at the coming of Christ for His own at the rapture. All believers in this age, whether Jews or Gentiles, are baptised by the Holy Spirit into Christ at conversion and so become one spiritual body of which Christ is the Head. The members of this Church are commanded to assemble in local churches for worship, instruction in the Word, fellowship, prayer and observance of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. The commission of Christ to His Church is to communicate the gospel to both Jew and Gentile.

G. Christian Responsibility

We believe that the Christian is to glorify God in personal conduct in relation to his family, his vocation, his local church, his neighbour and his government. He fulfils this responsibility as he submits to the Lordship of Christ and obeys the Scriptures by the power of the Holy Spirit.

H. Spiritual Gifts

We believe that spiritual gifts are divinely given and sovereignly distributed by the Holy Spirit to every member of the body of Christ. The purpose of these gifts is to glorify God and to edify the church to fulfil its divinely appointed task. There are gifts given to enable every believer to share in the ministry of edification and growth of the church. Revelation is not ongoing, tongues are neither the sign of the baptism of the Spirit nor of spirituality, and Christ's atonement does not demand physical healing. The exercise of spiritual gifts must always be consistent with Scripture.

I. Satan

J. The Future Plans of God

We believe that the next event in the prophetic plan of God is the coming of Jesus Christ to rapture the Church. During the following seven-year tribulation period God will pour out judgments on the unbelieving world. The climax of this period of judgment will be the physical return of Jesus Christ to the earth in great power and glory to establish His literal kingdom over all nations for one thousand years. During the millennium, Israel will occupy a place of honour and blessing in fulfillment of the covenant promise made to her in the Old Testament. Then the wicked dead will be raised bodily, judged at the great white throne, and cast into the lake of fire where they will consciously suffer forever. All believers, however, will enjoy the presence of God forever in a new heaven and new earth.