AWFR STATEMENT OF FAITH

A. Statement of faith

The following basic doctrines contained in the Holy Scriptures are adopted:

1. The Holy Scriptures

We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God, authoritative, inerrant, and God-breathed. (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Matthew 5:18; John 16:12-13)

2. The Godhead

We believe in one Triune God, existing in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, eternal in being, identical in nature, equal in power and glory and having the same attributes and perfections. (Deuteronomy 6:4; 2 Corinthians 13:14)

3. The Total Depravity of Man

We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam's sin the human race fell, inherited a sinful nature, became alienated from God, and is totally unable to retrieve his original condition. (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:22-23; 5:12; Ephesians 2:12)

4. The Person and Work of Christ

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man; that He accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice; that our redemption is made sure to us by His literal physical resurrection from the dead (John 1:1-2, 14; Luke 1:35; Romans 3:24-25; 4:25; 1 Peter 1:3-5); that the Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven, exalted at the right hand of God the Father, where as the High Priest for His people, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor and Advocate. (Hebrews 9:24; 7:25; Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1-2).

5. The Personality and Work of the Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Person who convicts the world of the sin of unbelief, indwells all believers in the present age, baptizes them into the Body of Christ, seals them unto the day of redemption, and that it is the duty of every believer to be filled by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; Ephesians 1:13-14; 5:18)

6. Salvation

We believe that salvation in every dispensation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whose precious blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins (Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12; Ephesians 1:7).

7. The Eternal Security of Believers

We believe that all believers are kept secure forever. (Romans 8:1, 38-39; John 10:27-30; 1 Corinthians 1:4-8)

8. The Church

We believe that the Church, which is now the Body and will be the Bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again believers of this Age irrespective of their affiliation with Christian organizations. (Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:25-27; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14)

9. The Personality of Satan

We believe in the personality of Satan, who is the open and declared enemy of God and man. (Job 1:6-7; Matthew 4:2-11; Isaiah 14:12-17)

10. The Blessed Hope

We believe that the next great event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the coming of the Lord Jesus in the air to receive to Himself the dead in Christ and believers who are alive at His coming, otherwise known as the Rapture and Translation of the Church. (1 Corinthians 15:51-57; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14)

11. The Tribulation

We believe that the Rapture of the Church will be followed by the fulfillment of Daniel's seventieth week, the latter half of which is the time of Jacob's trouble, the Great Tribulation. (Daniel 9:27; Jeremiah 30:7; Matthew 24:15-21; Revelation 6:1-19; 21)

12. The Second Coming of Christ

We believe that the Great Tribulation will be climaxed by the Premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth to set up His kingdom. (Zechariah 14:4-11; Matthew 24:15-25, 46; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; Revelation 20:6)

13. The Eternal State

We believe that the human soul and human spirit of those who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence, and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul, human spirit and body reunited will be associated with Him forever in the glory; but the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery until the final judgment of the great white throne at the close of the millennium, when the soul and body reunited will be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. (Luke 16:19-26; 23:43; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Revelation 20:11-15)

14. The Responsibility of Believers

We believe that all believers should seek to walk in such a manner as to not bring reproach upon their Lord and Saviour, that it is the obligation of every believer to witness by life and by word to the truths of the Holy Scriptures and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all the world (Acts 1:8); that it is the responsibility of all believers to remember the work of the Lord in prayer and to support it with their means as the Lord has prospered them. (1 Corinthians 16:2)

15. Church Ordinance

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted the ordinances of baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper to be observed until His return. (Mt. 28:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

16. Sovereignty

We believe that God, existing as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is sovereign, and exercises supreme and absolute rule over all creation as a part of and consistent with the essence and attributes of deity. (1 Chronicles 29:11-12; Daniel 4:35; Psalm 24:1; Ephesians 1:11; 1 Timothy 6:15)

17. Spirituality

Spirituality is the condition of being saved, clean before the Lord through confession of personal sins, yieldedness to God the Holy Spirit, and walking in the light.

We believe that a believer becomes carnal through an act of mental, verbal or overt sin and that fellowship with God is restored by confession of sin and walking in the light. While confessed sin produces forgiveness and cleansing of sins, fellowship with God requires walking in the light. (Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:18; Romans 6:6, 11, 13; 1 Corinthians 11:30-31; 1 John 1:7, 9)

18. Spiritual Gifts

We believe that God the Holy Spirit in grace and apart from human merit sovereignly bestows spiritual gifts to believers in this dispensation. The permanent spiritual gifts which exist today are Pastor-Teacher, evangelist, governments, ruling, exhortation, teacher, ministry, helps, giving and mercy. We further believe that the temporary spiritual gifts were apostle, prophet, tongues, interpretation of tongues, word of wisdom, word of knowledge, discerning of spirits, faith, healings, and miracles. Tongues and interpretation of tongues ceased in 70 A.D. and the other eight temporary gifts ceased with the completion of the Canon of Scripture. (Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 28-30; 13:8; Ephesians 4:11)