We follow Jesus as
individuals. As Baptists, we also emphasise the significance of the
gathered Church. Our understanding of church is not as hierarchy or
organisation, but essentially as community in Christ, a Gospel people
called to be …
- A
Prophetic Community
- confronting evil, injustice and hypocrisy. Challenging worldly
concepts of power, wealth, status and security.
- An Inclusive Community
- transcending
barriers of gender, language, race, class, age and culture. Identifying
with those who are rejected, deprived and powerless.
- A
Sacrificial Community - accepting vulnerability
and the necessity of sacrifice. Seeking to reflect the generous,
life-giving nature of God.
- A
Missionary Community - demonstrating in word or
action God's forgiving and healing love.
- A
Worshipping Community - engaging in worship and
prayer which inspire and under gird all we are and do. Exploring and
expressing what it means to live together as the people of God, obeying
his Word and following Christ in the whole of daily life.
(From
the BUGB publication '5 Core Values for a Gospel People')
The Basis of the
Baptist Union is:
- That our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is the sole
and absolute authority in all matters pertaining to faith and practice,
as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and that each Church has liberty,
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to interpret and administer His
laws.
- That
Christian Baptism is the immersion in water into the Name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, of those who have professed
repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ who 'died for
our sins according to the Scriptures; was buried, and rose again the
third day'.
- That it
is the duty of every disciple to bear personal witness to the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, and to take part in the evangelisation of the world.
|
|
