So that things may be done decently and in order, and that we may more readily help each other in our Christian service, we declare and establish this Statement of Faith to which we voluntarily submit ourselves. This Statement of Faith is intended to further the work, worship and message of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Its chief purposes are:

• That we may have unity of purpose and action as Christians (Mk. 3:25; Amos 3:3).

• That our mission may be run in an orderly manner and for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31; 14:33, 40).

• That we may worship and glorify God through the public worship of God and the preaching of the Gospel; by the edification of the saints through the teaching of God’s Word; by consistent Christian living of those in covenant fellowship; to aid in the spreading of the Gospel in our own and in foreign lands; to have spiritual fellowship with the brethren; to bear one another’s burdens; to uplift the weak; and to pray for one another (Eph. 4:11-13).

• That we may have commonly agreed standards for what we teach in all of our ministries conducted by and through Village Church Planters - Liberia (Matt. 28:19, 20; Eph. 1:12).

I. THE SCRIPTURES – We believe the Holy Bible (all sixty-six books from Genesis to Revelation) both Old and New Testaments, as originally written by Holy Spirit-controlled men, was verbally and supernaturally inspired; that it is truth without error; and is the only complete and final revelation of God Himself and His divine will to man; the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried. It is the sole and final authority in all matters of faith and practice. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter, and that no other writings have ever been or will ever be inspired by God Almighty.

Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

“Inspiration” means the books of the Bible were written by holy men of old, as they were moved (born along) by the Holy Spirit’s power, not acting according to their own wills, or simply expressing their own thoughts, but expressing the mind of God in words provided and ministered by Him.

We believe God has miraculously and supernaturally preserved the content of the original writings through the work of faithful Bible translators into languages found throughout the known world. We believe the texts which are closest to the original autographs of the Bible are the Masoretic Hebrew Text for the Old Testament and the Textus Receptus (Received Text – Koine Greek) for the New Testament. We reject all translations and versions being promoted and endorsed by the ecumenical and new age movements, and recognize the intent of the evil one is to undermine the integrity of God’s Word in every language including the English tongue.

(Ps. 12:6-7; 119:89, 105; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21)

II. OF THE TRUE GOD

We believe God is supreme in His person, eternal in His being, absolute in His attributes, glorious in His perfection, and sovereign in His will. God is clearly distinguished from things which have no life, He is a person. God is the Creator of man and the entire universe and upholds all things by the Word of His power.

We also believe in the Trinity. The Father is the fullness of the Godhead invisible; the Son is the fullness of the Godhead manifested; and the Holy Spirit is the fullness of the Godhead in His executive agency. They are co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory. God in His person possesses Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and Immutability.

(Gen. 1:1, 26; Ps. 90:2; Prov. 15:3; Matt. 3:16-17; 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 John 5:7)

A. Person and Work of God the Father

We believe in God the Father, perfect in holiness, boundless in love, infinite in wisdom, measureless in power. He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men; He hears and answers prayers and He saves by faith those who come to Him through Jesus Christ His Son.

(Ps. 99:9; 147:5; Isa. 44:24; John 3:16; 14:13-14; Heb. 7:25)

B. Person and Work of God the Son

We believe Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God; that He pre-existed with the Father and became man, without ceasing to be God. He was begotten of the Holy Spirit, in a miraculous manner; born of the virgin Mary as no other man was ever born or can ever be born of woman, and that He is both the Son of God, and God the Son.

(Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2; Col. 1:16)

We believe He was sinless in His nature and life (meaning He neither did sin NOR could have sinned); that He was infallible in His teaching; that He accomplished our redemption, making atonement for our sins through His substitutionary death on the cross according to the Scriptures; and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead.

(Rom. 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 1:4; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 John 2:2)

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, and is exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfils the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate.

(Acts 1:9, 10; Rom. 8:34; Heb. 9:24; 1 John 2:1)

We believe in the “Blessed Hope,” the personal and visible coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed people. After this, the wrath of God will be poured out upon the world in the Great Tribulation which will ultimately culminate with the visible, revelation of Jesus Christ in power and great glory to establish His pre-millennial reign.

(Zech. 14:4-11; 1 Cor. 15:42-44, 51-54; Phil. 3:20-21; 1 Thess. 1:10, 4:13-18; 5:9; Tit. 2:13; Rev. 3:10, 19:11-16, 20:1-6)

C. Person and Work of God the Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit is a divine Person; equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature; that He was active in the creation; that in His relation to the unbelieving world He restrains Satan until God’s purpose is fulfilled; that He convicts of sin, of judgment and of righteousness; that He bears witness of the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony; that He is the agent in the New Birth; that He indwells believers at the moment of salvation and is their constant source of strength and power; that He seals, guides, teaches, comforts, convicts, challenges, sanctifies, and helps the believer; and that He witnesses of and glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ.

(Gen. 1:2; John 14:16-17, 26; 16:7-15; Acts 5:3, 4; Rom. 8:9, 16, 26-27; Eph. 1:13; 1 Pet. 1:2)

III. Of Satan

We believe in the personal existence of Satan, the evil one, who was created a perfect angelic being; who willfully led a host of other angels in rebellion against God; who is the author of sin and false religion; who is the accuser of saints and tempter of all men; and who shall be destroyed in the lake of fire with his followers at the end of the millennium. We also believe he is the deceiver and the god of this present world, that his powers are vast, but strictly limited by the permissive will of God who overrules all his wicked devices for good; that he was defeated and judged at the cross, and therefore his final doom is certain; that we are able to resist and overcome him in the armor of God, by the blood of the Lamb and through the power of the Holy Spirit.

(Job 1:6-12; Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:11-19; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2; 1 Thess. 3:5; Jam. 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8, 9; Rev. 12:9-12; 20:10)

IV. Of Creation

We believe in the Genesis account of creation as neither allegory nor figuratively, but as a literal, historical account of the direct, immediate, creative acts of God. We firmly believe this was accomplished in six 24 hour days without any (organic or theistic) evolutionary process. We would also disallow the teaching of the Gap Theory which was a compromise of the 19^th century church to the introduction of the evolutionary teachings of Charles Darwin and leans toward a theistic evolutionary line of thinking. We believe man was created directly in God’s own image and after His own likeness and not from previously existing forms of life; that all animal and vegetable life was made directly and God’s established law was that they should bring forth only “after their kind.”

(Gen. 1:1, 11, 24-27; Gen. 2:21-23; Ex. 20:11; John 1:3; Rom. 1:20; Heb. 1:2; 11:3)

V. Of the Fall of Man

We believe man was originally created in innocence under the law of his Maker; that by his own free choice and willful decision fell into sin and thereby incurred not only physical death, but also that spiritual death which is eternal separation from God. We believe all human beings are born with a sinful nature and are totally depraved; that man does not possess any qualities whereby he might reconcile himself to God or save himself from the eternal consequence of sin. Man in his sinful condition is under just condemnation without defense or excuse before a holy and righteous God.

(Gen. 3:1-6; Rom. 3:10-23; 5:12; Gal. 3:22)

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