We Believe

We acknowledge the Holy Scriptures to be the primary basis for Christian belief, but we also assent to the historic Creeds of the Christian Church [the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed]. We value and respect the Church's historic experience and understanding of the Scriptures. As Anglicans we have a particular regard for the 39 Articles of Religion, and to the teaching implicit in the Prayer Book [especially that of 1662], and the Jerusalem Declaration of 2008.

Worship is the key activity of the Church, by which its members honour God and receive from Him grace, direction and strength through His Word [the Bible, faithfully preached], and the Sacraments, [Baptism and Holy Communion]. Through these God draws us to Himself and enables us to trust and depend upon Him - in particular, to trust in his Son, Jesus Christ, who was crucified and rose from the dead.

We believe the death of Jesus, despite being at the human level an act of cruel judicial murder, to be the sacrifice which has the power to cancel out our sin and restore us to God. His resurrection from the dead was God the Father's great act of approval and acceptance of His Son's saving self-sacrifice. God's Holy Spirit comes to live in those who receive Christ as their Saviour, an experience of new birth to which Holy Baptism points and prepares us.

All Christians are called to a life of fellowship with God, which expresses itself in active obedience to the teaching of God's Word in Holy Scripture as it relates to all dimensions of human life. The Church is called to nurture such a life and to expect its members to live accordingly. The new life in Christ which God's Holy Spirit gives to us draws us near to God, but also to one another in friendship and mutual support. We therefore hope that our church life will enable people to make new friendships and to find help especially in times of difficulty.

We believe the family to be God's provision for the birth and nurture of children, and honour the respective roles of fathers and mothers within marriage which, in His purpose, is to be faithfully and lovingly lived.

We believe that all human beings are made in the image of God and therefore without exception are entitled to respect and dignity of treatment. Equally, all have fallen into sin and are in need of redemption. Thus all are to be honoured, and all called to repentance and new life through faith in Jesus Christ.

We believe in and affirm the sanctity of human life, given that men and women are made in God's image, and believe that this dignity requires protection of the vulnerable, the elderly, and the unborn. 

As the Scriptures and Creeds teach, we look for the return of Christ 'in power and great glory' when God determines that the present order of things has run its course.