FORM
OF COVENANT
ARTICLES OF FAITH
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Chichester, N. H.
Adopted November 20, 1987
Amended November 18, 1989
Amended November 18, 2000
FORM OF COVENANT
WE COVENANT with
the Lord Jesus Christ and with this church in the presence
of God, to commit
ourselves to Him and to His church. We accept Jesus' call
to "deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow
Him." We acknowledge our utter dependence upon God's
grace to do this, but we declare before God and before all
men our commitment to this way of life. We pledge ourselves
to be doers of the Word and not hearers only; to grow up
in every way into Christ; to consecrate our lives, time,
talent, substance and influence to the work of Christ in
this church and in the world.
PREAMBLE TO THE ARTICLES OF FAITH
WHILE WE ACKNOWLEDGE The Savoy Declaration
of Faith and Order and the Cambridge Platform to be the classical
expression of historic Congregational principles, and therefore
a valuable guideline for Congregational churches, we affirm
the following statement of faith as an adequate basis for
fellowship among evangelical Christians. In acknowledging
these two historic documents, it is to be understood not
as an authoritative rule or code of faith whereby we are
to be restrained or confined, but as an assistance to each
of us in our faith, as a means of edification.
ARTICLES OF FAITH
Do not be ashamed of your faith; remember that
it is the ancient Gospel of Martyrs, Confessors, Reformers
and Saints. Above all, it is the truth of God, against which
the gates of hell cannot prevail. Let your lives adorn your
faith, let your example adorn your creed. Above all, live
in Christ Jesus, and walk in Him, giving credence to no teaching
but that which is approved of Him, and owned by the Holy
Spirit. Cleave fast to the Word of God which is here mapped
out for you.
1. WE BELIEVE the Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments to be the
only
inspired, inerrant, infallible, authoritative Word of God written.
2. WE BELIEVE that there is one God eternally
existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
3. WE BELIEVE in the deity of Christ, in His
virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His
miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His
bodily
resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His
personal return in power and glory.
4. WE BELIEVE that for salvation of lost and
sinful man regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely
essential.
5. WE BELIEVE in the present ministry of the
Holy Spirit by Whose indwelling power and fullness the Christian
is enabled to live a godly life in this present evil world.
The evidence of the Holy Spirit's ministry is His grace,
His fruit and His gifts.
6. WE BELIEVE in the resurrection of both the
saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection
of life, and they that are lost unto the resurrection of
damnation.
7. WE BELIEVE in the spiritual unity of all
believers in Christ. |