God's family, reaching up, reaching in, reaching out.

God's family

We believe that God has called all those who believe in Jesus to become part of the world wide family of God and in particular part of the local family meeting in our case at Good News Church. Eph 1 vs5 says "His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us." Eph 3 vs15 says "When I think of the wisdom and scope of His plan I fall down on my knees and pray to the Father of all the great family of God -- some of them already in heaven and some down here on earth."

Reaching up - to worship the living God and receive more of His love, word and Holy Spirit;

It is our aim to reach up to God through the way we worship and the way we live our lives, we believe this is the most important purpose of our lives individually and together. Matthew 6 vs33 says "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness"

Reaching in - to love, support and encourage one another, enabling us all to grow in the love of God;

It is also our aim to reach in i.e. to care for those who belong to the church, locally and world wide. We do this by seeking to gently pastor those who are members locally and to help each other when we are in difficulties, and by giving to the wider work of the Church world wide. Rom 12 vs10 says "Love each other with brotherly affection and take delight in honouring each other" and vs13 says "When God's children are in need you be the one to help them out", Heb 13 vs1 continues the theme by saying "Continue to love each other with true brotherly love"

Reaching out - to share God's word, love and passion for justice with the world He has made;

And we are also exhorted to "Go into all the world and preach the gospel" (Good News) (Mark 16 vs15). How do we do this? Paul has the answer in 1 Cor 9 vs19b "I have freely and happily become a servant of any and all so that I can win them to Christ". In 'reaching out' we therefore seek to serve everybody and to look after the creation that God has given us. Heb 13 vs2 says "Don't forget to be kind to strangers -----" Rom 12 vs17 "Never pay back evil for evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honest clear through." And the rest of the chapter is in the same vein, why not read it? We do believe that there is a time and place for words (preaching) and that the Word of God is a sharp two edged sword which when spoken can, through the work of the Holy Spirit, pierce to the heart and convict a person of their need of a saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us all, yes even his enemies.

Basis of Faith of Good News Church

We believe in:-

1. One true GOD in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, creator and sustainer of all life.

2. The deity of Christ, the Son of God, His birth of a virgin, His sinless humanity, His atoning death on the cross, His bodily resurrection, ascension and present intercession for those who believe.

3. The Bible as God’s inspired word, being the final authority in all things, and His revelation of Himself to mankind.

4. The dignity of all people, made male and female in God’s image to love, be holy and care for creation, yet corrupted by sin, which incurs divine wrath and judgement.

5. The need for repentance for sin and of a New Birth by the Holy Spirit, the justification of the sinner only by the grace of God through faith in Christ, and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in the life of all those who have faith.

6. The resurrection of all mankind, for judgment by Christ at His future visible return in power and glory, bringing eternal life in all its fullness to those who accept Christ and eternal condemnation to those who reject Him, establishing a new heaven and a new earth.

7. The practice of Baptism by immersion of those who declare themselves to have experienced New Birth (as defined above) and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper in obedience to the commands of Christ.

8. The Church, the Body of Christ both local and universal, the Priesthood of all believers – having been given eternal life by the Holy Spirit and being endowed with gifts from Him both to worship God and to proclaim the Good News of Jesus - being Salt and Light in the World.