Our Beliefs

Our Beliefs

We are an autonomous, local fellowship committed to historic Christianity; so we are a “Christian” fellowship before anything else and then, in particular, we hold to historic Baptist principles. This means we have no mother church, we operate totally autonomously of outside influence, nor do we have any system of hierarchy, all members of our fellowship are brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore totally equal in the sight of God. Our Pastor practices servant leadership and we follow a model of congregational church government that we see practiced by the early church.

This page is provided to list our basic doctrinal position. Its purpose is not to provide a comprehensive embodiment of our doctrine but rather a broad outline so that you can know what to expect at our fellowship.

We accept the Bible as the Word of God without requiring logical or observational proof. The Bible claims to be the perfect Word of God, and since we accept the Bible we must accept this claim.

We consider the belief that God exists to be so obvious to every observational and rational faculty and to every culture in history, that such belief is not necessary to state. The pivotal concept is that God exists as He is revealed in the Bible. All other items in the Doctrinal Statement are drawn from an examination of the Scripture.

God

We believe in the Trinity, the unity of the Godhead. There are three persons: The FATHER, The SON, and The HOLY SPIRIT. They are equal in every divine perfection and execute distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.

(A) We believe in GOD the FATHER

(B) We believe in JESUS CHRIST

Man

We believe that all men by nature, choice, and practice are sinners, but that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We believe, therefore, that those who by faith receive Christ as Lord and Saviour will rejoice forever in God’s presence and those who refuse to receive Christ as Lord and Saviour will be forever separated from God.

Salvation

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

Eternal State

We believe in Heaven, the eternal home of the redeemed. We believe Heaven to be the place where the saved will live forever in the eternal bliss and blessings of God. We believe in Hell, the Christ-less eternity for the lost, where there will be burning and tormenting for those without salvation, who have refused to receive the gospel and Jesus Christ as Lord. We believe that Hell, unbelievers, Satan and all the fallen angels shall be cast into the lake of fire to be tormented day and night forever and forever.

The Bible

We believe that the BIBLE is the WORD OF GOD and that it is divinely inspired. We believe in the plenary, verbal inspiration, that it is the only complete and final revelation of the will of GOD to man, and the supreme, infallible authority in all matters of faith and conduct. We use the King James Bible (Authorised Version) for all teaching and preaching.

The Church/The Fellowship

We believe in the Church: a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and of which all regenerated people are members. We believe that the local church is a company of professing, born-again believers in Jesus Christ, immersed on a credible confession of faith, and associated for worship, work and fellowship. We believe that to those local churches we are committed, for perpetual observance of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and that God has laid upon these churches the task of proclaiming to a lost world the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and the enthroning of Him as Lord and Master. We believe that the human betterment and social improvements are the inevitable by-products of such a gospel, but we do not believe that a social gospel will save.

The Relationship between Church and State

We believe that every human being is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith; that each church is independent and autonomous and must be free from any ecclesiastical or political authority; therefore, Church and State must be kept separate as having different functions with each fulfilling its duties free from the dictation or patronage of the other.

Spiritual Gifts

We believe that spiritual gifts are given to the church for the express purpose of winning the lost and edifying other believers. The Holy Spirit is given to each believer upon acceptance of Christ and His purpose is to exalt and bring people to Christ. Speaking in tongues was the least important of these gifts and was given as a sign for unbelieving Jews. That is why Derry Baptist Fellowship doesn’t teach or practise speaking in tongues.

Eternal Security

We believe in the eternal security of all blood-bought individuals or believers and that such inheritance is incorruptible and undefiled and that each believer is kept by the power of God and nothing can separate us from Him, ourselves included. We believe that believers can lose the joy of fellowship with God, can grieve God and can quench the Spirit of God in him or her, but not lose his/her salvation.

World Evangelism

We believe that Christ is the founder and head of the church. We believe that He promised to continue the work in and through the church that He started until He comes again. We believe that the ministry of reconciliation is committed to every believer and that every believer is a saint and priest with God who can be directly involved in the ministry.

Second Coming

We believe in the pre-tribulation rapture for the saints. We believe in the bodily/visible return of Jesus Christ with His saints at the close of the Tribulation period to rule and reign for a thousand years on earth. We believe that unbelievers will face and be judged by God at the Great White Throne Judgment according to their works, not for salvation, but for their proper and rightful places in the lake of fire.