The
churches that belong to the Association of Grace
Baptist Churches (South East) hold
to:
●
an
orthodox view of God, the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit and affirm the two natures of Christ
(being fully God and fully man).
●
a
Calvinistic view about how people are saved - The
Doctrines of Grace.
●
a
Baptist view of the church - the churches recognise
a pattern in the Bible whereby believers are
baptised by immersion, added to the membership of
the local church and then enjoy the privileges of
the church including the Lord's Supper.
●
a
congregational order of church government. Each
local church is governed by its own members and not
by an outside body.
●
a
Conservative Evangelical view of the Bible – that
it is verbally God given and without error or fault
in all of its teaching.
●
a
Conservative Evangelical view of Judgment - the
return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the
eternal happiness of the righteous and eternal
punishment of the wicked.
Pastors and messengers of Particular Baptist
Churches in and around London, holding Strict
Communion principles, met in Soho chapel, Oxford
Street, on 10th March 1871 and adopted a doctrinal
basis for the purpose of forming this Association.
As amended and agreed in the Annual General meeting
held at Walthamstow on 5th October 1985, it reads
as follows:
●
The
Scriptures reveal that there is but one God; that
there are Three Persons in the Godhead, the Father,
the Son and the Holy Ghost; and that these Three
Persons are equal in Eternity, Substance, Power and
Glory.
●
In the
fullness of time God sent forth His Son, ever
subsisting in Essential Deity; Who was conceived of
the Holy Ghost, and was born of the Virgin Mary; so
that our Lord Jesus Christ is very God and very man
in one Complex Person.
●
Eternal and
personal election unto salvation.
●
The
fall of mankind in Adam - their guilt and
condemnation - together with their entire and
universal depravity, by which they were utterly
alienated from God, and are unable in and of
themselves to turn to him.
●
Particular
redemption by the vicarious sacrifice of Christ.
●
Justification by
grace, through faith, by the imputed righteousness
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
●
Regeneration and
sanctification by the direct agency of the Holy
Spirit through the instrumentality of Divine Truth;
and that saving faith is the sovereign and gracious
gift of God.
●
The
absolute necessity for a holy life, as the result
of true faith and the evidence of regeneration.
●
The
final perseverance of true believers.
●
The
inerrancy of the Old and New Testaments of the Holy
Scriptures, as originally given, their full verbal
inspiration by God and their supreme authority as
the only rule of faith and practice.
●
The
resurrection of the dead, and the universal
judgment.
●
The
everlasting punishment of the wicked, and the
everlasting happiness of the righteous.
●
The
duty of preaching the Gospel to every creature of
the fallen race of Adam.
●
The
necessity of baptism by immersion, on a profession
of repentance and faith, in order to receive Church
fellowship and admission to the Lord's Table.
●
The
congregational order of the churches.
●
The
personal and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ
A fuller statement of these doctrines with their
scriptural support is to be found in the historic
17th century Particular Baptist Confessions, and
also in ‘We Believe’ - The Baptist Affirmation of
Faith 1966 and A Guide to Church Fellowship.
(Published by Grace Publications Trust, ISBN
0946462 00 3.)