We Value the Bible:

We value the Bible as God’s inspired and authoritative word to everyone. We value its truth as enduring, ever relevant and wholly reliable. We value it as revealing to human beings the mind and heart of God, their Creator, - His wise will and loving purposes and commands.

We value it as revealing to us all we need to know to guide us to that true wholeness and ‘well-being’ in life that He desired for us.

We value it as communicating to all people in their lostness His unique way of salvation and new life.

We value free and open communication between people, especially the communication of truth. We value the clear, systematic teaching of the Bible with its message concerning God’s will and its revelation of our salvation in Jesus Christ.

 

We hold these values because we believe in the God who communicates:  

· God is a God of communication and self-disclosure. His will has always been to make Himself, His perfect justice, compassionate love and overwhelming grace, known to human beings.  Throughout the length of human history He revealed himself, communicating to people through the lives and words of chosen, inspired men and women.  Supremely He revealed himself in the person of his incarnate Son, Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord and Christ.

· All these communications from Himself, inspired by His own Spirit, are faithfully recorded in the Bible, which consequently is the unique written revelation of God to human beings. It is the fundamental authority of Christians who seek to know it, live by it and make it known as God’s word of truth and salvation to everyone.

· As God is a God of communication, so communication is fundamental to the Christian life and witness. The Christian Church is charged, as part of its essential calling, to communicate God and His message to the world.  It is essentially a Church that reaches out to the world in loving service, making known His truth and extending the offer of His love and grace to all.