E L S H A D A I

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Statement of Faith

By the grace of God and the authority of the Holy Bible, we the Pastors and Believers in the church promise to the following articles of faith.

God

We believe in one true and living God, perfect in love and fully holy and righteous, eternally existent in three Persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Holy Bible

We believe that God has disclosed himself perfectly in words and events of human history and reveals Himself through the Bible, its sixty six books, as the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.

Sin

We believe that God in His love freely created the world out of nothing and created male and female in His likeness to have fellowship with Him, but through the temptation of Satan they rebelled against God. So that He has become a stranger to them, causing them to fall into wickedness; and that in spite of their separation to God, they are still responsible to Him, subject to His anger, and apart from grace, completely incapable of reconciling with Him.

Jesus Christ

We believe in the full deity and humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ, expressed through His virgin birth, sinless life and miracles, vicarious atoning death through His shed blood, His bodily resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His visible personal return in power and glory. We believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to God through His sinless life, revelation of divine love and justice, His death and resurrection, and His gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Godhead, our Counselor and Comforter, by whose indwelling we as reconciled children of God are enabled to live godly and holy lives as we submit to Him. We believe that the baptism in the Holy Spirit empowers believers to exalt Christ to live lives of holiness and to be witnesses of God’s saving grace. We believe the manifestations of the Holy Spirit to be in the same manner as that which came upon believers in the early church. We believe the Holy Spirit grants gifts to believers to edify and evangelize and will enable believers to show spiritual fruit such as love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control We believe this is a gift available to all Christians subsequent to and distinct from their regeneration through faith, and that the manifestations of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of grace will continue till the end of the age when Jesus will return to rule the world.

Salvation

We believe that before a righteous and holy God, all our righteousness is as filthy rags, that no human righteousness or merit is sufficient to earn salvation and that salvation comes through the grace of God alone. We believe that only sincere repentance of sin and dependence upon God’s mercy opens the door to God’s grace, and that He extends His grace to all who entrust their lives to Him alone.

The Church

We believe in the Church as the body of believers in Christ, both local and universal, called by God to love and enjoy Him as Father, to encourage one another, to live holy lives under the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ, to glorify Him and serve as a testimony to the world around us, so that they, too, might experience the salvation of Jesus Christ.

Sacraments

We believe that Jesus commanded those who put their trust in Him to be baptized by immersion in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, testifying to the grace of God and Lordship of Jesus Christ at work in their lives. We believe that each person reconciled to God through Jesus Christ must observe the Lord’s Supper in obedience to Christ, through the receiving of broken bread and the fruit of the vine, with joy and faith, celebrating and partaking of the new life that comes from the triumph of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Great Commission

We believe that preaching the Gospel to every creature and making disciples is the supreme ministry of the Church and expression of Holy Spirit power, in fulfillment of the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ out of His deep and loving desire that none should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Second Coming of Christ

We believe in heaven as the eternal habitation of God and all those who depend upon His mercy. We believe in the blessed hope of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ in power and glory, the resurrection of the saved to life and the lost to damnation, and His creation of a new heaven and a new earth where all the reconciled people from every tongue, tribe and nation will reign with Him forever and ever.