This page details our statement of faith as set out in the church's trust deed drawn up in 1796
We also have a church constitution which guides us in the practicalities of church life.
Articles of faith of the Church of Christ meeting at the Baptist Church, Hailsham
We believe......
1. That the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the word of God, and the sole rule of all saving knowledge, faith and obedience.
2. That there is but one only living and true God; and that there are three divine persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who are equal in nature, in power and in glory.
3. That God hath decreed in himself from eternity, all things whatsoever come to pass; and that a certain number of our fellow creatures were predestinated to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, who was set up from everlasting as the head of that covenant which secures grace and glory to all the vessels of mercy.
4. That God created man an upright and holy creature, and that he entered into covenant with him, as the representative of all his posterity. But, Adam, transgressing against the law of God, we believe that he has involved all mankind in ruin, the guilt of his sin being imputed and a corrupted nature conveyed to all his posterity.
5. That in the fullness of time God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, and in our nature became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. That he rose again from the dead as the surety of his people, by which a complete atonement was made for their sins, and eternal redemption secured to their persons. This redemption we believe is special and particularly designed only for those who are elect according to the foreknowledge of God.
6. That the justification of a sinner is entirely by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, received by faith.
7. That Regeneration, Conversion and Sanctification, are not acts of man's free will, but the operations of the Holy Spirit in efficacious grace, which all the elect of God are made partakers of, in order to eternal salvation.
8. We believe that the Church of Christ consists of the whole body of the redeemed, whether in heaven or on earth, which will not appear until Christ's second coming, when all the elect will be gathered in, raised from the dead, and appear with him in glory. But a particular church is a single society of visible believers, united in love, by mutual agreement, assembling together in one place to perform social worship and to observe the institutions of the Lord Jesus. The only standing officers in this Church, are Bishops (or Elders) and Deacons.
9. That reading the scriptures, prayer, singing of hymns, and preaching the word, are the ordinances of social worship to be observed on the Lord's Day, and at other times.
10. That Baptism and the Lord's-supper are institutions of Christ; to be continued in his church till his second coming; and that the former of these is requisite to the latter: that is to say, that those only are to be admitted into the communion of the church, who have been baptized by immersion, upon a profession of faith in Christ.
11. That all those who are chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and sanctified by the Spirit, shall certainly and finally persevere, so that not one of them shall ever perish, but shall obtain everlasting life.
12. That it is appointed for all men once to die; and that there will be a resurrection of the dead both of the just and the unjust:- that Christ will come a second time to judge all mankind, when he will take vengeance on the wicked, by consigning them to eternal punishment, and will introduce the righteous into his kingdom and glory, where they shall be for ever with him.