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What we Believe

Short Declaration of Faith

At Germiston Baptist Church, we affirm the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith (full details below) as the official declaration of faith for conduct and teaching; the church recognizes that not all believers have the same convictions and accordingly requires that all candidates for membership should at least accept the following Short Declaration of Faith before admission as members:

Of Scripture

We believe that the Bible to be the complete Word of God, that the sixty-six books, as originally written, comprising the Old and New Testaments were verbally and plenary inspired by the Spirit of God and are entirely free from error and that the Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice and the true basis of Christian union.
Of The Trinity

We believe in one God, Creator of all, holy, sovereign, eternal, existing in three equal Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Of the Deity of Jesus

We believe in the absolute and essential deity of Jesus Christ, in His eternal existence with the Father in pre-incarnate glory, in His virgin birth, true humanity, sinless life, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, triumphant ascension, mediatorial ministry and personal return.
Of Satan

We believe that Satan exists as an evil personality, the originator of sin, the archenemy of God and man.
Of Man

We believe that man was divinely created in the image of God, that he sinned, becoming guilty before God, resulting in total depravity, thereby incurring physical and spiritual death.
Of Salvation

We Believe that none but those who exercise repentance from sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved, and that salvation is by the sovereign grace of God; that by the appointment of the Father, Christ voluntarily suffered a vicarious expiatory and propitiatory death; that justification is by faith alone in the all-sufficient sacrifice and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and that those whom God has effectually called shall be divinely perfected in the image of the Lord.
Of the End Times

We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ; in the resurrection of the just and unjust; in the eternal blessedness of the redeemed and in the judgement and conscious, eternal punishment of the wicked.
Of The Church

We believe that an ideal church is a company of believers who have been baptised, called out from the world, separated unto the Lord Jesus, voluntarily associated for the ministry of the Word, the mutual edification of its members, the propagation of the faith and the observance of the ordinances. We believe it is an autonomous body in a particular locality, exercising its own divinely awarded gifts, precepts and privileges under the Lordship of Christ, the Head of the church. We believe that its officers are Pastors (Elders) and Deacons.
Of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

We believe that there are two ordinances for the Church regularly observed in the following orders: Baptism, which is the immersion of the believer in water, whereby he obeys Christ’s command and sets forth the washing away of sins and identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, The Lord’s Supper, which is the memorial wherein the believer partakes of the two elements, bread and wine/grape juice which symbolise the Lord’s body and shed blood proclaiming His death until He comes again.
Of Marriage

We believe that God has sanctioned marriage only between a man and a woman. Therefore, we believe in heterosexual relationships between a natural man and a natural woman within the confines of lawful matrimony. Adherence to this stated principle of sexual behavior is an inherent requirement for membership with the Germiston Baptist Church.