THE MISSION OF ESPOON KOTIKIRKKO CHURCH
To spread and proclaim a growing, honest and passionate relationship between Christ and people, based on the witness of Scripture, declared for the glory of God, for our own growing joy, and the benefit of every nation. (Fil. 1:20-21).
”Evangelical, reformed, and baptistic”
Evangelic. We believe that only regenerate, and repentant Christians have the forgiveness of their sins because of the work of Christ. They will thus receive the gift of eternal life. Therefore, we believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ, His atoning death and resurrection, ought to be proclaimed to all people among every nation.
Reformed. Our view of salvation is that of traditional protestant and reformed understanding: through grace alone,
by faith alone, by Scripture alone, and in Christ alone.
Baptistic. We practise believers’ baptism, the independence of the church and state, and the unity and autonomy of the local congregation.
THE CONFESSION OF FAITH
Apostolic Confession of Faith
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of the saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The SRBY (Fellowship of Reformed Baptist Churches in Finland) Confession of Faith
The member churches of our network are assumed to teach according to the confession of faith stated below. However, we can not assume that every church member agrees with everything in this confession of faith. Therefore, this confession is followed by a shorter confession of faith, which condenses the articles of faith that every church member in our network must be able to sign and believe.
Distinctives
We see ourselves as being in continuity with the apostolic, catholic (i.e., common), and orthodox (i.e., rightly worshipping) faith. This faith is that truth of God revealed in the Scriptures and the summa of the doctrine of Christ, which he first delivered to his apostles by His Spirit and which was consequently accepted in all early churches. It is for this once-for-all delivered faith that Jude, even in the first century, exhorted to contend for. We believe that this faith is best summarized in the rich confessions of the reformed Christianity.
The basic characteristics of our churches are expository preaching, emphasis on the importance of the local church and God’s mission, baptism based on the confession of one’s faith, and regular enjoyment of communion. We confess and teach the doctrines of grace and the fulfilment of the revelatory work of the Holy Spirit in the person of Christ and in the word of God. We teach that God has created humans as man and woman, and it is the duty of man to serve his family and the church as a spiritual leader with grace and humbleness, sacrificing himself in love. We also share the passion for unadulterated preaching of the gospel that encounters people face to face, as well as for the planting of new churches that are faithful to the Scriptures.
Main tenets of our faith
Apostolic and catholic church
Together with the earliest Christians, we believe that God established his church upon the foundation of apostles and prophets—Christ himself being the cornerstone. The apostolicity of churches, however, is not discovered only in those roots that can be shown to be derived from the apostolic times but rather and foremost in that they hold to the teachings of the apostles and Christ.
During the times of the early church and the writing of the New Testament, apostles confirmed the revelation of God and the witness of Christ with their apostolic sign gifts and every Christian was assumed to maintain themselves at their feet. With God’s special revelation achieving its canonical end, the whole Bible is now, as confirmed by the apostles, completely necessary and sufficient to make the people of God perfect. The apostolic revelation of the New Covenant shows us Jesus Christ as the fulfilment of the Old Covenant messianic expectations, Jahve-God, Son of Man, Redeemer, Son of God, and king of Israel who establishes his kingdom upon the Earth. In the footsteps of the apostles, the church must bear witness to this Christ while glorying in the shame of the cross, furthering the discipleship of the nations until the end of the Earth.
We do not believe that our confession of faith represents views foreign or novel to the apostolic age. Instead, we believe that this confession of faith reflects the same orthodoxy that the Bible has taught since the beginning. At the same time, we understand that traditions of men and spiritual blind spots have their effect on us as well. We are part of God’s one catholic church that comprises all of his holy ones and which penetrates every nationality, language and age. Throughout the ages, God’s people have been bound together by the love of God poured into their hearts to the truth revealed in the person of Christ.
The Christian church is a building built by Christ, and it is built on this Christological confession. Historically, to answer the heresies of their time, the early Christians presented their faith in short confessions. The purpose of these confessions was to deny the false views as well as to encapsulate the doctrine of the Scriptures regarding the person of Christ and the triune God. The most famous among these early confessions are the Apostolic Confession of Faith, the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, and the Athanasian Creed against the Arians. Thus, confessionalism has existed among Christians throughout history. The purpose of confessions is to both protect from deceitful doctrines and, on the other hand, teach sound doctrine. The exhortation of Paul to Timothy was:
”Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” (2. Tim. 2:15, ESV)
According to this principle, we should not be content to say: ”The Bible is our confession”, but rather be willing to work hard in order to rightly handle and present God’s word. Inspired by this principle, the Christians at the time of the Reformation presented the content of their faith in various confessions. As a denomination, we, for the most part, hold to the Second London Baptist (1677/89) Confession of Faith.
The purpose of confessions is not only to function as signposts of historical orthodoxy or as curiosities of our theological libraries. Instead, they are really useful for the lives of God’s people. Catechisms were often written alongside confessions to teach children the central doctrines of the faith in a simple question-and-answer format. Thus, each seemingly abstract doctrine was introduced as part of practical life. In the best case, confessions and catechisms function as clarifying guardrails and means to enrich our worship. Thus, they feed healthy theological meditation and prayer before the Scriptures, asking the right theological questions, helping to achieve consensus of opinion in the church, and emphasising the primary things of the faith.
The Bible
We believe that God has revealed Himself and His will to His people through the Bible. This kind of special revelation is necessary because, through the natural revelation in the creation and our consciences, we only learn to know God as a holy Creator and righteous Judge. Through the Scriptures we also learn to know God’s saving will towards us, and to regard Him as our gracious and loving Father.
We believe that the Bible is, by its nature, God’s inspired revelation. Thus, the original Biblical manuscripts are infallible and without error because the inspiration of God reaches their every word and smallest marking. As God’s revelation, the Bible has the highest possible authority, and thus, we ought to approach it with appropriate reverence and with fear and trembling. We need to regard the whole Bible as God’s word: both the spiritual and the historical facts, both large subject areas and small details, both the truthful content of the revelation and the expressions behind them. A wrong understanding of the nature of the Bible quickly leads to compromises with regard to the truths it presents.
God has seen fit to deliver us His word progressively through men who have lived in various different times. This step-by-step advancing revelation reached its culmination in the apostolic era. We confess with other protestant Christians that his complete Biblical canon includes the 66 books of the Old and New Testament. God’s word was produced using common people as instruments who acted according to all their character traits, historical contexts, and manners of expression (language, literary genre) The humane aspect of the Bible is not in contradiction with its being, first and foremost, the inerrant self-revelation of God. God Himself has created these people with all their life situations so that all the marks in Scripture created by these human lives are His doing. Thus, each text of Scripture has been generated by the inspiration of God through the people whom the Holy Spirit of God equipped for that task.
As God’s word the Bible is the highest authority of our faith and life and thus, the foundation for all our actions. All other possible authorities are subordinate and accountable to this word. Confessions of faith can be considered binding only so far as they follow this word. Understanding the necessity and sufficiency of the Bible is closely related to its being the highest authority of our faith and life. As necessary revelation, its content can not be replaced by any other sources. As sufficient revelation, the Bible makes all other sources of special revelation compared to it completely unnecessary. Thus, we reject all such sources of special revelation external to the Scriptures.
A more detailed understanding of our beliefs with regard to the Bible can be gained by reading the Chicago statement concerning the inerrancy of the Bible (1978).
God
We believe that God is triune. Thus, we affirm the trinitarian faith of classical Christianity, according to which there is only one God but three divine persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That God is one tells us about His essence, namely, what He is. That God is three tells us about His personhood, namely, who He is.
The persons of the trinity share completely the same being of God and, thus, are co-equal divine persons. They can not be put into any order of importance or significance; they each are due equal honour, and they are to be worshipped together. These persons are not the different modes or forms of appearance of the same God, which He changes and puts on like role-play costumes. Instead, they are distinct and self-conscious actors who have eternal relationships with one another.
According to the Bible, each person of God has their own roles and functions by which they fulfil the plan of God in history: Father created the world through the Word, namely, the Son, and the Holy Spirit moved above the waters and acted as the instrumental power by which order was brought to the world.
The same distribution of roles can be seen in the salvation history, which is based on the wise plan and election of grace by the Father, the incarnation, death upon the cross and resurrection of the Son, and the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the chosen. Although we can make distinctions in the functions and roles belonging to different persons, this does not mean that we can separate the impact of a given person from any single act of God. They have a single and unified mind, and they function in everything in perfect harmony.
The distinction of roles in creation and redemption gives us a glimpse of the inter-trinitarian personal dynamics. Too much speculation with regard to this, however, goes beyond what is written. Still, we can be certain that a harmonious and loving relationship exists between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Only the doctrine of the trinity can explain how God is love and perfectly blessed in Himself.
The loveliness of our salvation is that in Christ, we get to participate in the perfect, eternal love that existed before the world existed in the triune God.
The being and nature of God includes among other things these aspects: He is one and indivisible Spirit. He is infinite, eternal and unchangeable. He is all-powerful and sovereign ruler. He is wise and all-knowing. He is perfect and completely blessed in Himself. He is the source of everything good and independent of everything created. He is good, loving, gracious, holy, just, patient and longsuffering. He is transcendent and immanent, above everything, but still present everywhere.
A correct understanding of God should lead us to see how glorious and praiseworthy He is. All creation is regarded as emptiness and vanity compared to Him. The Bible calls us to observe the world with God-centred lenses. The ultimate purpose in creation and redemption is not the well-being of humans but the putting forth of His honour and glory. Humans’ ultimate joy and purpose is linked to glorifying God’s glory. God’s glory is glorified when we think rightly of Him and regard Him as most enjoyable instead of the worldly temptations. The depravity of sin is brought forth in that it elevates something created above God (idolatry) and, thus, undermines the magnificence of His glory.
The sovereignty of God and responsibility of man
We believe that from eternity before the world existed, God has decreed everything that happens in time. By God’s decree and for the revelation of his glory, other men and angles have been fore-ordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ, to the praise of the glory of his grace. Others have been left to live in their sins, which leads them to righteous judgment, to the praise of the glory of his justice. The history of the universe and God’s great salvation story are not ultimately controlled by chance or the free will of men but by God’s good predestination. God has not only created the world but He also oversees and controls its every detail. Man can not make any choices outside of the decree and providence of God.
At the same time, each man is responsible for walking obediently according to the revelation of God. Even though men, by sinning, act against God’s revealed will, God’s secret will is fulfilled nonetheless. Thus, God may use even the sinner’s sin to further His plans. This is showcased in the best possible way in Jesus’s death upon the cross, which was simultaneously the greatest conceivable humane moral wrongdoing and the culmination of God’s great salvation work. In all this, God remains completely sinless, and man alone is responsible for his own sins.
The decree and providence of God do not justify the throwing of ourselves upon the mercy of fate, as though our actions do not matter at all. God usually fulfils his purposes according to secondary means and actors (such as people). Humans are responsible and obligated to act as an instrument to glorify His name. This truth should not discourage us but instead lay the foundation for all our actions.
Creation
We believe that God has created the world in six days. God created out of nothing – ex nihilo – through His Word. God also created man in His own image to be in relationship with Himself, which means that man, in a special way, reflects his Creator. Thus, human life is sacred, and it should be honoured and protected in all ways. God’s whole creation was originally very good. That is why Christians are not called to separate from creation and material pleasures, like wine and good food, but only their misuse.
In creation, God gave men the mission to rule all the animals of the Earth and take control of the creation. This calling given to man to serve God and rule on Earth is echoed throughout the Bible in different priestly and kingly offices. God also gave men the command to be fruitful and fill the whole Earth. In other words, man was supposed to bring God’s glory to the ends of the Earth so that the whole world would be filled with priest-kings who serve Him.
In addition, man was given the mission to cultivate and protect the Earth. The purpose of this mission was to toil the land and make it useful for men, which requires doing work and active participation in the building of culture. However, the power to subjugate the creation to serve men would not justify its indifferent treatment. The priest-kingly office could not, therefore, be separated from cultural activity. Christians should aim to extend the presence and glory of God into all aspects of human existence. The salvation history of the whole Bible could, thus, be concentrated on this priest-kingly mandate, its failure due to the fall, and its fulfilment through Christ.
We do not believe that the creation story of the Bible can be fitted together with materialistic evolution theory. According to the Bible, God created all animals and plants to reproduce after their ”own kind”. On the other hand, men, God created in His own image – male and female. It is, therefore, impossible to imagine that life could have arisen as a result of natural processes or that men and apes share a common ancestor. We confess together with our Lord Jesus Christ that Adam and Eve were historical people from whom all humanity has descended.
Creation is as dependent upon God today as in the time of creation. According to the Bible God actively upholds everything by the power of His word and creates everything anew. Creation reminds us that He owns everything – including us – and that He can not be served through human hands as He would be in need of something.
Marriage
We believe that God created humans as man and woman. The Bible says:
”So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27, ESV)
This means that both men and women are equal images of God and that there are only two biologically determined genders. Men and women, however, have their distinctive roles through which they, in different ways, reflect God. Equality as the image of God is not in contradiction with God-given roles. In addition, the marriage between a man and a woman in time reflects the eternal relationship between Christ and the church.
The Bible teaches that man was created first and woman then as the helper of man. According to this order, man has been called to lead his family and comprehensively care for its well–being, as well as for its spiritual growth. Man and woman complement each other, and both have vital roles in furthering the glory of God.
We believe that marriage is a covenant relationship between one man and one woman that was created to last until the end of life. Polygamy breaks the good plan set by God in the beginning. Marriage is described as the most intimate relationship between two people, ’becoming one flesh’, which, thus, needs to be cherished more than other relationships. Only marriage can provide the framework for where good and enjoyable sexual intercourse can occur. All sexual intercourse outside of God-ordained marriage, including those between individuals of the same sex, is sinful. This applies to both thoughts and deeds. One clear purpose for marriage is that through reproduction, it makes filling the Earth possible. Marriage is thus an essential institution that makes possible the fulfilment of the creation mandate given to man.
Christian fathers and mothers are responsible for raising their children in the discipline and admonition of the Lord, but without inciting them to anger. They are to gently correct their children on the right path and encourage them to trust in Christ as their saviour from their sins. We do not believe that being a child of God is automatically inherited by the next generation, although the influence of parents or grandparents and their intercessory prayers often function instrumentally in spreading the faith to posterity.
The Fall
In the beginning, there was no sin, suffering, sickness or death. They were introduced to the world as a consequence of the fall. Satan fell first and then seduced man into sin. Adam represented the whole humanity in the fall, and thus, in the fall the whole humanity fell in Adam and got under the original sin. Because of the fall, we have inherited the depraved, sinful nature of Adam and have thus been subjected to condemnation. According to the same principle, Christ, as the second Adam, represents all those who are new creations in Him.
In his fallen state, man is incapable of doing any work meriting salvation or anything else that God would accept as such. Sin penetrates the whole man thoroughly and is present in all his doing. As a consequence of sin, both the body and soul of man are depraved, and man is not capable of thinking, willing, or doing things according to the will of God. This, however, does not mean that man is as evil as possible. According to Jesus, even evil people can do good things, but from the viewpoint of depravity, even our best works are lacking in God’s sight. People are not sinners because they sin; rather, they sin because they are sinners. Sinning follows necessarily from man’s depraved nature, and no one is able to change or save himself by his own power. The Bible describes man in his natural state as dead in sin. As the dead man can not raise himself to life, so the sinner can not do anything for his own salvation.
The Incarnation and the salvific work of Jesus
We believe that the Son of God became human in Jesus Christ. He was conceived through the Holy Spirit and was born of the virgin Mary. The miracle of incarnation, coming to the flesh, however, does not mean that the Son would have emptied himself of deity. Rather, it means that in addition to his divine nature, he assumed a human nature to his person. Through this assumption, the two natures of the Son, however, do not mix together or lose the attributes they have. According to the traditional doctrine of dyophysitism we confess that Jesus is truly God and truly man.
Christ is the prophetic title of Jesus, which comes from the Greek word χριστός (chrīstós) and carries the same meaning as the Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ (mashiach), that is messiah, and it means anointed one. Anointing refers to anointing oil (and foremost to the reality that it points to – the fullness of the Holy Spirit) by which priests, prophets and kings were anointed to their offices and equipped for their mission. The work of Jesus before men could be condensed to his tri-part office as priest, prophet and king.
As the perfect high priest Jesus acts as the mediator between God and man. He represents his people and reconciles them with God. To fulfil this mission, Jesus had to assume all the weaknesses inherent to humanity. In the world, he was in many ways weak and tempted by various temptations, yet without sin. In the end, he gave his life for us on the cross, making atonement for all of our sins once and for all. The inherent worth of his sacrifice is sufficient to save all people; however, the Son has efficiently atoned only for the sins of those whom the Father has given to him. After three days, the Father raised the Son from the grave to demonstrate that the Son is perfectly blameless before the Father and that his death upon the cross was accepted as payment for our transgressions. Through his death, he has defeated death! Jesus’ office as the mediator between God and man did not end here by any means. Now he is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, constantly praying for his own as their high priest and being able to save all those who approach the Father through him.
As the perfect prophet, Jesus gives us the ultimate revelation of the Father. He fulfilled his office as a prophet by speaking and bearing witness to everything that he had seen and heard while he was with the Father. The prophetic revelation of Christ is primarily seen in his spotless life, death upon the cross for sinners, and his resurrection. Only by beholding the incarnate Son of God can we, together with all the saints, understand the selfless love of God, His unmeasurable grace, and His relentless justice without introducing contradictions between these. The revelatory role of the Son in history is possible only because he, by his nature, is ”the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb. 1:3, ESV).
As the perfect king, Jesus rules as the sovereign of the universe and is also the personal Lord of the redeemed. Through his work of redemption, he has bought as his own the chosen and rules them together with his word and Holy Spirit. The Son has the power to forgive sins and condemn the ungodly to damnation. He has disarmed all governments and powers and can regenerate those who are dead in their sins. The kingly Lordship of the Son of God can not be separated from his incarnation and death upon the cross. We serve the Lord and King whose road to excellence has gone through meanness. He is a humble and serving King who goes before his army, sacrificing himself for his sheep and preparing a wedding banquet for the enjoyment of his own.
Application of the saving work of Jesus to man
In addition to Jesus’s objective salvific work, the Bible also speaks of subjective salvation, which deals with the application of Jesus’s redemptive work or its personal mediation into man. Both aspects of salvation are needed because no one can inherit the kingdom of heaven unless he is born again from above. However, objective and subjective salvation can not be separated from one another, so the first would be the work of Jesus and the latter our work. Instead, they both bring forth different aspects of God’s sovereign work of grace. The other aspect includes what Christ does outside of us, while the other aspect is what he does in us. Both aspects belong seamlessly together.
We believe, together with all evangelical Christians, that man is saved by faith alone in Christ Jesus. Faith is not one additional requirement for obtaining salvation, among other requirements; instead, it is the only way to receive salvation. Works are not requirements of salvation; rather, they follow it and are indicators of salvation that has already occurred. When the Bible convinces us that we are saved by faith, it should not be understood that our salvation is based on the merits of our faith. Faith is only the instrument or medium through which we receive salvation. After having faith, we are just as meritless for salvation as before it. That faith is necessary does not mean that our salvation is dependent on us. As a matter of fact, everyone is totally incapable and unwilling to believe in Jesus. Saved individuals differ from others only in that God has broken the rebellion inside them and has awakened faith in Jesus. This focus on God’s salvific work upon certain individuals is based on God’s eternal election of grace. God may sensitize or soften the hearts of others also to the truths of the gospel. However, they remain completely unable to turn to Jesus without the effect of this saving grace that he focuses upon the elect.
Both justification and sanctification are included among the blessings of salvation. Justification does not mean that man is internally made holy. Instead, it means that the status of man is altered before the judgment seat of God. As God justifies us, He declares us completely clean and innocent before Him based on the atoning work of Jesus. The fruits of his atonement are accounted for us so that God sees Christ as having suffered on the cross the punishment that we deserve. Thus, despite our sins, we are as holy as Jesus is in the sight of God. In the words of Luther, this justifying work of God can be described as a ”blessed exchange”. Justification acts as the foundation for our being completely without worries on the day of judgment and assures us that we are children of God who have the right to call God our Father. There are no different levels of justification; instead, it is a once-for-all and permanent declaration that does not weaken based on our deficiencies and failures.
Sanctification means the transformation of man to holy. This change is a step-by-step process towards the likeness of the image of Jesus and the fulfilment of the requirements of God’s word. The Holy Spirit leads the believer in this way through the word of God to know Christ and to imitate his will in their lives. However, the most sanctified Christian is still on a journey and is not completely free of sin. One of the marks of a Christian is his ongoing battle against sinful thoughts, lusts and passions. The miracle of regeneration is the basis for sanctification, through which every believer receives a new heart inside himself and, thus, a will to serve Christ and leave his own sinful life behind. The culmination of sanctification is glorification, which occurs only when Jesus comes back and we receive resurrection bodies. The goal of Christians, glorification, is not just possible or even highly probable with regard to the saved individuals; instead, every one of them will be glorified inevitably. God will bring the work that He started to completion and will not anyone rob the saints from His hand. This does not mean that men’s contending and actions are meaningless in regard to maintaining faith and completing our salvation. The contending of men rests on God’s sovereign work of grace and is the means by which He uses to protect His own.
The relationship between law and gospel
God has written the requirements of His law into the hearts of every man and has given the people of Israel his written law. The law can be condensed into the commands to love God above everything and neighbour as yourself. God’s law reflects His holy attributes and moral will. Law has not been given for salvation but instead to point to man that he is a sinner and breaker of God’s law who needs a saviour. Thus, the law acts as a tutor for men to bring them to trust Christ, who alone has fulfilled all the requirements of the law for us and, on the cross, has atoned for our innumerable transgressions against the law. As a result of Jesus’s salvific work, the Holy Spirit releases the sinner so that he becomes obedient to God’s law and has the will to fulfil its righteous requirements. The law and the gospel are opposites to one another only when man tries to save himself through the works of the law. Rightly understood the law and the gospel; however, they serve one another. The law reveals our need for the gospel, which leads us to follow God’s commandments with grace and joy.
”Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” (Romans 3:31, ESV)
The church
We believe that the church is the holy people for God’s own possession, consisting of believers whose mission is to reflect the glory of the triune God. They have been called out of the world to live with one another before the face of God. The church has both visible and invisible sides. The invisible church consists of all those who, through faith in Jesus, have received pardon for their sins and who have new life poured within them.
The visible church, on the other hand, is made up of local churches, whose characteristics and marks are the declaration of pure gospel (and word), the right administration of baptism and communion, as well as loving church discipline. Thus, each local church by itself is a church, house of God, community of the living God, and pillar and foundation of truth. The church is the body of Christ, the apple of his eye, engraved in the flesh of his hands, and he has claimed it as his own for eternity. All believers are exhorted to practice and live out their faith in a local church. The local church is a witness of God’s coming new world when its members live serving one another and their neighbours, not focusing on themselves. The church is the shared residence of God’s Spirit and constant witness of God to the world.
Each local church is an independent unit and bears responsibility for its own actions. Still, each church needs support, wisdom and accountability from other churches. Shepherds bear the primary responsibility of leading churches, but they can also raise different questions for the churches to consider. However, we believe in the local church’s autonomy and think that its highest administrative body resides within the local church.
Leadership of the church
We recognise two offices in the church: shepherd (pastor) and church-servant, namely deacon. In the Bible, the mention of church leaders, shepherds, overseers and elders describe the one and same office of pastor. Based on the order of creation, this office is restricted exclusively to men. Although not all men are called to serve as pastors of churches, each man has been assigned the role of an overseer to manage ”well their household”. The leadership role of men includes making biblical judgments and teaching the word of God both in the church and in the family. This is why women should learn in silence, and they are not allowed to teach men. Through the leaders’ service, the church and the family are sanctified, and the name of Christ is glorified.
The local church is to be led by elders, which include mature men in faith who are lovers of good, blameless, righteous, holy, self-restraining, sober, moderate, modest, hospitable, gentle and skilful teachers, able to instruct with sound doctrine and refute the claims of those who contradict. They are not to be drinkers, fighters, quarrelsome, quick-tempered, lovers of money, recent converts or lovers of self. In addition, they should have good reports both from outsiders as well as their own family.
The offices of the kingdom of God do not include archbishops or popes. Despite the nobility of the office, we do not believe that being a shepherd is a holier or more ’spiritual’ office than any other ’temporal’ work. According to the Bible, all believers are holy priests who have direct access to God and whose offerings to God through Jesus are equally spiritual.
The mission of deacons is, together with shepherds, to act as the hands of the church members in practical tasks. Through their service, the shepherds are freed to separate time for prayer and preaching of the word of God. There can be differences between churches in whether women can also serve in the office of deacon. However, we agree that all church functions should reflect the order of creation and the relationship between Christ and the church and thus be under the administration of men, even in situations where the church consecrates women to certain serving offices. We know that Paul, other apostles, and Jesus himself utilised the priceless services of many women.
The ordinances appointed by Christ
We believe that Jesus has appointed for his church two ordinances (or sacraments): baptism and enjoyment of the Lord’s supper, namely communion. Baptism is a mark of believers’ unity with Christ and his death and resurrection, the forgiveness of sin and being a new creation in Christ. Communion declares the sacrificial death of Christ and reminds us of his once-for-all innocent and perfect bodily sacrifice and atoning blood that brings forgiveness of sin. Taking communion in faith works as spiritual nourishment for believers’ mutual strengthening and the church’s building up in grace and truth. The meal communicates the truth that Christ reconciles God with man and people with one another. Baptism and communion communicate in visible and tangible form the invisible promises that God has revealed to his people in the Scriptures. These ordinances do not in themselves transfer any saving grace to us in any way. Instead, their function is to strengthen our faith in the promises of God. The sacraments benefit us only insofar as the truth they represent is received through faith.
The holy ordinances should be approached with special reverence, and their scorn will ensue temporal judgment of the Lord. That is why the ordinances should be restricted to only those who profess their faith. Thus, we only practice believers’ baptism. However, the local churches within our network are free to share communion and accept as church members those who, according to their conscience, are convinced of the adequacy of their infant baptism.
The form of baptism is by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, because it is seen to be the form of baptism practiced by Jesus and his disciples. Immersion in water and bringing up from there represents the perfect identification of the believer with Christ – both in his death and in his resurrection. Baptising with water does not save a person without faith in Christ, which the Spirit of God causes. Baptism is practised as a mark that a person has believed in Christ and that the blood of Christ has washed away his sins and thus enjoined him as a member of Christ’s body.
Spiritual gifts
The greatest spiritual gift of God is salvation. However, God brings the fullness of his salvation into local churches through various spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are, therefore, necessary for the well-being of the church. The purpose of spiritual gifts is to proclaim, explain, and apply the unchangeable truths of the word to Christians’ lives and help church members serve one another. The Holy Spirit shares spiritual gifts according to his will for the building up of the church.
No one can belong to God without his Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who opens new life in Christ for the one who has been dead in his sins, and baptism by the Holy Spirit joins believers together to the universal body of Christ. Therefore, we reject the idea of baptism by the Holy Spirit as a ”second blessing” that should be especially sought after becoming a believer, and that would manifest itself by so-called speaking in tongues.
As a network, we do not represent the kind of charismatic movement, where so-called speaking in tongues and prophesying is practised in the church gatherings and healing services are held. However, we do believe that even today, God, in his providence, heals people according to his own timetable and will, often in answer to prayer. The fullness of the Holy Spirit can not be separated from a deeper rooting in the truth of God’s word and Christ. The opposite of rooting into the fullness of revelation can be considered the kind of groping in which new revelations and proofs are constantly sought from the Lord instead of settling to eagerly study and listen to that which He has certainly spoken to us.
Practicalities in worship services
According to reformed tradition, we apply the so-called regulative principle to our worship services so that the structure and content of our gatherings faithfully reflect the gatherings of Christians that are described in the New Testament. Therefore, church gatherings consist of public reading of Scriptures and expository preaching, regular enjoyment of the Lord’s Supper and baptism of believers, singing together, offering of gifts, exhorting and encouraging one another, and sharing life together, for example, sharing of meals.
We understand that common gatherings are a necessary and natural part of the life and growth of the church. Therefore, we want to encourage all Christians everywhere to gather regularly. Churches have also always been open to the sick and weak. Thus, we do not discriminate or prohibit anyone from attending meetings based on their health-related decisions.
Last things
We believe that Jesus Christ is coming back again to judge the living and the dead. The dead will rise from their graves, and everyone will come before the throne of God to give account for their lives. The justified will inherit eternal life, and the ungodly will be judged to eternal damnation, which is ”away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” (2. Thess. 1:9, ESV) The hope of eternal life is the resurrection of the body and the creation of the new heavens and new earth, which means that in eternity, we will continue as material beings who have a relationship with God’s good creation. Part of the biblical fear of the Lord is waiting for this day of judgment and preparing for it by trusting in Jesus Christ.
In God’s new heaven and earth, the glory of the triune God will become apparent in everything, and His glory will be praised everywhere. The curse upon the creation will be annulled so that there is no death, weeping and suffering. The sanctification of the believers will be consummated, and they will transform into the likeness of the risen Christ. They will be freed from sin and become perfect children of God. Thus, the priest-kingly mission of man is fulfilled when God’s image in man is glorified so that it fills the whole Earth. Thus, the just will inherit the whole Earth in Christ. The whole creation is filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea, and the Lord will reign by living in the midst of his own people forever.
Short confession for church members
The member churches of our network are assumed to teach according to the above confession of faith. However, we can not assume that every church member agrees with everything in the above confession of faith. Therefore, below is a short confession of faith, which condenses the articles of faith that every church member in our network must be able to sign and believe.
- The triune God – one God in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – is the Creator of everything and the sovereign ruler who rules and oversees everything according to his own will. God is completely holy, good and perfect in all His attributes. God’s persons share all of the attributes of God and are equal in power and glory.
- God’s primary purpose in everything is to glorify His name in all creation, especially in humans, whom He created in His own image: men and women. Therefore it is also the purpose of man to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
- The Old Testament (39 books) and the New Testament (27 books) are God’s inspired words, the highest authority in our faith and life. As God’s speech, the Bible is totally inerrant in the original manuscripts.
- Humanity fell into sin in Adam, which radically and thoroughly corrupted the body, soul and mind of men. Adam’s fall also brought a curse upon the whole creation, including the bodily, spiritual and eternal death of a man. Thus, the relationship to the holy God was lost, and/so man is a sinner from birth, and the righteous wrath of God rests upon him.
- In His love, the Father God sent His own Son to the world to save it from its sins and from under the power of death. Salvation is found only through Jesus Christ.
- Jesus Christ is, at the same time, truly God and truly man. He was born from the virgin Mary from the influence of the Holy Spirit, lived a sinless life, died a penal substitutionary atoning death upon the cross for our sins, and was raised physically from the dead on the third day, according to the Scriptures.
- Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, where he sits at the right hand of the Father and has all power in heaven and on Earth. As the high priest of God’s people, Christ always prays for his own and is capable of saving everyone who approaches the Father through him.
- Jesus is one day coming back from the Father to judge all the living and the dead. All the dead will be raised up, after which the justice of God will face the unbelievers, and they will be judged to hell for everlasting punishment. On the other hand, those who have trusted in Christ will receive everything with Christ and live forever in renewed creation in the presence of the Lord when heaven descends upon the Earth.
- The salvation of man – eternal life – is received as a gift from God. Salvation happens only by God’s will, only by God’s grace, only by faith and only because of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Through faith, man is accounted as justified before God, without the works demanded by the law. The justified are accepted before the Father only through Christ’s perfect obedience and justice. The justified are also sanctified by the Spirit, who transforms them more and more into the likeness of Christ’s image day by day. The perfection of that image happens at the glorification of the body – at the time of Jesus’ return.
- God commands everyone everywhere to repent from their sins and believe the gospel.
- In order for man to step into the kingdom of God and live as a citizen of that kingdom, he must be born again from above. This regeneration is the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of man.
- The Christian church is a spiritual building built by God and the people redeemed by Jesus from every nation. It consists of repenting and believing sinners who confess Jesus as their Lord and the Son of God and in whose life the Spirit brings forth fruit. They have been baptised with one Spirit into one body whose head is Christ, and the Lord will keep them in faith until the end. The Holy Spirit also shares them gifts according to his own will for the building up of the church.
- Christians have a duty to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel call they have received. They can not sin on purpose after coming to know the truth. Instead, they need to persevere in prayer, confess their sins, put to death the lusts and desires of the flesh and fight with the Spirit of God and the word against satan.
- The church is commissioned and obliged to continue to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to all people, awaiting that the Lord can do much more through us than we can even ask for. The church is to enjoy the Lord’s Supper together, baptise those who profess their faith, as well as to strive to disciple the nations and teach them to keep all that the Lord has commanded.