Constitution (Statement of Faith) and Bi-Laws

Church of Hope

Brampton, Ontario

June 2008

Article I NAME: 

Name of the church shall be:  Church of Hope Brampton

Article II FOUNDATION, OBJECT, AND OBJECTIVE:

1. Jesus Christ is the church foundation (I Corinthians 3:11).  We are guided by the Holy Bible and affirm the Old and New Testaments are the word of God (Mark 13:31).

2. The church object is to glorify God and worship him in accordance with the Holy Bible and practice the examples and ordinances of the New testament (Acts 2:42, 46,47)

3. The church objective is to take the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and share it with the world in general (Matt 28:18; Acts 1:8) and specifically all Arabic speaking peoples to join us in worshiping God and add them to the church family (Acts 2:47).

AFFIRMATION OF OUR FAITH

I. THE TRINITY

We believe and teach term TRINITY used to designate the threefold manifestation of the one God as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Ephesians 4:5,6; John 1:1,3; Matthew 28:19).  These are equal in every divine perfection, and that they execute distinct but harmonious offices in the work of creation, (Genesis 1:1, 26; Rom. 1:19, 20) providence (Heb 1:3; Col. 1:17) and redemption (John 3:16)

II. GOD

We teach there is only one living and true God (Deut. 6:4; Is. 45:5-7; 1Cor. 8:4), an infinite Spirit, knows everything perfect in every way, eternally existing in three Persons-Father, Son, Holy Ghost (Matt. 28:19; 2; Cor. 13:14) each deserve to be equally worshiped and obeyed.

1. God the Father

We believe and teach that above all God the father is The Holy God.  He is neither the author nor approver of sin (Hab. 1:13).  He is the creator of all things seen and unseen (Gen. 1:1-31; Eph. 3:9).  He is the absolute omnipotent ruler of the entire universe.  God infallibly foreknows all that shall come to pass, orders everything according to His own purpose and Grace (Ps. 145:8, 9) God continually upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and events (1 Chr. 29:11).    God is the Creator of all things which makes Him the Father of mankind (Eph 4:6).  But God is the Spiritual Father of believers only, those that He has graciously chosen from eternity past (Eph. 1:4-6; Rom. 1:7; Matthew 23:9).  God mercifully concerns Himself in the affairs of men (Luke 10:21, 22).  He hears and answers prayer, saves from sin and eternal death all whom come to Him through Jesus Christ. (John 3:16; 6:27; I Timothy 1:1,2; 2:5,6; I Peter 1:3; Revelation 1:6).

2. God the Son

We believe and teach that Jesus Christ the second person in the Holy Trinity is coequal to the Father and possesses all the divine Excellencies (Col. 2:9)  We believe that God the Father created everything through His Son Jesus Christ (John 1:3; Col. 1:15-17; Heb. 1:2) God’s only begotten Son.  We believe in the incarnation of Jesus Christ (God becoming man) (I Timothy 3:16) He didn’t surrender any of His Divine essence John (1:1; 20:28).  We believe in His virgin birth (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38) and believe that His miracles were true (John 20:30, 31).  We follow His teaching and persevere to live like His sinless life (Matthew 20:28, John 8:46; I Ephesians 1:4, Peter 2:21-23).  We believe in His substitutionary voluntary atoning death on our behalf (Rom. 5:6-8; 6:9, 10; II Corinthians 5:21) bodily resurrection on the third day, ascension into heaven (Acts 1:11) to the right hand of the Father, perpetual intercession for His people (Hebrews 7:25) and personal visible return to earth (Hebrews 9:28).

3. God the Holy Ghost

We believe and teach that the Holy Ghost is a divine person, eternal in existence, possessing intellect (1Cor. 2:10-13), emotions (Eph. 4:30), will (1Cor. 12:11), omnipresence (Ps. 139:7-10), omniscience (Is. 40:13, 14), omnipotence (Rom. 15:13).  He is coequal to God the Father and God the Son in all divine attributes (Matt. 28:19; Acts 5:3; 1Cor. 12:4-6; 2Cor 13:14).  We recognize His sovereign activity in the creation (Gen. 1:2) and the incarnation of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:18), the written revelation (2 Pet.1:20, 21), and the work of salvation (John 3:5-7)

We believe that the Holy Ghost came forth from God the Father and God the Son (John 14:16,17) to execute the divine will with relation to mankind convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, (John 16:9-14) and to regenerate, sanctify, and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. We believe that the Holy Ghost indwells every believer in Christ (Rom. 8:9; 1Cor. 3:16; 6:19; Gal. 5:22-26),   and that He is an abiding helper, teacher and guide (John 14: 26).

III. THE WORD OF GOD

We believe and teach that the Bible is the Word of God (2 Tim. 3: 16).  Fully inspired and without error in the original manuscripts, written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, (Acts 20:32; 2 Pet. 1:20, 21) and that it has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct (Mark 13:31).  The Holy Bible contains everything we need to know about the mind of God as revealed, human’s sinful nature, Jesus Christ the way of salvation the eternal damnation of sinners and eternal joy of believers. 

IV. MAN

We believe and teach that man was created by God in His own image (Genesis 1:26; 5:2). Adam chose to sin (original sin) (Genesis 3:6) against God’s commandment (Genesis 2:17).  As a result Adam became inherently corrupt and incapable of choosing or doing which is acceptable to God and became subject to God’s wrath.  Physical, spiritual and eternal death (separation from God) incurred (Gen. 3:23,24)   Because we all were in Adam and as a result of the Adam’s sin a corrupt nature was created and transmitted to all humanity (Rom. 5:19) and as such every human is a sinner by nature and choice (Rom.3:12) with the exception of Jesus Christ.

V. THE CHURCH

We believe and teach in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all regenerated persons are members (Ephesians 2:19-22). We believe in the local church, consisting of a company of believers who place their faith in Jesus Christ, baptized on a credible profession of faith, and associated for worship work, and fellowship (1 Cor.12:12,13; Ephesians 5:19-21).  We believe that the primary function of the church is to Glorify God in every aspect.  The local church mainly has two main missions internally to edify the body of believers (Acts 2:42; Hebrews 10:23-25) and externally sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world (Acts 1:8, Matt. 28:19)

VI. CHRISTIAN CONDUCT

We believe and teach that a Christian should live for the glory of God (I Corinthians 10:31) and the well-being of his fellow men. The Christian conduct should be blameless before the world (Col.1:9-10; Hebrews 12:1-2; I John 2:3-6) and should be a faithful steward of his possessions (I Corinthians 4:2; II Corinthians 9:6-9) and should seek to realize for himself and others the full stature of maturity in Christ (Rom.12:1-3)

VII. THE ORDINANCES

We believe and teach that the Lord Jesus Christ has committed two ordinances to the local church, baptism (Matthew 28:18-20) and the Lord's Supper (I Corinthians 11:23-26).  We believe that the Lord's Supper was instituted by Christ for commemoration of His death. Christian baptism is the immersion of the believer in water into the name of the triune God (Romans 6:3-5).  We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

VIII. THE LAST THINGS

We believe and teach that the return of Jesus to earth will be visible (Matthew 16:27; Mark 14:62; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; Phil. 3:20; Titus 2:13) to establish His messianic kingdom. We believe in the bodily resurrection of all human beings (I Thessalonians 4:15) the final judgement, the eternal happiness of the righteous and the endless suffering of the wicked (I Corinthians 4:5;  II Thessalonians 1:7-10; II Timothy 4:1; Revelation 20:4-6,11-15)