Statement of Faith
The Chinese Overseas Christian Mission is committed to the fundamental truths of historic biblical Christianity, in accordance with which we affirm:
1 There is one, eternal God, Creator and Lord of heaven and earth who, in the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, both governs all things according to God’s will and is accomplishing God’s purpose in the world and in the church.
2 The Holy Scriptures as originally given are in their entirety inspired by God’s Spirit through human authors and constitute the revelation of God’s truth to humanity. They are wholly true and trustworthy in all that they affirm. Whatever the Bible, rightly interpreted, is found to teach, we are bound to believe and obey. It is our supreme authority in every matter of belief and conduct.
3 All human beings are created in God’s own likeness and therefore have inherent value and equality before God. Human sin and guilt since the fall have rendered us subject to God’s wrath and condemnation and have resulted in our alienation from God’s life, suppression of God’s truth and hostility to God’s law. God’s love desires all to come to repentance and to be reconciled rather than condemned.
4 Salvation from the guilt, penalty and all other consequences of sin has been achieved solely through the atoning work of Jesus Christ – his perfect obedience, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection and exaltation as Lord. Jesus alone is truly God and truly human, the only mediator between God and humanity. There is salvation through no other person, creed, process or power. Each sinner is justified before God and reconciled to God only by divine grace appropriated by faith alone.
5 The work of the Holy Spirit is necessary for the individual’s new birth and growth to maturity.The Holy Spirit empowers and indwells the church, enabling its constant renewal in truth, wisdom, faith, holiness, love, ministry, power and mission. The Holy Spirit equips all believers with gifts for ministry and these are to be used as the Bible teachers and to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.
6 There is one, holy universal and apostolic church, which is the Body of Christ, and to which all true believers belong. Each local congregation is called to worship God, to preach God’s word, to baptise, to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and to serve God in the world.
7 As the Father sent the Son into the world, so the Lord Jesus Christ sends his church to participate in God’s mission by words and works. The church is called: to make Christ known; to proclaim God’s truth and the gospel of God’s grace; to make disciples among all nations; to exhibit God’s character through compassionate care for the needy, creative and sacrificial living, the community of love, the quest for righteousness, justice and peace, and the care of God’s creation.
8 As the Lord Jesus ascended to his Father, so he will return personally, visibly and in glory. He will raise the dead and bring salvation and judgement to final completion. God will then fully establish his Kingdom and finish the new creation – a new heaven and a new earth from which all evil and evildoers, all suffering and death, will be excluded and in which God will be glorified forever.