What we believe

We believe in the doctrines of God’s free grace, often described as Calvinism. We practise baptism by immersion for believers only. Though not necessary for salvation, we believe this is necessary before church membership and partaking of the Lord’s Supper.

Briefly stated, we believe:

1. The Holy Bible is divinely inspired and infallible, and is the revelation of the mind and will of God.
2. There is one God consisting of Three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
3. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned against God (the Fall), and this original sin has passed to the whole of the human race.
4. The Father has chosen a certain number of the human race (the elect) unto salvation.
5. The Lord Jesus Christ (the Son) shed His blood upon the cross to atone for the sins of the elect, and for them alone.
6. All the elect will in God’s own time be called to a knowledge of themselves as sinners and Christ as their Saviour.
7. Those elect, redeemed and called, will all be sanctified by the Holy Spirit, now to live a changed life to the glory of God.
8. The bodies of both the saved and the unsaved shall be raised again at the Resurrection Day, the saved to the glory of heaven, the unsaved to the condemnation of hell.

To read all our 35 Articles of Faith, click here.

Other convictions held by Bethel:

• The universe and all that is in it was created by God in six days (Gen. 1).
• One day in seven is to be kept as a Sabbath day (Gen. 2.3) – now the first day of the week, Sunday, the Lord’s day.
• Marriage is the union of one man and one woman for life (Gen. 2.24).
• Men only should be appointed as pastors, preachers, elders, or deacons in the church (1 Tim. 3.1-2).
• We believe that women should cover their heads during public worship (1 Cor.11.5).
• We use only the King James Version (the Authorised Version) of the Bible, believing it to be the most accurate of all translations in the English language.