Put simply, our statement of faith says that Hastings Baptist Church is a Christian, Evangelical, Baptist, Congregational church. Our statement of faith is divided into ten statements, which speak to the fact that we can be called by each of these names.

• The Christian statements simply show what Christians have always believed - issues over which there has traditionally been little dispute in Christendom.
• The Evangelical category highlights the critical issues related to the gospel that were recovered during the Reformation.
• The Baptist and Congregational categories highlight the distinctive features of Hastings Baptist Church.

The Church believes:

• Scripture

  We believe the Bible, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God. Rightly interpreted, the Bible is fully trustworthy in all that it affirms. The Scriptures are the written revelation of God to humanity and are the sufficient and supreme authority for all matters of life and faith.

• Trinity

  We believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are equal in divine nature and distinct in personal attributes.

• Father

  We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power and love. He sovereignly foreknows all that will come to pass and providentially cares for His universe, concerning Himself mercifully in the affairs of humanity. He hears and answers prayer, and saves from sin and death all who come to him through Jesus Christ.

• Son

  We believe in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who through his incarnation was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. We believe in His sinless life, atonement for our sin by dying on the cross in the sinners' place, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people and His promised return in power and glory.

• Holy Spirit

  We believe in the Holy Spirit who came forth from the Father and the Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgement, and to regenerate, sanctify and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. He indwells every believer, baptising them into the Body of Christ, and is an abiding helper, teacher and guide.

• Humanity

  We believe human beings are the special creation of God, made in His own image: male and female. Every person of every race possesses full dignity being made in the image of God. We believe that humanity sinned and thereby incurred physical, spiritual and eternal death, which is separation from God. Consequently, all people are born with a sinful nature, are sinners by choice and are under God’s condemnation. Only the grace of God can restore a person into fellowship with Himself.

• Salvation

  Salvation involves the redemption of the whole person, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

  A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart produced by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.

  B. Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer into a relationship of peace and favour with God.

  C. Sanctification is the experience, established in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God's purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person's life.

  D. Glorification is the joyful culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.

• Church

  We believe in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all regenerate persons are members. We believe in the local church, consisting of a congregation of baptised believers, who have pledged themselves to one another in the love, faith and fellowship of the Gospel. We believe that God has laid upon the members of the local church the primary task of giving the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world.

• Believer’s Baptism and the Lord's Supper

  Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience to Jesus’ command and example, symbolising the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a testimony to their faith in the final resurrection of the dead.

  The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialise the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

• Last Things

  We believe that the end of the world is approaching. The Christian hope is anchored in the promise of Jesus that He will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all people in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.