What we believe
For us, church is not an organisation or primarily a meeting we go to. It is our community, our family, a group of people from all kinds of different backgrounds who together, are being made whole by Jesus. Together we learn more about who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. Together we try to love Merthyr and be a part of it becoming a place where every life and family flourishes. We don’t do anything because of religious tradition. We do everything because God first loved, forgave and healed us.
The core of our family is with the people who follow Jesus and his lifestyle of love because we have experienced his love, healing and forgiveness. Anyone is welcome to come and be a part of our community but we are not a mesh of different ideas. We are dedicated to Jesus and his way as we believe this will lead to a complete, restored community.
We believe that God loves Merthyr and wants to fill its people with hope, love, healing and freedom. Our community is dedicated to seeing this happen.
Doctrine
“There is scarcely anything so dull and meaningless as Bible doctrine taught for its own sake. Truth divorced from life is not truth in its biblical sense, but something else and something less.”
A.W. Tozer
A.W. Tozer
Author
God
God is triune, that is, one God in three persons. This has always caused problems for limited human minds, but as one of the early church statements of faith says: “That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons: nor dividing the Substance.” This is a mystery, and yet one that is clearly demonstrated in the Bible. The three persons of the trinity are God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Each Person is the one eternal God and can in no way be separated: all alike are uncreated and all-powerful.
Jesus
We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the unique Son of God, fully God; that he was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit, born to a virgin, fully man. For our sake he was crucified, he suffered death, was buried and on the third day he rose again. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.
Holy Spirit
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the promised Comforter, not as a force but as a person who is fully God. Promised by Jesus, He is now with us, empowering us to live as followers of Jesus.
Father
We believe in God the Father, Almighty God, maker of all things visible and invisible. As a member of the Trinity , God the Father is one with, co-equal to, co-eternal with the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Humanity
We believe that humans were made in the image of God with the purpose of knowing and enjoying God. However, humans made a choice to rebel against God’s loving rule and because of this live broken lives that lead to death.
Church
We believe in the Church as the body and the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is made up of all who have put their faith in Jesus Christ; that we are a family unified by the Holy Spirit. The church has been given the mandate to carry on the works of Jesus Christ and to advance his Kingdom, living out the good news of God’s love, and making disciples of Jesus in all nations. We believe that Jesus commanded his people to baptise with water and to remember his sacrifice through regularly sharing Communion. We do not believe that people are saved through these practices but that they demonstrate our desire to live for and serve him.
Salvation
We believe that salvation is a free gift of God, and is by the grace of God, offered to all through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Relationship with God can be restored to anyone through repentance, belief and receiving of Jesus as Saviour and Lord. The Holy Spirit convicts, regenerates, justifies, and adopts us as we enter the kingdom of God as His sons and daughters.
The Bible
We believe that the Bible is the only inspired word of God that expresses the authority of God and being without error in the truths that it declares.
The Future
Jesus Christ will return, personally and visibly, to fulfil the purposes of God. He will raise all people to judgement, bring eternal life to the redeemed and condemnation to the lost, and will reunite heaven and earth. He will establish a new heaven and new earth, and complete the work of making all things new. He will live with his people, and they will live with him forever.
The World
God created the world as a reflection of his goodness and beauty, and created humans to participate in ruling the world with him. The creation has been corrupted by sin, which leads to brokenness, suffering and death, but will be redeemed and restored when Jesus returns to make all things new. This work has already begun at the resurrection of Jesus, and continues through the church by the power of the Holy Spirit.
03
the “Big” Print
Important things that need more time describing
Grace
The doctrine of grace is not just a core belief at Hope, but massively impacts how we live as a church
The Bible
The Bible is the story of God and his world. It is the story of how God interacts with the humanity that he made.
Discipleship
Making disciples who make disciples.
The Bible Project
Bible Project is a non profit animation studio that produces short-form, fully animated videos. Their videos and all of their other resources are available for free to help people everywhere experience the unified story of the Bible.
Over the years we have found the Bible Project to be an invaluable resource to direct people to. It has fantastic biblical explanations of themes, books of the Bible, and key words that are so helpful when trying to understand all that the Bible is saying. Check out their YouTube channel and their website, bibleproject.com! We’ve included one of our favourites to get you started.
Still have more questions?
Sometimes there are past experiences that lead us to want to know what a church believes about a specific area of doctrine or preference. Please feel free to ask us directly.