Beliefs | Frank Sibanda

Frank is an independent, evangelical Baptist. In short, he holds to:

the Bible as fully inspired by God and the final authority for faith and life;
one God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
the virgin birth, full deity and full humanity of Jesus Christ;
salvation by faith in Christ’s substitutionary death and bodily resurrection;
believer’s baptism by immersion, and the Lord’s Supper as a memorial;
the autonomy of the local church under congregational government;
marriage between one man and one woman;
the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The two statements below are given in full, as Frank wrote them.

Statement of Belief

The Church believes:-

in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in their original writings, as fully inspired of God and accepts them as the final authority for faith and life;
in one God eternally existing in three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
that Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and is true God and true Man;
that God created man in His own image, that man sinned and thereby incurred the penalty of death, physical and spiritual; that all human beings inherit a sinful nature which issues (in the case of those who reach moral responsibility) in actual transgression involving personal guilt;
that God has sanctioned marriage between a man and a woman therefore we believe in heterosexual relationships between a natural man and a natural woman within the confines of lawful matrimony.
that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, a substitutory sacrifice, according to the Scriptures, and that all who believes in Him are justified on the grounds of His shed blood;
in the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, His ascension into heaven, and His present life as our High Priest and Advocate;
that the Lord Jesus Christ appointed two ordinances, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper — to be observed as acts of obedience and as perpetual witnesses to the cardinal facts of the Christian faith; that Baptism is a confession of identification with Christ in burial and resurrection and is in obedience to the example of our Lord, and that the Lord’s Supper is the partaking of bread and wine as symbolical of the Saviour’s broken body and shed blood in remembrance of His sacrificial death “till He come”;
that all who repent and receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God;
in the resurrection both of the just and the unjust, the eternal blessedness of the redeemed and the eternal damnation of those who have rejected the offer of Salvation;
in the priesthood of all believers which is the belief that every believer may approach God through the Lord Jesus Christ, without any human agency; and may teach and preach the Gospel;
that the one true Church is the whole company of those who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and regenerated by the Holy Spirit; that the local Church on earth should take its character from this conception of the Church spiritual, and therefore that the new birth and personal confession of Christ are essentials of Church membership; and
in the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Statement of Baptist Principles

The Church, as Baptists, believes in:-

the Church as the whole company of those who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. The local church, being a manifestation of the universal church, is a community of believers in a particular place where the Word of God is preached and the ordinance of Believer’s Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are observed. It is fully autonomous and remains so not withstanding responsibilities it may accept by voluntary association;
Believer’s Baptism as an act of obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ and a sign of personal repentance, faith and regeneration; it consists of the immersion in water into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
the principle of Congregational Church Government, namely that a constituted church meeting is, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the highest court of authority for the local church; and that each individual member has the inalienable right and responsibility to participate full in the life and government of the church, including the appointment of its leaders;
the priesthood of all believers, by which we understand that each Christian has direct access to God through Christ our High Priest, and shares with Him in His intercession, worship, faithful service and bearing witness to Jesus Christ, even to the ends of the earth;
the principle of religious liberty, namely that no individual should be coerced either by the state or by any secular ecclesiastical or religious group in matters of faith. The right of private conscience is to be respected. For each believer this means the right to interpret the Scriptures responsibly and to act in the light of his conscience; and
the principle of separation of church and state in that, in the providence of God, the two differ in their respective natures and functions. The church is not to be identified with the state nor is it, in its faith or practice, to be directed or controlled by the state.

The state is responsible for administering justice, ensuring an orderly community, and promoting the welfare of its citizens.

The Church is responsible for preaching the Gospel and for demonstrating and making known God’s will and care for all mankind.