The Message of the Brethren Church

The Brethren Church desires to bear testimony to the belief that God's supreme revelation has been made through Jesus Christ, a complete and authentic record of which revelation is the New Testament; and to the belief that the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testaments as originally given, is the infallible record of the perfect, final and authoritive revelation of God's will, altogether sufficient in themselves as a rule of faith and practice.

We understand the basic content of our doctrinal preaching and teaching to be:

1. The pre-existence, Deity and Incarnation by Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2. The fall of Man, his consequent spiritual death and utter sinfulness, and the necessity of his New Birth.
3. The Vicarious Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ through the shedding of His Own Blood
4. The Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ in the body in which He suffered and died and His subsequent Glorification at the Right Hand of God.
5. Justification by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, of which obedience to the will of God and works of righteousness are the evidence and result; the resurrection of the dead; the judgment of the world, and the life everlasting of the just.
6. The personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit who indwells the Christian and is his Comforter and Guide.
7. The personal and visible return of our Lord Jesus Christ from Heaven as King of King and Lords of Lords; the glorious goal for which we are taught to watch, wait, and pray.
8. The Christian should be "not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind", "should not engage in carnal strife", and should "swear not at all."
9. The Christian should observe, as his duty and privilege, the ordinances of our Lord Jesus Christ, among which are (a) Baptism of believers by triune Immersion; (b)Confirmation; (c) The Lord's Supper; (d) The Communion of the Bread and Wine; (e) the washing of the Saints' Feet; and (f) the Anointing of the Sick with Oil.

The Statement Of Faith Of The National Association Of Evangelicals

1. We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only, infallible, authoritative Word of God.

2. We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

3. We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.

4. We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful man, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.

5. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

6. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.

7. We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.