Our Core Beliefs

 

We believe that theology and doctrine are priorities for the church and the Christian life.

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The following list represents essential VBC beliefs that are proclaimed boldly and unashamedly as part of the historic Christian faith.

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The Bible

We believe the entire Bible is the complete Word of God, that all sixty-six books, as originally given, comprising the Old and New Testament, were verbally inspired by the Spirit of God, and were entirely free from error; that the Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice and the basis of all Christian teaching and unity.

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God

We believe in one God, who is an infinite and intelligent Spirit; perfect in wisdom, love, and judgment; Creator and Sovereign of all things; holy, eternal, and self-existing in three equal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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We believe that God the Father reigns with providential care over all life and history, hears and answers prayer, initiated salvation by sending his Son; that he is Father to those who by faith accept his Son, Jesus, as Lord and Saviour.

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We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, in his eternal existence with the Father in pre-incarnate glory, in his virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, burial, bodily resurrection and appearances, triumphant ascension, present ministry as our Advocate, and imminent return.

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We believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; who as the Spirit of Truth, magnifies the person and word of Christ; who regenerates, indwells, sanctifies, strengthens, equips with spiritual gifts, and leads into all truth those who believe in Jesus Christ.

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We believe that Jesus and his apostles explained the present work of the Holy Spirit and that doctrine and experiences that deviate from the Bible pattern are to be avoided and regarded as not originating from God.

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Angels

We believe God created a distinct order of spirit beings to worship and serve God and act as messengers to and protectors of human beings.

 

VBC also believes that Satan, a fallen angel, exists as an evil personality, the originator of sin, the archenemy of God and man, and that he leads his evil angels to exercise great, though limited, power in the world; that Christ on the cross, triumphed over Satan and he will suffer final defeat before Jesus Christ at the end.

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Humans

We believe that humankind was divinely created in the image of God; that they sinned in Eden and thereby incurred not only physical death, but also spiritual death, which is separation from God. As a result, all human beings are born with a sinful nature and sin against God in thought, word, and deed.

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Salvation

We believe that personal salvation is by the sovereign, electing grace of God; that Christ voluntarily suffered physical death by crucifixion to satisfy God’s demand for judgment of sin and to provide justification for the repentant sinner who rests by faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ and in his work of redemption.

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We believe God seeks to progressively shape all those he has saved into the likeness of Christ by means of the scriptures, prayer, blessings, suffering, and the influence of other believers.

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We believe that all those who have obeyed God’s call shall be divinely preserved and finally perfected at the Lord’s return.

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Future Things

We believe in the personal, bodily, and glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the resurrection and judgment of the just and the unjust, in the eternal blessedness of the believer, and in the everlasting, conscious punishment of the unbeliever.

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The Universal Church

We believe the church is a spiritual organism comprised of all believers in Jesus Christ since Pentecost, and that each member has been baptized in the Spirit by the Lord Jesus Christ for the purpose of uniting every believer into the one body of which Christ is the Head.

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All believers are commanded by Christ to love one another as he has loved, and are commissioned to make disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching them to observe everything that Jesus commanded His disciples.

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The Local Church

We believe that the local church is a self-governing fellowship of Christ-followers that gather together under the Lordship of Jesus Christ to be taught the Word of God, encouraged in prayer and discipleship, participate in the Lord’s Supper, and equipped to serve one another in love.

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Ordinances

We believe there are two ordinances for believers regularly observed in the New Testament:

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Baptism – the immersion of a believer in water in obedience to Christ’s command, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, demonstrating publicly the believer’s identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.
 

The Lord’s Supper – the taking of the bread and the cup by believers together as a continuing memorial of the body and shed blood of Christ. It is an act of thanksgiving to him, and serves to unite his people and to declare his death by which we are forgiven until he returns.

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Civil Government

We believe that civil government is a separate institution from the church and is allowed by God for the good order of society and that secular authorities are to be prayed for, conscientiously honoured, and obeyed, except in that which is opposed to the Word of God.

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Marriage

We believe God created man and woman, and that marriage as instituted by God is the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.