NAME, DOCTRINE AND POLICY
WHY WE USE THE NAME
We believe this to be the only biblical name given to the people of God. We do not claim exclusive rights to this name, but it is evident by the scripture that God ordained that there should be only one church, having a universal membership that includes all Born Again believers constituting ?the church of the first born.? (Hebrews 12:23) Paul said to the elders of the church at Ephesus, ?Feed the church of God which he (Jesus) hath purchased with his own blood.? (Acts 20:28)
The Church takes its name from its father, God, of whom the whole family, both in heaven and earth, is named. In Isaiah 62:2 we read, ?Thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.? The fulfillment of the prophecy is recorded in John 17:11 when Jesus prayed, ?Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.?
We do not use the name ?Church of God? in any narrow, sectarian or denominational sense but in its broad scriptural reference to the body of Christ composed of all the redeemed. We believe this because Jesus prayed, ?I pray that they all may be one.? He also said, ?There shall be one fold and one shepherd.?
ORGANIZATION
While the church of God was fully organized and set in order on the Day of Pentecost, A.D. 33, we in the present movement can only claim to have been operative as a distinctive body within Christendom for the restoration of the New Testament Church since the year 1880, when D. S. Warner was beginning to preach a message of Christian Unity. Others severed their connections with humanly organized churches maintaining that the scriptural, all-sufficient standard for the people of God was membership in the spiritual family of God alone.
We regard denominational walls as barriers separating one Christian from another by their creed. It is a lost world?s greatest obstruction in its search for God. We believe that one who has been truly converted from sin has experienced the forgiving and regenerating love of God in Christ. This life is dominated by the Holy Spirit and every person who has experienced Christ is one with every other twice-born Christian and is not to be separated by creeds of men that divide into various groups.
THE CHURCH A FELLOWSHIP
Since salvation alone is the means of entrance into the church, and Jesus Christ is the door by which we are brought into the family, we refer to the church of God as, ?The Church Where Christian Experience Is Membership.?
This being true, we offer no human organization to be joined. By virtue of the experience in Christ, we are ?members of His (Christ) body in particular.? (I Cor. 12:7). In the church of God, fellowship determines the membership and not the membership the fellowship. This is the view as set forth in the New Testament, and it must be now as it was then, ?the Lord added to the church such as were being saved.? (Acts 2:47). What that is significant can men add to what God does regarding membership in His body, the church?
DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH
We have no written creed but accept the Word of God as our only rule of faith, discipline and practice. Where the Bible speaks we speak, and where the Bible is silent, we are silent. The Bible is the supreme guide book for the members of the family of God. It gives guidance for the daily conduct and manner of life God expects of the members of His family. We, therefore, abstain from the use of intoxicants and tobacco, as we believe the Bible teaches strict conformity to the Christ-like life of holiness and devotion of God.
Doctrinally, this movement may be called evangelical and orthodox. We believe in the Trinity, in the inspiration and inerrancy of the Scripture, in the Deity of Christ and the all-sufficiency of His sacrifice and atonement for sin, in the super-naturalism of religious experience. We believe redemption is wrought in the heart of the individual first by the experience of regeneration, and secondly by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in the experience of Sanctification. We believe in and practice Divine Healing. We believe in the immortality of the soul; that hell is as real a place for the unbeliever as heaven is the eternal home of the redeemed.
We recognize three scriptural ordinances: (1) Baptism by immersion; (2) The Lord?s Supper; (3) Feet washing.
We believe in water baptism, which is the witness of a good conscience toward God and not as the administration of God?s grace for the experience of New Birth. We do not believe in sprinkling or pouring but in a burial only, signifying our death to the world and the old life, depicting our resurrection to the new life in Christ. This baptism is not for infants but for those who have come to the age of accountability and have taken Christ as their Saviour through repentance.
We believe in the Lord?s Supper or the Communion, a memorial of the suffering and death of Christ for our sins. This ordinance shows our relationship to Christ- that we are partakers of the living Bread from heaven and beneficiaries of His blood atonement.
We believe in the ordinance of foot washing, an example of Christian humility exemplified and expressly commanded by our Lord in His last meeting with the disciples before He went to the cross. (John 13:15-17)
We believe that the doctrinal position of the church will stand the acid test of the Scriptures and of the experience of historical Christianity, and, therefore, commend them prayerfully to you for your careful consideration.
You Should Know More
About the Church of God
The Church of the New Testament (Acts 20:28)
BECAUSE?
Jesus organized it???Matt. 16:18
On a good foundation???Eph. 2:20; I Cor. 2:11
Christ governs it???Eph. 1:22-23; Isa. 9:6
God admits members???Acts 2:47; I Cor. 12:13, 18
Only the saved are members???John 15:2, 6
Membership is offered to all???Rev. 22:17
Membership is rewarded???Rev. 20:12-14; 21:3-4; 22:14
The Church of God
Stands for
A holy life???Luke 1:73-75; Titus 2:11-12
Unity of God?s people???John 17:21
Divine, physical healing???James 5:14-15
The ordinances???Matt. 28:19-20
Eternal salvation???Matt. 25:46
Eternal punishment???Matt. 25:46; Mark 9:43-46
A personal God???John 4:24
A divine Christ???John 1:1, 14
An infallible inspired Bible???II Tim. 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20-21
Salvation from sin???Matt. 1:21
The new birth???John 3:3, 5-7
Entire sanctification???I Thes. 5:23
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