WHAT WE BELIEVE

In the Preamble to our Constitution we state the following:

We, the people of Community of Faith

·      Recognised the authoritarianism, vindictiveness, inequalities, and injustice in the functioning of systems in our former churches;

·      Give credit to those who worked for change, resisted the tyranny of the church leadership and suffered greatly for their prophetic witness;

·       Envisage a church which is committed to the Great Commission to preach the gospel to all creation recorded in Matthew 28: 16-20;

·       Seek to transform this world into the Kingdom of God through action that reflect a    contextual relevance of the gospel in our time;

·       Practice democracy in the affairs of the church; and

·      Support the constitution of the Republic of South Africa where it is not in conflict with the values of the Kingdom and to bear prophetic witness when necessary.

Community of Faith is an independent denomination in the tradition of Methodism (contrasted with other world traditions such as the Reformed tradition, Catholicism or Anglicanism).

Doctrinal Affirmations

1)            Statement of Affirmation

(a)   We believe in the Trinitarian God who is of one substance, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

(b)   We believe in the Father, creator of the universe.

(c)   We believe in the crucified, resurrected and exalted Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour who redeems, sanctifies and justifies.

(d)   We believe in the Holy Spirit who empowers God's chosen people, leads them in all truth and sets them apart for ministry and service.

(e)   We believe in the church as sign and servant.

(f)     We believe in the twenty-five (25) Articles of Faith of Methodism.

(g)   We believe in the radical quintessence of the Kingdom of God, i.e. peace, joy and justice as the guiding principles in our personal and corporate lives (Romans 14:17).

(h)   We believe in the universal priesthood of all believers (Galatians 3:28, 1 Corinthians 12).

(i)     We will pursue the high priestly prayer of Jesus, "…that they may be one".

(j)     We declare ourselves committed to: making Community of Faith relevant to the Sitz im Leben [context] of its membership in attempting to incarnate the demands of the gospel.

2)            The Apostles' Creed

3)            The Nicene Creed 

4)            Confessional Church

We stand in the tradition of confessions made by the Early Church Fathers.  Changing circumstances have required new confessions to be made by the church from time to time.  We subscribe to this tradition and therefore subscribe to being a Confessional Church.

5)            Fundamentalism:

We do not believe in religious fundamentalism.