AUSTRALIAN BIBLE CHURCH

(The Australian Presbyterian Bible Church Inc.)

 

CONSTITUTION

PURPOSE: 

The purpose of this Church is

·       to propagate the Christian gospel, to educate people by conveying Biblical contents faithfully, to apply the word of God from the Bible, without regard to fear or favour of men, to the individual, to nations,  race, to events; and

·       to help people find and rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ, to participate in His comfort and to experience His company, all in terms of the Bible, that great source book and doctrinal foundation of the Christian Church.

It is therefore also

·       to seek the lost, the salvation of sinners, the sanctification of saints, mercy for the  wayward, repentance and realisation of the cost of the Gospel to Christ and of its neglect, to man. It is

·       to publish, proclaim, defend and expose the faith, indeed the whole counsel of God from the Bible, in a darkened world,

·       to love the triune God altogether and one another fervently, as in the Lord, poised in the sanctity of His grace, ready for His work as He bestows it, feeding and tending the flock of God which He has purchased with His own blood, warning those who are lost lest they should perish in their sins, and those who stray, lest they suffer needlessly and dishonour the Lord. It is as the Lord gives us leading and power,

·       to help the oppressed in his name and according to His word.

In accord with these purposes, appropriate services are conducted as needed for worship, prayer, instruction, funerals and the Lord’s Supper; and may occur for baptism and the Church function in marriage.

 

MEMBERSHIP:

Membership is open to all who sincerely and formally accept the Constitution of this Church and may be terminated when such is clearly voided, though only with extreme reluctance: for we do and must serve Christ and none but God is our spiritual ruler.

Intending members publicly affirm their faith in the Father;

the Son, the everlasting co-Creator of all that is made, incarnate as Jesus Christ;

the Spirit, the counsellor, paraclete and guide who acts in the name of Jesus Christ, not glorifying Himself, but rather Christ; and

their whole hearted acceptance of the Bible, such that if it is written, God having thus given it to us: as with Christ, so with them, it is settled.

They are first to be baptised (or to have been duly baptised), preferably by sprinkling or affusion, in accord with scriptural evidence, as an expression of their acceptance of Christ in terms of the New Covenant, of their washing through His blood, being all baptised by One Spirit, as Paul declares, into one body.

The sacrament of baptism, for its part, does not confer salvation, but is an outward sign of the Christian’s inward reality, ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’; it expresses (symbolically) pardon, unity with Christ and purity through His washing in terms of the New Covenant which, like the Old, each the word of God, requires the sign of it on the whole family, including infants. ( Cf. Exodus 4, Colossians 2:10-13 etc.. ) As such, it is keenly commended to members for their young children.

Members are expected to want to help financially with the work, giving to God freely and according to conscience and scripture; to seek to foster it; and abide in the Lord prayerfully with concern for one another and the meeting of need as the Lord directs.

 

MEANS:

The means of propagation of preaching, teaching or counsel for this body may include pulpit, radio, TV, press or any other medium deemed useful for its purposes, from time to time; and no means or methods are at any time to contradict or to contravene the explicit teaching of the Bible on any topic. {Currently they relate to World Wide  Web Witness.}

 

POLITY:

·       The Church is Presbyterian in polity and in historic alignment, but only, and because of the Bible, which is the final judge and determinant in all questions of belief and practice, the very word of the only God, its extent being as defined in the Westminster Confession, which we hold to be in substantial agreement with it.

·       As The Westminster Confession itself makes clear, however, it is SUBORDINATE to the scripture (the Bible) and as such is a subordinate standard, the scripture itself alone being the touchstone. Indeed, we represent no departure from the clear mission of the original and historic Presbyterian Church united in 1901, in this country, but rather a zealous continuation of that mission

·       This requires no ambiguity either on the place of the Bible or of ‘Rome' (‘Roman Catholicism’), the former wholly accepted and the later wholly rejected as Biblically impermissible, as is any and all un-Biblical ecumenism, following not the requirements of Biblical truth, but rather ecclesiastical convenience, synthesis with culture, capitulation to convenience, tradition or mergers of misalliance.

·       Nevertheless we remain cordially concerned for evangelical collaboration on a Biblical basis to the glory of God, where this may be achieved without confusion or compromise, forwarding the work of God.

·       Administratively, the church is governed by elders, of which group the Minister (or pastor) is the teaching-elder as to specialty. The pastor is called by the congregation’s will and in accord with the elders’ consent, and as Presbyterian, will normally belong to a Presbytery. While elders are normally elected for life to their office, their lives are expected to show a good example in word and deed as a condition of their work.

 

DOCTRINE:

1. THE BIBLE:

 

·       This is of extent as noted above, and is as defined by the Westminster Confession: the Bible in all it affirms whatsoever, is the very word written of the only God, infallible because God is its author, and immediately inspired by God, therefore having full agreement and accord in all its parts and being infallible truth.

·       Such it is in the original manuscripts, and these have been preserved and transmitted through the providence of God in such a way that it provides entire reliability in all doctrine which it teaches, without any addition or subtraction.

·       As to itself, it is to be read with due comparison of all its parts. In these terms, its actual truth is affirmed relative to all matters to which it addresses itself: ‘the infallible rule of interpretation of scripture is the scripture itself’ (Westminster Confession).

 

2. JESUS CHRIST:

 

·       Deity incarnate, the word of God in flesh, God Himself on earth,

·       He is the sufficient, substitutionary Saviour available for all who call upon Him, thus covering by His sacrifice all who at any time BY FAITH shall have received Him.

·        Bodily resurrected from the tomb left vacant by these means, He has returned to God the Father, the heavens having received Him until He comes again in visible form.

·       His authority is binding and HE is the judge of man.

·       The only begotten Son of God, He entered this earth by virgin birth, an eternal and uncreated Person, exhibiting both His control over it and His willingness in deep and divine sympathy to suffer for sinners, purchasing all who come to Him, by His blood.

 

3. THE HOLY SPIRIT:

 

·       The third member of the trinity, He comes as the living presence of God, testifying of Jesus Christ, the truth and only Saviour for any, indeed for sinners whether they be in the heavens or on earth, and attesting that BY Jesus Christ men MUST be saved.

·       He speaks of SIN, because Christ is not believed, of RIGHTEOUSNESS because He has gone to His Father, and of JUDGMENT, because this world is headed by a polluted and corrupt prince. In Christ’s name, He enlightens eyes to see spiritual truth.

 

4. SIN:

 

Sin occurs in any act or attitude contrary to the word and will of God. Sin per se is adequate alienation from God for damnation, but salvation is adequate propitiation for everyone who comes in reality to Jesus Christ by faith: not to another, but to Christ as the Bible presents Him.

 

5. SALVATION:

 

This is eternal and inalienable, conferred and confirmed without possibility of loss to those who actually receive it. SIN does not damage the texture of relations with God, but severs from Him; SALVATION

·       does not simply improve the nature of relations with Him, but rather transforms it,

·       moving the sinner from enmity to friendship with God.

·       Sin is objective and does not depend on mere human perception; and so is salvation, the object of faith being Jesus Christ Himself.

 

6. GOOD WORKS:

 

These are the fruit of faith, the result of salvation, borne by the good tree, rooted and grounded in Christ by grace. They neither secure salvation nor contribute to its attainment; but are consequences, like rain borne by the clouds, precipitated by the grace, mercy, love and peace of Christ in the heart of believers who, sins forgiven, are energised by the might and led by the wisdom of God.

 

7. SOVEREIGNTY:

 

This belongs to God and history is so wrought by Him that He does what He pleases in heaven and on earth, acting according to the good pleasure of His will. Willing good, He rules evil, and is neither subject to it nor accessible by it. Human will, made as man himself is, in the image of God, is neither deterministic, as if ruled by elements, though sin can deprave it; nor autonomous, as if it ruled the ultimates; nor irrelevant, as if God did not at the creation call it into being. Moreover while in salvation God never violates the will, it is by sin, itself rendered incompetent for salvation.

 

8. GRACE:

 

Grace is unmerited favour, and wholly saved by grace, the Christian makes no contribution to the righteousness which saves him, though much WITH it, after salvation.

 

9. LOVE:

 

·       The love of God is such that God is even CALLED ‘love’, so that

·       as there is no shadow of darkness in His light,

·       so there is no tinge of deficiency in His love.

·       Being willing that all men be saved, as the scripture says, He neither damns any for lack of scope or sincerity in His love, nor so acts that human responsibility fails aptly to relate to those who, avoiding His love, doubly deserve the divine dismissal.

·       It is in this very love that Christians are to love one another and in His grace, reach others who, lacking Christ, lack God, being aliens, but on conversion, become citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

 

10. RESURRECTION:

 

The certainty for the Christian is resurrection of the body into a format both individual and knowing, when the person will know as he or she is known by God, and will see His face, being eternally in His presence, freely, joyously, justly, being brought  through salvation BY the perfection of Christ, TO perfection in Him (Hebrews 12:23).

ALL DOCTRINE is as demonstrable from the Bible; and may be changed by no other means than demonstration from this source.

 

 

THE SPIRIT

 

The spirit of this church, reliant on the provision of God’s own leading through HIS Spirit, is intended to be exemplary of the Biblical position on Christian conduct:

·       pitiful, courteous, bold and fearless for the faith,

·       wise and watchful, circumspect and contrite.

·       Loving and peaceable in disposition, it yet must be

·       courageous and faithful in trial, challenge or persecution,

·       destructive of delusion, but

·       with charitable constructiveness using opportunity, following the Lord.

 

PRAYER

 

That it may be a place of the power of God, without which nothing spiritual may well prevail, the church must be  a place of prayer, and meeting for prayer is a central work of members, as is living in love, walking by faith and praising the Lord Jesus Christ, without whom, we can all of us do nothing.

 

LIABILITIES

 

The liabilities of this body and of its operatives per se shall be limited to the funds available in any account expressly in its official name: this being a limited liability company for the purposes of law.