What We Believe
Preface (Principles vs preferences) - A Principled Life
We choose to live a life that is uncompromised & uncomplicated, and we do this by choosing to know, believe and stand for the Godly principles in the Bible. We choose Biblical principles over our personal preferences, because we don’t want to live the circular, frustrated, unsatisfied life of preference-based people. Biblical principles are about something bigger than us, and we know that in choosing to live by and uphold them, it will come at great personal cost. The Word of God determines the rightness of our principles, not the outcomes and not our feelings. We are the ‘called out’ ones; we are unique, courageous, and we don’t change our principles to blend in with the world. In the same way that the principles of gravity and magnetism govern and hold objects together and allow for safe freedom of movement, we live a life that is governed and held together by Biblical principles; the result is a focused, peaceful life of great freedom.
1. Unity
Unity is the way we express our great love and appreciation for diversity. As a family, we are able to have diverse gifts, cultures and functions operating together in harmony because our values guide us, not each person’s personal preference. We each take personal responsibility to actively make things right when we offend someone, to change what we need to change in ourselves, and we choose to forgive each other. More than just something that we would like to achieve – Unity is something we need. We believe by upholding Unity as a principle, that we glorify the God Who made us by this beautiful design.
2. The Gospel
The truth about Jesus, and what He did for us is something that we believe so completely that we will live for, stand for, fight for and even die for it. For us, the Bible is what we go to as our final authority because there is no source or person greater than the Bible. The truth of what Jesus did for us can be understood by everyone, is complete, and in no way contradicts what is in the whole of the Bible. For us, the non-negotiable truth is: We were made by God in His image, and we rebelled against Him. He sought us and gave us a way to be made right with Him by sending Jesus to pay for our rebellion by dying on the Cross. If we accept that we have personally rebelled against Him, turn from our rebellion and follow Him completely, we can be made right with God. If we persevere in following Him, we will be with Him forever in heaven.
3. Truth
We believe that the Jesus of the Bible gives us the truth, and that His truth sets us free from the many lies that we have believed about ourselves and the world that we line in.
We choose to trust in the principles and values that God has given us in the Bible, rather than fearing what people might say about us. In awkward social situations where would rather blend in by making excuses or going along with the crowd, we choose to stand for the things that we believe are right. In those situations we choose to simply state what we believe in a kind and non-judgmental way. While we support and love our family and friends, we don’t defend them if they are not telling the truth. When we say ‘Yes,’ we mean it, and when we say ‘No,’ we mean it – we take oaths seriously. By choosing to always speak the truth, our life is more uncomplicated, lighter and straighter than we thought possible. Living a life of truth sets us free.
4. Faith
Faith means ‘confidence,’ and we have confidence that God is Who the Bible says He is. In our commitment to read and understand the Bible, we are able to understand Who He truly is by using our intellect to understand Him as we read and study, and we also experience Him for ourselves in our emotions. We know from the Bible and from our own experience that we can have confidence that God is a good God who is all-powerful, all-knowing and trustworthy. God has been around for all of eternity, we have been around for a very small time in comparison, and whatever our circumstances are, we trust that He has a better perspective of what is good for us than what we have for ourselves.
Our goal is to please God, not to do risky or spectacular things. We are a logical, secure people who take one step at a time, believing that God is in charge. Our confidence doesn’t look a particular way, it doesn’t end a certain way, it is not based on presumption, false hope, or on taking parts of the Bible and making it say what we want it to say. Our confidence is strengthened because we see God keeping His promises. His promises are always conditional, and His timing is always perfect.
5. Hope
(Truth: use this for now as Hope needing more time to be written) We believe that the Jesus of the Bible gives us the truth, and that His truth sets us free from the many lies that we have believed about ourselves and the world that we line in.
We choose to trust in the principles and values that God has given us in the Bible, rather than fearing what people might say about us. In awkward social situations where would rather blend in by making excuses or going along with the crowd, we choose to stand for the things that we believe are right. In those situations we choose to simply state what we believe in a kind and non-judgmental way. While we support and love our family and friends, we don’t defend them if they are not telling the truth. When we say ‘Yes,’ we mean it, and when we say ‘No,’ we mean it – we take oaths seriously. By choosing to always speak the truth, our life is more uncomplicated, lighter and straighter than we thought possible. Living a life of truth sets us free.
6. Love
The agape love of God is the most powerful force in the universe. His love is a choice of the will - it is unconditional, rational, and emotionless – and seeks our eternal benefit at His expense. Jesus demonstrated ultimate agape when He made a rational decision of His will to die for us while we were still His enemies. He did it for our eternal benefit, at His great expense.
The way that we enact the principle of agape love is by obedience to God’s command to commit to this same agape love of the will; rational, selfless, one-way - for the eternal benefit of others at our expense.
Having a true view of ourselves, we not only accept the agape love of God, we also partake of it and apply it to ourselves, and then to others. We do this by: addressing sin, confronting it, remedying it, forgiving it and moving on from it. We are a permanently forward-looking people who rationally love ourselves and others with a love that is different, unique and attractive and this agape love is our essence.
7. Righteousness
We are made right before God by our right relationship with Him- not by the things that we do. There is no action that makes us right, or proves that we are right before Him. We can only have a right relationship with God because of what Jesus did for us on the Cross: by acknowledging our sin, accepting what Jesus did for us on the Cross, and following Him, we not only immediately become right before God, but we continue to become right before Him, as the remaining sin in us is gradually addressed by His Spirit. This was actually the reason that Jesus came, and it is the central purpose of every Christian, to become right before God, and to continue to become like Him. Our rightness before God makes it possible for us to be truly right with each other, and it goes hand-in-hand with the principle of love. Our greatest human need is to be made right with God, and sharing what we have found in Jesus is the greatest display of the rightness that is within us.
8. Honour
Our culture of honour promotes growth and responsibility, and brings order and blessing. Honour is different from respect: we are not commanded to respect the person – we are commanded to honour them by treating them in a way that acknowledges the weight of the responsibility that they hold, and the sacrifices that they have made. We honour the office that a person holds, even if we don’t respect the person who holds it. Honouring others has the continual effect of regulating our behaviour, our attitudes, our thoughts and our words – we are changed – as we purposefully honour in our home, workplaces, church and society.
Home is the training ground for honour, and we honour our parents, our wife, our husband, regardless of whether they are deserving of respect or not. We know that every breath we have is a gift from God, and by honouring sacrifice and cost, we ensure that we do not breed a culture of entitlement.
9. Excellence
Our eyes are fixed on the perfection and excellence of Jesus: it is Him that we reflect in our excellence, and it for Him that we excel in our service. Others may benefit from the excellence with which we serve, but it is for Him that we serve excellently. It is God Who sees, and God Who rewards without partiality. God alone is perfect - and one day we too will be made perfect – so here on earth, inspired by the excellence of God, we do what we do with excellence.
10. Courage
We are a courageous people who choose to see the experience of fear as an opportunity to overcome. We are a people who face up to battles and obstacles, knowing that we can overcome because the One Who is in us is greater than any threat that we face. We courageously acknowledge our nature- we accept our weaknesses. Our objective is not to avoid fear, but to master the art of courage, refusing to live a life dictated by fears. We don’t pretend that the threat is not there, we don’t avoid the feeling of being scared, and we don’t avoid risk and failure: we choose to examine what we are afraid of and face up to the battle, knowing the truth that God is with us, and He is more powerful than any threat we face. We choose a life that is marked by the greatness of courage.