Baptism is a washing of water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is an outward sign that points to the inward washing of the soul done by God alone, where Jesus’ blood cleanses us from all our sins. It helps people express their commitment to a life long relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

The Bible is the inspired and flawless Word of God. The Bible is not one book but a collection of ancient writings by people from many and varied backgrounds. It is the story of God and his interaction with people - it tells us who God is, what God is like, and what he has done. It is divided into two sections - the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Christ comes from the Greek word ‘christos’, which means ‘anointed one’. God promised early in the Bible that he would send a chosen one (also called ‘Messiah’, in Hebrew) to save the world from sin. This was revealed later in the Bible as Jesus.

A Christian is a person who lives with Jesus Christ as their King or ruler. They understand and admit that they rightly and fairly deserve God's anger because of their wrongdoing and cling to Jesus who saves them as their only hope for eternity.

God chooses and preserves for himself a community, who love, follow, learn from, and worship God together. God sends out this community to proclaim the gospel and show a glimpse of Christ’s kingdom by the quality of their life together and their love for one another.

In the Bible, a covenant between God and human beings is a set of promises made by God. Two covenants have a special place in the Bible: the ‘Old Covenant’ God made with the Israelites through obeying His law, and the ‘New Covenant’ God made with the World, offering forgiveness and relationship through Jesus Christ.

God created all things by his powerful Word, and all his creation was very good; everything flourished under his loving rule. God created us male and female in his own image to know him, love him, live with him, and glorify him.

A disciple is a follower of Jesus

Faith in Jesus Christ is acknowledging the truth of everything that God has revealed in his Word, trusting in him, and also receiving and resting on him alone for salvation as he is offered to us in the gospel.

The Father is the first and equal member of the “Godhead” or Trinity, along with the Son and Holy Spirit. God the Father, who made all things, as the father of Israel. The New Testament gives a fuller picture of God as Father, Jesus frequently referred to the God of Israel as His Father.

God is the creator and sustains everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in his power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will.

The gospel is the good news concerning Jesus and how to be saved.

Grace is God’s mercy to those who don’t deserve it. Grace is needed for people because we are sinners and we separated from God - and deserve Hell. Grace is made possible through Jesus and his work on the cross.

Heaven, according to the Bible, is the place where God lives. We are told in the Bible it is extraordinarily wonderful and will be like a big festival (Luke 13:29, Matthew 22:2, Matthew 25:10), but only those who are holy will be found there.

Hell is a place where God is not. People who do not trust in Jesus as their King, will be cast out from the presence of God, into hell, to be justly punished, forever. Some people think that it ‘is where the party is’ but the Bible gives us a different picture. Jesus warned us to do whatever it takes to avoid going there.

When Christians talk about God coming to live in their hearts, it’s the Holy Spirit they are describing. The Holy Spirit is Jesus’ spirit on Earth. The Holy Spirit gives us faith to believe in Jesus, draws our attention to him, helps us understand his Word, makes us more like him, gives us gifts to use in serving others and enables us to share the good news about him to the world. The Holy Spirit is an equal member of the “Godhead” or Trinity, along with the Father and Son.

Jesus came to earth in human history, lived a sinless human life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people by dying on a cross. He arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to Heaven’s glory and will return again someday to earth to reign as King.

Justification means our declared righteousness before God, made possible by Christ’s death and resurrection for us.

The kingdom refers to the Biblical truth that our world belongs to God. The Kingdom of God involves God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule. The King is Jesus Christ, the people are those living with Jesus as their King, the place is His Church on Earth (and ultimately the King’s throne in Heaven), and the rule is God’s New Covenant or binding agreement with his people through Jesus.

God’s law is his instructions for living his way, and is his perfect standard of obedience and holiness. ‘The Law’ in the Bible often means the Ten Commandments and requirements given to Moses. God’s law is summarised as loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love our neighbour as ourselves. God requires personal and perfect obedience to his law, but no human has been able to keep the law of God perfectly. The law reminds us of our sin and need of a Saviour.

Christ commanded all Christians to eat bread and to drink from the cup in thankful remembrance of him. In the Lord’s Supper, the sign of bread and wine point to the body and blood of Christ. As we share in the bread and wine we are reminded that his sacrifice paid the price for us to be in renewed relationship with our Creator God.

Prayer is talking to God and how we build a relationship with God. We can pour out our hearts to God through prayer in praise, petition, confession of sin, and thanksgiving.

Righteous is someone that is right before God - perfect and holy. The Bible says that not one person is righteous (Rom 3:10), and therefore we all need a Saviour.

The word saints (Greek Hagios) literally means “holy ones.” It refers to Christians or believers.

Sanctification means our gradual, growing righteousness, made possible by the Spirit’s work in us.

Satan is the devil, the enemy of God and men.

Salvation means being saved or rescued from punishment. We are saved only by trusting in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for our sins. Even though we are guilty of disobeying God, and are still inclined to all evil, God, through his pure grace, gives us the perfect righteousness of Christ when we repent and believe in him.

Sin is rejecting or ignoring God in the world he created, rebelling against him by living without reference to him, not being or doing what he requires in his law. The result of sin is death.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The Son is the second and equal member of the “Godhead” or Trinity, along with the Father and Holy Spirit.

There is one and only one true and living God. Yet this one God exists in three ‘persons’ or ‘Trinity’ - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These three persons are completely equal, and each fully and completely God, but they are different in the way they relate to one another and the role each plays.