WE BELIEVE IN...

1. The one true God who lives eternally in three persons—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
2. The love, grace and sovereignty of God in creating, sustaining, ruling, redeeming and judging the world.
3. The divine inspiration and supreme authority of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, which are the written Word of God—fully trustworthy for faith and conduct.
4. The dignity of all people, made male and female in God's image to love, be holy and care for creation, yet corrupted by sin, which incurs divine wrath and judgement.
5. The incarnation of God’s eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ—born of the virgin Mary; truly divine and truly human, yet without sin.
6. The atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross: dying in our place, paying the price of sin and defeating evil, so reconciling us with God.
7. The bodily resurrection of Christ, the first fruits of our resurrection; his ascension to the Father, and his reign and mediation as the only Saviour of the world.
8. The justification of sinners solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ.
9. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit, who leads us to repentance, unites us with Christ through new birth, empowers our discipleship and enables our witness.
10. The Church, the body of Christ both local and universal, the priesthood of all believers—given life by the Spirit and endowed with the Spirit's gifts to worship God and proclaim the gospel, promoting justice and love.
11. The personal and visible return of Jesus Christ to fulfil the purposes of God, who will raise all people to judgement, bring eternal life to the redeemed and eternal condemnation to the lost, and establish a new heaven and new earth.

Evangelical Relationships Commitment

The Evangelical Relationships Commitment is a modern re-wording of the eight Practical Resolutions originally agreed at the 1846 Assembly that launched the Evangelical Alliance. They were written to guide members in their relationships with other Christians. We hope they will help you as you build good positive working relationships in all areas of your Christian life.

AFFIRMATIONS

1. We welcome as Christian brothers and sisters all who experience the grace of new birth, bringing them to that fear and knowledge of God which is expressed in a life of obedience to His word.
2. We recognise our Christian duty of trust and mutual encouragement to all who serve Christ as Lord, not least to those who conscientiously prefer not to be identified with the same churches, alliances or councils as ourselves.
3. We respect the diversity of culture, experience and doctrinal understanding that God grants to His people, and acknowledge that some differences over issues not essential to salvation may well remain until the end of time.

ACTIONS

4. We urge all Christians to pray as Christ prayed, that we may be one in the Father and the Son, and so by the Spirit promote personal relationships of love, peace and fellowship within the Body of Christ, His universal Church.
5. We encourage all Christians earnestly to contend for biblical truth, since only as we are open to learn from others and yield fuller obedience to the truth will we be drawn closer to Christ and to each other.
6. We call on each other, when speaking or writing of those issues of faith or practice that divide us, to acknowledge our own failings and the possibility that we ourselves may be mistaken, avoiding personal hostility and abuse, and speaking the truth in love and gentleness.
7. We owe it to each other, in making public comment on the alleged statements of our fellow Christians, first to confer directly with them and to establish what was actually intended. Then to commend what we can, to weigh the proportional significance of what we perceive to be in error, and to put a charitable construction on what is doubtful, expressing all with courtesy, humility and graciousness.
8. We rejoice in the spread of the Gospel across the world and urge all Christians to commit themselves to this task, avoiding unnecessary competition and co-operating, wherever possible, in the completion of Christ's kingdom of peace, justice and holiness, to the glory of the one God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Principles of the Dorset Christian Fellowship

1. The Lord Jesus Christ commands us to make disciples of all nations (Mt. 28:19). All peoples must hear the Gospel, and some from "every tribe, and tongue, and people and nation" will be saved (Rev. 5:9).
2. We seek to help all disciples into makers of disciples. A disciple is someone who obeys all the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19).
3. The final and only authority for the Church’s work is the Lord Jesus Christ who has given us His commands in the Bible. He is the Head of the Church (Eph. 1:22). No other traditions have any authority over those who become Christians. New churches must submit to the Lord Jesus Christ and obey His commands, but no other traditions can be imposed on them from without. They are free to serve God in their own way, as long as they follow the Bible’s teaching. From the beginning, they have all spiritual authority to obey all the Lord’s commands, and grow and multiply themselves without any necessary reference to a missionary team.
4. The work of building the Church is the final responsibility of the Lord Jesus Christ.
5. All our work must be in submission to Him. We recognise our entire dependence on Him and seek His guidance and blessing without which no work can avail. (John 15:5).
6. On-the-job is the ideal method of training, being exemplified by the Lord Jesus Christ, and followed by the apostle Paul.
7. The Church is one Body (Eph. 4:1). This means that all activities are carried out in harmony and cooperation with other members of the Body, without rivalry, and without any part dominating the others. Thus the Dorset Christian Fellowship works in cooperation with all evangelical churches and missionary agencies.