What we believe
Below are our essential beliefs as a church. If you have any questions at all about what we believe, please send an email to hello@citygate.church - we’d be happy to chat!
God, The Trinity
We believe that God is Trinity (three persons in unity); that he is Father, Son and Holy Spirit; each equally and fully God; each distinct yet perfect in unity. We deny any teaching that fails to affirm: that there is one God, that God is three persons, that each person is fully God.
-
We believe God the Father is the creator of heaven and earth and everything in them. He is the originator of the plan of salvation, who sent his Son because of love for mankind.
While the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are each fully God, the Son and the Holy Spirit voluntarily submit to the Father. Those who are Christians are adopted into God’s family, with the astounding privilege of calling him, and relating to him as, our Father.
-
We believe the Son of God is the second person in the Trinity, who came to earth as a man, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The Son is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, who, incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ, came to earth for our salvation. We do not believe he was merely a super-man, nor God appearing to be a man, but that he was, at all times, fully God and fully man, fully human and fully divine.
The purpose for Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death and resurrection in 1st century Palestine was to be the sin-bearing, atoning Saviour of mankind. He was more than an example, a prophet and a teacher; he was (and is) the unique, sinless and only Lord and Saviour for all.
In his life Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life for us. In his death he atoned for the sin of all those who put their trust in him, bearing the wrath of God for our sin and dying the death we deserved to die as the penalty for sin. In his resurrection, he triumphed over our enemies of sin, death and the Devil and was powerfully seen to be who he had claimed to be, the Son of God.
In his ascension, Jesus returned to his Father where he reigns in glory, sends the Holy Spirit to his people and intercedes for us. He is the Lord of all and is coming again to judge all people, to raise his people to resurrection life and to restore all things.
-
We believe the Holy Spirit is the third, co-equal and co-eternal member of the Trinity, voluntarily submitting to the Father and to the Son. It is he who leads us to faith and repentance, who causes us to be born again and who empowers us in our life of following Jesus. As Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit is present with/in every believer. It is the Holy Spirit within us who is our experience of ‘God with us’ and who witnesses to our spirit that we are God’s children, bringing security, significance and a new identity. It is the privilege of every Christian to be baptised in, and then continually filled with, the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit produces Christ-like fruit in every believer as they submit to him, gives every believer gifts with which to be active and fruitful in their service of Christ and empowers us for mission in the world.
The Bible
We believe the Bible (the 66 ‘books’ of the Old and New Testaments) is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. It is God’s own revelation of himself, of mankind and of his plan for our salvation.
By inspired we mean that the Bible is not merely the words of wise or holy authors, but that the Holy Spirit caused to be recorded what God wanted to be recorded - it was at the same time the words of God and the words of men (the words of God through the words of men) - with the Holy Spirit orchestrating the process.
By inerrant we mean that the Bible is accurate and true in all that it teaches; that the authors’ original writings were exactly what God wanted communicated and therefore contained no errors.
We then believe that the process of copying and translating those words through the centuries has been faithfully conducted by people and overseen by the Holy Spirit, such that what we have today is a faithful and trustworthy record of the original writings.
All of which means that the Bible we have today is God’s Word and thus is our final authority for belief and behaviour. We therefore trust wholly in the teaching of the Bible and are a church where regular teaching of the Bible holds a primary role and where Scripture’s authority is final.
Salvation by grace
We believe that every person is, by nature, a sinner, personally accountable to God for having fallen short of his requirements of them. Mankind is therefore in need of salvation from the consequences of sin, from the judgement of God that will be justly served upon each person. We believe Jesus Christ is the only one who is able to be that Saviour and that he saves completely all those who come to him in faith.
We believe that the gospel - the good news of what God has done for us in the saving work of Christ - is a message of grace; that everything we receive from God is a gift of his generosity, not a reward for our work or performance. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Having received salvation because of God’s grace, his grace continues to be our experience as we follow Christ and the basis of our continuing confidence of salvation.
By grace alone
Nothing in us merits God’s favour; it is purely his kindness that gives us what we did not deserve and does not give us what we did deserve.
By faith alone
We receive God’s grace only as we put our trust in him and in what he has done for us in Christ.
In Christ alone
God is gracious to every person, but we receive salvation by his grace because we trust in Christ who alone redeemed us from sin and reconciled us to himself.
The local church
We believe that every Christian, already part of the universal church, is called by God to belong to a local church. The local church is a gathering of believers who have agreed to be committed to one another in submission to recognised leadership.
The local church is of primary importance in God’s plans on the earth; it is not optional, secondary or minor. We believe the local church should reflect the New Testament image of the church being a family - authentic, open, honest, loving and inclusive; a safe place to belong.
The local church is the place for Christians both to receive and to contribute. To receive teaching, fellowship, encouragement and correction; to contribute in various ways according to their resources of time, talent and finance.
Elders
The team of men known as elders hold ultimate responsibility for guiding, guarding and governing the church. In conjunction with the gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors / teachers, described in Ephesians 4, it is their responsibility to ensure that the church is healthy and moving towards maturity, unity and ministry (see Ephesians 4:11-16).
Leaders
In addition to the team of elders, we believe that many men and women in church life are called to a variety of leadership roles. At Citygate we have a Strategic Leadership Team and many others serving as leaders in a huge number of ways.
Virtually everything requires leadership, from a family unit to a nation, and this is true in church life. We are therefore very keen to recognise, raise up and release leaders in every area in order for the church to fulfil its mission.
Those leaders are accountable to the team of elders for their areas of delegated responsibility. Leadership is a spiritual gift, recognised by the elders, not simply a matterof personality, experience or force of opinions.
Mission
Making disciples
We believe Christ calls every person not only to make a decision to trust him, but to thereafter live a life of following him in a Godward direction, a process we call discipleship. This encompasses the whole of life for the whole of life - the process of becoming more like Jesus in every area, from workplace to neighbourhood, from social life to family life, in public and in private.
Jesus commanded his disciples (and us) to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28 v 18). We are therefore seeking to help people not only to believe in him, but to live as his apprentices who are submitted to learning from him and committed to following him in every area of their lives.
Being a disciple is a lifelong process which involves sanctification, discovering gifts, learning from mistakes, making courageous decisions to follow Jesus whatever the cost and becoming free from sinful attitudes and behaviour.
Discipleship is a matter of personal responsibility, but much of it happens in community as we learn from others, invite their input and serve as opportunities arise.
We believe baptism is an initial step on the journey of being a disciple: the public declaration of new life and of allegiance to Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Other facets of being a disciple, which take place both in private and in relationship with other Christians will include: prayer, fasting, worship, godly relationships, accountability, studying the Bible, breaking of bread, giving and serving.
God’s mission and kingdom
Mark records that Jesus announced his ministry with these words, “The kingdom of God has come near,” and Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” We believe God has a mission to extend his kingdom (the experience of his rule and reign) and that every church and every believer is called to be fully engaged in that mission. His mission is to rescue people from their sin and to call them into relationship with himself, in turn becoming engaged in that mission, and living under his rule in anticipation of his kingdom coming fully when Jesus returns.
God’s mission is a gospel mission, not simply a social or humanitarian mission; it centres on Christ’s rescue mission to seek and save those who are lost.
Every Christian will have their own God-given opportunities to engage in God’s mission, part of which will be engaging in the specific mission of the local church to which they belong.
God’s gracious mission is also reflected as we bring comfort to the hurting, safety to the vulnerable, help to those in need and justice to the mistreated; serving people wherever we find God is asking us to extend his grace to them.
God’s kingdom will ultimately be displayed when he restores all things under the reign of Christ in the new heaven and earth.
Baptism
Jesus placed a high priority on baptism when he was baptised by John and when he included it in the great commission saying, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).
In the book of Acts we then see a pattern develop with baptism consistently being one of the initial steps taken by someone who has become a disciple of Jesus. Whenever we read of baptism in Acts it follows on from repentance and a commitment to Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. This is why we believe that baptism is for believers.
We baptise anyone who it is clear has done two things (which are really one thing) - anyone who is fully trusting in Jesus as “both Lord and Saviour” (Acts 2:36). That is: they are a) coming to Jesus in full trust for salvation and are b) leaving their old life, demonstrating all of that through repentance (hence Peter says, “Repent and be baptised,” Acts 2:38).
The significance of baptism is seen in it being both a picture and a public declaration.
It is a picture
Of having been washed, forgiven, cleansed of sin: “Get up, be baptised and wash your sins away” (Acts 22:16). Baptism does not itself wash our sin away, but is a visible demonstration that our sin has been washed away by faith in Jesus.
Of having been buried and raised with Christ: “Having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God” (Colossians 2:12). Again, it is not baptism that does this; baptism demonstrates what has already happened.
It is a public declaration
Baptism is the way Christians in the New Testament came out in public with their faith, nailing their colours to the mast, declaring their new allegiance to Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
So, we expect everyone becoming a member of Citygate to have been baptised (as a believer) because of the priority Jesus gave it in the great commission, the pattern we see in the early church and the significance it represents as an act of obedience and step of following Jesus.
-
Our vision
Our vision is to see lives transformed, every day, across the bay. We are transformed by His grace, to bring his kingdom transformation to the lives and the culture around us.
-
The team
We have a dedicated team of full and part time staff who help keep Citygate Church up and running. If you have a question about a particular aspect of church life, why not drop them an email?
-
Sundays
We’d love to welcome you to one of our Sundays, either ONSITE or ONLINE. We try to make them as friendly and accessible as possible!