Our Beliefs | providence

We hold to the inerrancy, authority, inspiration, sufficiency, and perspicuity of God’s Word and believe in the importance of expository preaching. We are a confessional church, standing firmly on our Reformed Baptist heritage. Our teaching is in accordance with the 1689 London Baptist Confession. We also adhere to the historic creeds of the Christian Church: the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed (381) and the Chalcedonian Creed. We recognize that only the Bible is infallible. However, these historic creeds and this historic confession provide a clear basis for our doctrinal standard and unity.

1689 London Baptist Confession https://chapellibrary.org:8443/pdf/books/lbcw.pdf

Apostles’ Creed http://www.alliancenet.org/the-apostles-creed

Nicene Creed (381) https://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/history/nicene381.html

Chalcedonian Creed https://www.monergism.com/definition-council-chalcedon-451-ad

The fundamentals of our faith are represented in the following statement:

STATEMENT OF FAITH

PROVIDENCE BAPTIST CHURCH

KELOWNA, BC

As amended by Society Resolution of the Society February 13, 2024

at our Annual Member’s Meeting

I. GOD AND THE TRINITY

We believe in the one true and living God, eternally existing in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who is invisible, personal, omnipresent, eternal, dependant on none, unchanging, truthful, trustworthy, almighty, sovereign, omniscient, righteous, holy, good, loving, merciful, long-suffering, and gracious.

II. THE HOLY SCRIPTURE

We believe that Almighty God has revealed the 66 books of Holy Scripture as the only sufficient, infallible, and inerrant rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. As all Scripture was given by the inspiration of God, its authority is derived from its Author and not from the opinions of men, and as such is the final arbiter in all disputes.

III. GOD’S DECREE AND PROVIDENCE

We believe that from eternity past God, according to His perfect wisdom, unconstrained by anything but His own character and will, unchangeably decreed all things, whatever comes to pass in time, to the praise of His glory. He did this without violating the will of the creature, and without being the author of sin. In time, God upholds and orders all things according to His perfect knowledge, flowing from His

decree. His decree and providence extend to all sinful actions without compromising His holiness, for His glory. He both makes use of ordinary means and acts in extraordinary ways to accomplish His purposes.

IV. ELECTION

We believe that God, before the foundation of the world, for His own glory, predestined a great multitude of men and women, whom He foreknew, to eternal life as an act of free and sovereign grace. This election was in no way dependant upon His foresight of human faith, decision, works or merit.

V. CREATION

We believe that in the beginning God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit created all things, visible and invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good.

VI. ADAM OUR REPRESENTATIVE

We believe that God made our first father Adam in God’s own image, perfect, holy, and upright. Adam was appointed representative and head of the human race, thereby exposing all his offspring to the effects of his obedience or disobedience to God’s commands.

VII. THE FALL AND ITS EFFECTS

We believe that Adam fell from his original righteousness into sin and brought upon himself and all his offspring death, condemnation, and a sinful nature.

VIII. MAN’S INABILITY

We believe it is utterly beyond the power of fallen man to love God, to keep His laws, to understand the gospel, to repent of sin, or to trust in Christ.

IX. CHRIST OUR REPRESENTATIVE

We believe that according to God’s plan of redemption, God the Son came into the world, sent by the Father and conceived of the virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit, unchangeably sinless, both God and man, born under the law, to live a perfect life of righteousness on behalf of His elect people.

X. PARTICULAR REDEMPTION

We believe that God’s Son died at Calvary to effect propitiation, reconciliation, redemption, and atonement for His elect people. God bore testimony to His acceptance of His Son’s work by raising Him bodily from the dead.

XI. THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST

We believe that God the Son ascended to the right hand of His Father and is enthroned in glory, where He intercedes on behalf of His people and rules over all things for their sake.

XII. IRRESTIBLE GRACE

We believe that God the Son has poured our the Holy Spirit to work alongside the preached Word. By God’s grace, the Holy Spirit regenerates sinners elected by the Father, granting them faith and repentance, and irresistibly brining them salvation in Christ the Saviour.

XIII. JUSTIFICATION

We believe the elect, who are called by grace, are pardoned of their sins and declared righteous in the sight of God on account of the atoning death and imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is received by faith alone.

XIV. SANCTIFICATION

We believe that all those who are called and regenerated, being made a new creature, are further set apart from sin to God by the work of the Holy Spirit in their innermost being, along with the use of the means of grace provided to them. This cooperative effort, though not meritorious, will result in the gradual attaining of moral and spiritual maturity for the believer. The process of sanctification, although always imperfect in this life, will reach its final culmination upon the saint’s entrance into glory.

XV. PERSEVERANCE

We believe that all who are regenerated, called, and justified shall be preserved in holiness by the eternal decree of election, the unchangeable love of the Father, the saving work and intercession of Jesus Christ, and sealing of the Holy Spirit, and never finally fall away.

XVI. EVANGELISM

We believe it is the calling of every Christian to participate in fulfilling the Great Commission by making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything Christ has commanded of us.

XVII. THE CHURCH

We believe that the local church is under the authority of Christ alone. We believe that in each local church, Christ has given the authority to govern key ammeters of doctrine, selecting officers, discipline, and membership to the congregation, while the authority to lead has been given to a plurality of qualified men who are entrusted with the oversight of the church as Christ’s under-shepherds. Deacons also serve Christ as His ministers of mercy. Furthermore, the communion of the saints is blessed through the recognition of and fellowship with other evangelical churches.

XVIII. CHURCH ORDINANCES

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has instituted two ordinances for the local church as means of grace: baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is a public testimony of the believer’s faith in Christ and a picture of the believer’s union with Christ in His substitutionary death, burial, and resurrection. It is a condition of church membership and, according to the Scriptural order, should precede the observance of the Lord’s Supper. In the Lord’s Supper, the saints, after solemn self-examination, come together to receive bread and wine as the pinnacle of our corporate worship in remembrance the Lord’s death for our sins and anticipation of His return.

XIX. MARRIAGE

We believe marriage is the institution of the Lord whereby one man and one woman are joined together in a one-flesh union in which each makes a lifelong covenant with the Lord and one another as outlined in the Scriptures. Marriage is the Lord’s unique blessing to provide for the man and the woman opportunities for sanctification and growth in grace, intimate companionship, the only God-honouring outlet for sexual behaviour according to Biblical standards, and the mans for procreation and raising of children. Ultimately marriage exists to reflect the relationship between Christ and His church as the husband sacrificially loves his wife and the wife lovingly submits to her husband as to the Lord.

XX. CIVIL GOVERNMENT

We believe that civil government is appointed by God to be under Him and over the people, for His own glory, and the public good. Magistrates are to be conscientiously honoured and obeyed, except in things opposed to the revealed will of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the King of kings. We should pray for them for their salvation and that under them we may live a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty.

XXI. THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED

We believe that those who in this life are justified by faith in the Lord Jesus will immediately go to be with Christ in spirit after death, enjoying the Lord’s presence and awaiting their glorification at the final resurrection and judgement. We believe that those who continue in unbelief in this life will immediately enter into conscious torment after death, until then final resurrection and judgement.

XXII. ESCHATOLOGY

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ shall come again to raise the dead bodily, both righteous and unrighteous, and that the righteous shall enjoy everlasting life and the wicked endure everlasting punishment.