God: we believe in one true and living God; having faith in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

God the Father is a loving Creator who desires relationship with human beings. His justice stands against human rebellion - seen in humanity’s self-centredness and distance from God (sin). The demands of God’s justice and love are fully addressed by His eternal plan of rescue, centred in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is both fully divine and fully human. He gives us a clear picture of who God is. Jesus is more than a teacher to listen to and an example to follow. His death on the cross means that our personal rebellion against God can be forgiven, if we have faith in Him as our Rescuer or Saviour. Jesus’ resurrection confirms that His death was sufficient to achieve our rescue and that life with God forever is a real hope, not wishful thinking. In the future, Jesus will return to earth to complete God’s rule. This is a story of good news.

The Holy Spirit is not a vague life-force - he is fully God. His work includes guiding us into the truth of Jesus, empowering us to do God’s work, reminding us of God’s love for us and transforming us into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

The Bible: our final authority in all matters of faith and action is Jesus Christ. He is our Ruler, our Lord. His authority is revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as the Holy Spirit helps us to interpret what God is saying to us. The Bible is reliable and authoritative.

Baptism: in response to the command of Christ, we practise baptism, for believers only, by immersion (except on medical advice). We believe that baptism is inappropriate for infants - instead we offer a special service in which the parents dedicate themselves to God, seek the support of the church in parenting, and give thanks to God for their baby.

Belonging to the local church: baptism involves identification with Jesus Christ and is linked to church membership, an identification with the Body of Christ. We accept as members those who have been baptised as believers by immersion. Transfer of membership is possible from other Baptist churches. We accept as members those who were baptised by affusion, provided that their baptism was an act of obedience, symbolising identification with Christ and with the Church as the Body of Christ.  We also admit as members those from other Christian traditions who, at a public service at Gordon Baptist Church, (i) profess Jesus as Saviour and Lord and (ii) acknowledge and support the doctrines set forth in the church’s constitution.  We do not accept infant baptism as a basis for membership.

The Lord’s Supper: all who believe in Jesus as Lord and Saviour are welcome to participate. Jesus commanded that communion be observed, regularly reminding us of the centrality of His death for us.

Ministry: every believer is called to and gifted for service in the church and world. God gifts his people in many ways - the spiritual leadership of a pastor is only one example.

Mission: every believer is called to witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. This witness involves communicating both their story of faith in Him and God’s story of good news, and expressing God’s justice, mercy and love in their actions.

Independence: each local church is free to make decisions concerning its life and ministry. Church meetings are conducted to discern the mind of Christ for the church.

Inter-dependence: we recognise the value of relating to and working co-operatively with other Baptist churches and other like-minded Christian churches.