STATEMENT OF FAITH
Before God, and in honor of biblical trustworthiness, all staff, board, and volunteers of Testimony Ministries Inc maintain a harmonious witness to the following statements, which we hold to be essential to our ministry calling, and which are the foundation upon which this ministry is based.
God
We know God to be the living and true God, perfect in love and righteousness, 1 in essence, existing eternally in the 3 persons of the Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
God, who speaks to humanity through creation, has done so graciously in the words and events of redemptive history. This history is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word, who is made known to us by the Holy Spirit in sacred Scripture.
Holy Scripture
Scripture (The Bible) is an essential part and trustworthy record of this divine self-disclosure. All the books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, are the written word of God, and the only infallible rule of faith and practice. They are to be interpreted according to their context and purpose and in honor to the Lord who speaks through them in living power.
Creation & Humanity
By God’s word and for God’s glory, the world was freely created out of nothing. Made in the divine image, humanity is the crown of creation, created for fellowship with God. Tempted by Satan, they rebelled against God. Being estranged from, yet responsible to, their Creator, they became subject to separation from God, inwardly corrupted and, apart from grace, incapable of reconciling with God.
The Good News
The only mediator between God and humankind is Christ Jesus our Lord, God’s eternal son, who, being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a Virgin, fully shared and fulfilled our humanity in a life of perfect obedience. By dying to provide deliverance from the consequences of sin, Christ revealed the divine love and upheld divine justice, removing our guilt and reconciling us to God. Having redeemed us from sin, the third day he rose bodily from the grave, victorious over death and the powers of darkness. Our risen Lord ascended into heaven, he now intercedes for those who believe this gospel and rules as Lord over all.
Spirituality
The Holy Spirit, through sharing the gospel, renews our hearts, persuading us to repent of our sins and confess Jesus as Lord. By the same Spirit we are led to trust in divine mercy, whereby we are forgiven all our sins, justified by faith alone through the merit of Christ our Savior, and granted the free gift of eternal life.
God graciously adopts us into his family and enables us to call him Father. As we are led by the Spirit, we grow in the knowledge of the Lord, freely keeping his commandments and endeavoring so to live in the world that all may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.
The People of God (Church)
God, by Word and Spirit, creates the one holy catholic and apostolic church, calling sinners out of all of humanity into the fellowship of Christ’s body. By the same Word and Spirit, God guides and preserves for eternity that new, redeemed humanity, out of every culture, is spiritually one with the people of God in all ages.
The church is called by Christ to offer God acceptable worship and to serve God by sharing the gospel and making disciples of all nations, by making disciples through the ministry of the word and through pastoral care, by striving for justice, and by demonstrating compassionate love towards human distress and need.
Worldview
God’s redemptive purpose will be consummated by the return of Christ to raise the dead, to judge all people according to the deeds done in the body, and to establish God’s glorious kingdom. Those without faith will be permanently separated from God’s presence, but the righteous, in glorious bodies, shall live in the presence of God and reign with Christ forever. Then shall the eager expectation of the creation be fulfilled and the whole earth shall proclaim the glory of God who makes all things new.
