We at About My Father’s Business Outreach Ministries (one of a few inner city Grace Brethren affiliate churches) are proud to be forerunners of discipleship for and within the Washington D.C. urban community. We as a congregation and as a member of The Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches,  believing the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible to be our infallible rule of faith and practice, and feeling our responsibility to make known the divine message of the Bible, present the following articles as a statement of those basic truths taught in the Bible which are common to our Christian faith and practice.

 

The Bible
The Word of God, the  sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, verbally inspired in all parts, 

and therefore wholly without error as originally given of God (2 Timothy 3:16;  2 Peter 1:21).

 

The One True God
Existing eternally as three  persons–the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:22; Matthew 28:19;  2 Corinthians 13:14)

 

The Lord Jesus Christ
His preexistence and  deity (John 1:1-3), incarnation by virgin birth (John 1:14; Matthew 1:18-23),  sinless life (Hebrews 4:15), substitutionary death (2 Corinthians 5:21), bodily  resurrection (Luke 24:36-43), ascension into heaven and present ministry  (Hebrews 4:14-16), and coming again (Acts 1:11).

 

The Holy Spirit
His personality (John  16:7-15), and deity (Acts 5:3-4), and His work in each believer: baptism and  indwelling at the moment of regeneration (1 Corinthians 12:13; Romans 8:9) and  filling (Ephesians 5:18) to empower for Christian life and service (Ephesians 3:16;  Acts 1:8; Galatians 5:22-23).

 

Man
His direct creation in  the image of God (Genesis 1:26-28), his subsequent fall into sin resulting in  spiritual death (Genesis 3:1-24; Romans 5:12), and the necessity of the new  birth for his salvation (John 3:3-5).

 

Salvation
A complete and eternal  salvation by God’s grace alone, received as the gift of God through personal  faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus  3:5-7; 1 Peter 1:18-19).

 

The Church
One true Church, the  body and bride of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:25-32), composed of all true  believers of the present age (1 Corinthians 12:12-13); and the organization of  its members in local churches for worship, for edification of believers, and  for world wide gospel witness, each local church being autonomous but  cooperating in fellowship and work (Ephesians 4:11-16)

 

Christian Life
A life of  righteousness, good works, and separation unto God from the evil ways of the  world (Romans 12:1-2), manifested by speaking the truth (James 5:12);  maintaining the sanctity of the home (Ephesians 5:22-6:24), settling  differences between Christians in accordance with the Word of God (1  Corinthians 6:1-8), not engaging in carnal strife but showing a Christ-like  attitude toward all men (Romans 12:17-21), exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit  (Galatians 5:22-23), and maintaining a life of prayer (Ephesians 6:18,  Philippians 4:6), including the privilege, when sick, of calling for the elders  of the church to pray and to anoint with oil in the name of the Lord (James  5:13-18).

 

Ordinances
The Christian should  observe the ordinances of our Lord Jesus Christ, which are the baptism of  believers by triune immersion (Matthew 28:19) and the threefold communion  service, consisting of the washing of the saints’ feet (John 13:1-17), the  Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:20-22, 33-34; Jude 12), and the communion of  the bread and the cup (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

 

Satan
His existence and  personality as the great adversary of God and His people (Revelation 12:1-10),  his judgment (John 12:31), and final doom (Revelation 20:10).

 

Second Coming
The personal, visible,  and imminent return of Christ to remove His Church from the earth (1  Thessalonians 4:16-17) before the tribulation (1 Thessalonians 1:10, Revelation  3:10), and afterward to descend with the Church to establish His millennial  kingdom upon the earth (Revelation 19:11-20:6).

 

Future Life
The conscious  existence of the dead (Philippians 1:21-23; Luke 16:19-31), the resurrection of  the body (John 5:28-29), the judgment and reward of believers (Romans 14:  10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:10), the judgment and condemnation of unbelievers  (Revelation 20:11-15), the eternal life of the saved (John 3:16), and the  eternal punishment of the lost (Matthew 25:46; Revelation 20:15).