What we believe

Immanuel Church Brentwood aims to hold to real, authentic Christianity. We take seriously the importance of believing what the Christian Church has always believed from the beginning.

We don’t want to make up our own new ideas or interpretations of the Bible, and then call them Christianity. The Bible is our supreme authority – and so we listen to it and try to let it govern every area of our lives, because God knows what is best for us.

The Bible is the only way for human beings to know the one true God through Jesus Christ. It teaches us that we are sinful through and through and deserve God's holy judgement. And that the Lord loves to choose sinful people and rescue them through the powerful death of Jesus on the Cross. Through the work of the Holy Spirit he joins us to Jesus and brings us to know the one who created us as our heavenly Father.

God does not just rescue individuals in isolation. He is building a church. This is God’s holy family and a loving community of disciples. We teach, pray and care for one another. We help one another to raise our children in the faith. Together we share the good news of Jesus with those around us.

Here’s some more detailed information about what we believe:

An evangelical church

The beliefs summarized above mean that we are an “evangelical” church. In other words, we believe in the good news that God rescues people from sin by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We celebrate that salvation is an act of God alone, not a joint effort between God and man. The final authority for the evangelical Christian is the written word of God alone.

A Reformed church

Our church elders subscribe to and minister in line with the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Shorter and Larger Catechisms. These detailed statements of faith share a high view of God, Christ, the Bible, the created world, the church and the sacraments. They are beneath the Bible’s authority, but beautifully summarise what the Bible says.

Like all Christian churches we hold to the “ecumenical creeds”: the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Chalcedonian Creed and the Athanasian Creed), which are statements of essential Christian beliefs, written in the early centuries of the Christian church.

A presbyterian church

The church body we are part of is the “International Presbyterian Church” (IPC), which includes churches in England, Scotland, Europe and the Far East. Churches in the IPC share the same aims and convictions as us.

The IPC British presbytery meets four times per year. Its meetings are public and visitors are most welcome. A summary of what is distinctive about IPC churches can be found here. For the official IPC Website please visit www.ipc.church. The specific way that the IPC works is set out in its Book of Church Order and you can purchase a hard copy or download a free copy online here. For more information about the IPC please contact one of our elders, or message the presbytery direct via clerk.uk@ipc.church.

To learn more about church life at Immanuel please see the “Resources” section of the website. It contains talks and papers on various issues to do with doctrine, Christian living, church mission and church membership.