Statement of Faith
The Bible
We believe the Bible is the uniquely inspired, infallible, authoritative Word of God, and the supreme source of truth for Christian belief and living.(2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Timothy 1:13; Psalm 119:105, 160, 12:6; Proverbs 30:5).
God
We believe that God is the Creator of all things and that He exists as one God in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, which together are called the Trinity. He is Holy, righteous, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise, ever-present, just, faithful, merciful, gracious, slow to anger, compassionate, and abounding in steadfast love.(Genesis 1:1,26-27, 3:22; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Corinthians 13:14, Exodus 34:6).
Jesus Christ
We believe in the divine nature of Jesus Christ as the second member of the trinity. He is the uncreated, eternal Word of God who took on flesh to reveal God’s nature to humanity, live a sinless life, and die on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. We believe in His resurrection and ascension, and that He will come again in power and glory to judge the living and the dead.(John 1:1,2; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8; Philippians 2:6; John 5:18; Acts 1:9-11).
Holy Spirit
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the third and equal member of the trinity, given to us as our advocate, who empowers us to live the Christian life and enables us to understand spiritual truth. We believe we must be regenerated by the Holy Spirit due to the sinful nature of mankind. The Holy Spirit lives within every believer, empowering them to live a godly life, and progressively transforming them to be more like Christ.(2 Corinthians 3:17; John 16:7-13, 14:16,17; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 2:12, 3:16; Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 5:18).
Salvation
We believe that salvation is found only through faith in Jesus Christ and that it is a gift of grace, through faith, and not by works. Our faith is in the finished work of Christ, encompassing: the virgin birth of Jesus, His sinless life, His death on the cross, His resurrection from the dead, and His ascension to Heaven where He is seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for the saints.(Ephesians 2:8-10, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Romans 8:34)
Faith, repentance, and works
Saving faith is more than just intellectual approval; faith leads us to repentance, where we turn away from our sins and toward God, trusting fully in Jesus for our forgiveness and salvation, and following him faithfully in love. Through Jesus we are reconciled to God who adopts us as His children. From this point onward, we live for Him, rooted in love and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Genuine faith will produce good works in keeping with the fruit of the Spirit, and results in the believer growing in their obedience to the will of God, in love.(Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; John 1:12; 14:6; Titus 3:5; Galatians 3:26; Romans 5:1, Matthew 7:15-20, Acts 17:30).
Humanity
We believe that people are made in the image of God, created to live in fellowship with Him, but that fellowship was broken when sin entered the world. People are now separated from God due to sin, and are in need of salvation, being incapable of returning to a right relationship with Him in their own strength.(Genesis 1:27; Psalm 8:3-6; Isaiah 53:5a; Romans 3:23; Isaiah 59:1-2).
The church
We believe that Jesus Christ is head of the church and that those who are saved are the members of His body. We believe that the church exists to glorify God, and that its members are to live for Christ and not themselves. We also believe in the spiritual unity of the body and in its common love for Christ as each member walks and grows in the Spirit. The members of the body of Christ are to love one another as Christ has loved them and live in unity.(Romans 12:5, Romans 8:9, 1 Corinthians 10:17, 12:12-13, 27, Ephesians 4:12, 5:23, Galatians 3:26-28, Acts 2:42, Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8).
The Great Commission
We believe that Jesus has called his followers to go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that he has commanded and that he will be with them until the end of the age.(Matthew 28:16-20)
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
We believe that all Christians should be baptised in water, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as commanded by Jesus Christ. They are baptised into Christ's death, burial, and resurrection as they begin their new life in Christ.We believe that the Lord's Supper is a sacrament in which true believers and members of the body of Christ commemorate the death and resurrection of Christ, until He returns. This is done by the sacred use of bread and cup, which are to commemorate and remember together united by faith, the dying love of Christ, preceded always by solemn self-examination.
(Romans 6:3-4, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
Final Judgement
We believe that ‘The Last Days’ began with Christ's resurrection and will continue until the “Day of the Lord’ when Christ will descend from heaven to judge the living and the dead. A solemn separation will then take place: the wicked will be judged to endless eternal punishment, and the righteous to endless eternal joy. This judgement is eternal, fixing the final state of people in either heaven or hell.(2 Corinthians 5:10, Hebrews 9:27–28)
Supporting scriptures
The Bible
2 Timothy 3:16: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness."2 Peter 1:20-21: "Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
2 Timothy 1:13: "Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."
Psalm 119:105: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
Psalm 119:160: "The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever."
Proverbs 30:5: "Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him."
God
Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."Genesis 1:26-27: "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.'"
Genesis 3:22: "Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil.'"
Psalm 90:2: "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God."
Matthew 28:19: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
1 Peter 1:2: "According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood."
2 Corinthians 13:14: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
Exodus 34:6: "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness."
Jesus Christ
John 1:1,2: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made."1 Corinthians 15:1-8: "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you... that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures..."
Philippians 2:6: "Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped."
John 5:18: "This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God."
Acts 1:9-11: "And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight."
Holy Spirit
2 Corinthians 3:17: "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."John 16:7-13: "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you."
John 14:16,17: "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth."
Acts 1:8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
1 Corinthians 2:12: "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God."
1 Corinthians 3:16: "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"
Ephesians 1:13: "In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit."
Galatians 5:25: "If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit."
Ephesians 5:18: "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit."
Salvation
Ephesians 2:8-10: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."1 Corinthians 15:3-8: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures..."
Romans 8:34: "Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us."
Faith, Repentance, and Works
Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
John 1:12: "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."
John 14:6: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"
Titus 3:5: "He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit."
Galatians 3:26: "For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith."
Romans 5:1: "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Matthew 7:15-20: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits."
Acts 17:30: "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent."
Humanity
Genesis 1:27: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."Psalm 8:3-6: "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?"
Isaiah 53:5a: "But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities."
Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Isaiah 59:1-2: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear."
The Church
Romans 12:5: "So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another."Romans 8:9: "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him."
1 Corinthians 10:17: "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread."
1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 27: "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ... Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it."
Ephesians 4:12: "To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ."
Ephesians 5:23: "For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior."
Galatians 3:26-28: "For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Acts 2:42: "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."
Matthew 28:18-20: "And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.'"
The Great Commission
Matthew 28:16-20: "Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'"Baptism and the Lord's Supper
Romans 6:3-4: "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."
1 Corinthians 11:23-26: "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."
Final Judgment
2 Corinthians 5:10: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil."Hebrews 9:27–28: "And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him."
Nicosia International Church
