Statement
of Faith 
This Statement of faith does not constitute the only beliefs and
practices of Pilgrim Community Ventures. Although we do not have any established Statement of Faith per say
- because we believe that we must always be open to the teaching and guidance
of the Holy Spirit, concerning doctrine and practical application, in order to
change and adjust our lives as the Holy Spirit brings us into a fuller work of
sanctification and purification - we do believe and affirm the Scriptural
truths confessed by every authentic Christian born again of God Himself, for
they are all members of the Holy Universal Apostolic Church of Jesus
Christ! We are irrefutably for
the common faith of Christ and seek to be and remain most orthodox as
such. We have received the Lord Jesus
Christ as our Saviour, as our Lord and as our only King. He is living in us as our life, and we only
wish to serve Him and bring others to a saving knowledge of Him too.
This is but a brief statement of our Scriptural beliefs and
practices. We, ourselves, have learned
truths by many different methods, because the Holy Spirit used many different
ways to teach us: by simply listening
with an open heart and mind during our own Bible Studies, in reading and
studying Christian books written by men and women of God from several
denominational backgrounds, and by receiving and implementing preaching
messages from men and women of God from churches where we sometime visit. We have been taught of the Holy Spirit also
by reading the writings from men and women of God of old, inspired by the Holy
Spirit, since the time of the primitive Church. There has been a lot of them over the last 2000 years, and the
Holy Ghost had taught them many truths.
We are not close-minded to our own version of the truth
only.
As ministers of the
Word we do not believe that we have acquired all understanding and knowledge of
the truth. We humble ourselves before
the Lord and continually seek to be taught by the Holy Spirit, as He directs
the methods. It is written in the
Gospel of John, that the Comforter when He comes, He will guide us into all
truth and will teach us all things. Having
an intellectual understanding of the Bible does not constitute true knowledge
in the sight of God, but every truth must be accompanied by a revelation given
by the Holy Spirit, in order that we be transformed into the likeness of
Christ, renewed in our mind and walk in true love. Learning academically is not enough; we must be enlightened on
every aspect of truth. Our mind must be
renewed thoroughly if we are to really understand and know something of the
truth of the Word.
“If you continue in my word, you shall be my disciples indeed. You shall know the truth, and the truth
shall set you free.” John 8:31-32
“Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifyeth.”
I Corinthians 8:1
We believe that
Scripture teaches, among other things, the following divine truths:
1.
The Holy Bible is
the only complete, verbally and Holy Spirit inspired, infallible, inerrant and
authoritative Word of God.
1.
There is only one
true living God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, who are the same in essence and coequal in power and glory.
2.
God must be
worshipped in spirit and in truth, and therefore truth is only truth if what we
believe is in agreement with what God says and considers to be true, as
revealed in Holy Scripture.
1.
Jesus Christ
is God Himself, a person of the deity (trinity).
2.
He has become
a man, born of a virgin. He is the only
Mediator between God and man; He died upon the Cross as a propitiation for our
sins. He is the only Saviour of
mankind, because no other name was given to us by which we should be saved.
3.
He is
ascended into Heaven, sits at the right hand of God and intercede for the
Church so that we reach spiritual maturity.
4.
He will
return to take his own with Him at the rapture and to establish His kingdom on
earth for one thousand years, where He will reign with the over comers as kings
and priests.
5.
At the end of
the world, He will judge the living and the dead - believers and unbelievers
alike.
1.
The Holy Spirit is
also a Divine Person within the Godhead (trinity), and was sent to convict the
world of sin, righteousness and judgment.
2.
It is His divine
work to bring us to know and confess Jesus as Christ, Lord and Saviour.
3.
He regenerates,
indwells, seals and baptizes the believer into the Body of Christ at
conversion.
4.
As the seal of
God, He assures us of a full and complete salvation.
5.
It is His task to
guide and instruct believers into all truth and into all things, and to open
our minds and hearts to see and understand all these truths as He sanctifies
and purifies us.
1.
Man was created
male and female in the likeness and image of God; man was tempted by Satan,
rebelled, disobeyed and sinned against God, and became lost.
2.
Man's sin
incurred not only physical death, but also spiritual death which is separation
from God.
3.
One of the
consequences of sin is that man was declared by God to be totally depraved,
having inherited a sinful nature and became a sinner in practice by attitude,
motive, thought, word and deed.
4.
This sinful
nature is passed on to our children, who are born in sin (with a sinful nature,
a sinful bent).
5.
Because of this
spiritual condition, man must be redeemed or else he will spend eternity in
Hell, as a just punishment against the holiness of God, His Creator.
6.
Heaven Hell and
the lake of fire do exist as real and actual places.
1.
Satan is a fallen
angel who rebelled against God, and brought with him a multitude of fallen
angels called demons. They really
exist, but they are invisible to the human eye.
2.
He is called the
prince of this world. He rules over the
world through a network of principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and
spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies (firmament).
3.
He is the
archenemy of God, of the good angels, and of the Church. He seeks to blind and capture mankind, so
that they will not believe in Jesus-Christ to be saved.
4.
He seeks to
destroy true born again believers one at a time, and to take captive the Church
through divisions, spiritual contentment, complacency, worldliness,
disobedience and sin.
5.
The Church has
been given authority over all power of the enemy, in the finished work of
Christ at Calvary, in order to bind the strong man, spoil his goods and deliver
the captives from spiritual fortresses, by bringing their thoughts captives to
the obedience of Christ. Only obedient
and consecrated believers succeed in spiritual warfare.
1.
Repentance is
a deep, and complete change of heart, mind and will towards God’s heart, mind
and will. It implies deep contrition
and sorrow for one’s own sins. Feelings
are secondary and do not constitute any certainty.
2.
True
repentance produces a change of life not to be repented of. Repentance produce a lasting change of
attitude, motive.
3.
Repentance is
not becoming better or resolving to try harder to be good.
4.
Repentance is
given by God to man, and man must cooperate with God to receive it, instead of
hardening his heart against it.
5.
A true
repentance is absolutely necessary in order to be saved.
1.
Man receive
eternal life by receiving Jesus Christ as his Saviour, by believing in the name
of the Son of God. Receiving Him means
to believe on Him by an act of trust in his heart.
2.
This eternal life
is a life. It is the very life of Christ bestowed upon us by Holy
Spirit’s baptism of regeneration. It is not and cannot ever be a mere
religion. It cannot be earned, merited,
won or maintained by good works or obedience to the commandments, before or
after the new birth or conversion.
3.
Consequently, it
cannot be lost either, even if we do not persevere to the end. It is the gift of God. God does not repent (regret) of bestowing
His gifts to repentant mankind, even if man is not faithful, grateful or abuse
of these gifts. He remains faithful
even if we are unfaithful.
1.
Man's salvation
is a free gift of God's grace and love, and cannot be merited or maintained by
anything man does before or after receiving it, for salvation is solely and exclusively
a work of God for man.
2.
Salvation can
only be given through Jesus Christ, for there is no other way to God the
Father.
3.
Salvation is to
include the three parts of man: the
spirit, at and through regeneration; the soul, to be transformed into the image
and likeness of Christ through the ongoing process of sanctification; and the
body, at transfiguration.
4.
In order to be
saved, man must believe in his heart, not merely his intellect, and confess
Christ publicly with his mouth; that salvation is the work of God from
beginning to end.
1.
The Christian
life and a true spiritual life both begin at regeneration (which is the only
true baptism of the Holy Spirit; what is falsely called the baptism of the Holy
Spirit, in certain circles, is the empowering of the Holy Spirit, which gives
us the power and gifts of the Spirit, usually in a later experience). God
Himself declares that unless man is born from above he cannot see the kingdom
of God, here on earth now and later in glory. This is the only
spiritual life which will please and honour God.
2. Regeneration means to be spiritually born of
the Holy Spirit in our spirit through the redemption of Christ, and thereby the
very life and nature of God is imparted in our spirit.
3. Regeneration makes us to be alive unto God with
His very life.
4. Regeneration does not change or alter our
sinful nature, this is why we need to learn to live and walk in the Spirit thus
activating the life of Christ in us.
1.
Sanctification
has three stages: spirit, soul and
body.
2.
Spirit
sanctification is instantaneous and occur at regeneration.
3.
Soul
sanctification is a continual process, as the disciple walks with God daily,
denying self, taking up his cross and obeying the will of the Lord Jesus Christ
for his life. If the believer lives his
Christian life as he pleases, doing his own will, he will not grow and will
remain in the mental, psychic area of the Christian life, still under the
control of the flesh, the human life, the natural man.
4.
Body
sanctification will occur at redemption, when we will receive our incorruptible
body at the end of the world.
5.
The Christian
life demands a proper separation from the world through water baptism, public
confession and a visible life of separation and consecration unto God, which is
not a Christian's choice but a commandment, but a consequence of regeneration.
6.
As Christians we
are to keep all of Christ's commandments and ordinances for His Church, for He
did not abolish the Law, but fulfilled it for us to give it back to us through
His indwelling life. We are no longer under
the law of Moses, but we are under the law of Christ, and the law of Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus.
7.
These
commandments are not to be kept by the power of the flesh, will and mind of the
natural man, but by learning to live by faith in the Son of God, who is our
Life, our Victory over sin, world and Satan.
1.
Christ is the
one and only rock or foundation upon which the Church is built. It is not and
cannot ever be a pope, nor a bishop, nor a committee leader of any Christian
ecclesial institution. The true Head of the Church is only spiritual and
invisible!
2.
The Church is
a spiritual reality, it is not and cannot be any visible building, any earthly
organization, and that its outline cannot therefore be delimited or determined
with precision.
3.
The Church is
the elect company of believers, baptized in the Universal body of Christ and by
the Holy Spirit.
4.
This
Universal Body, this spiritual reality, is called the Holy Universal
Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ!
5.
The Church is
comprised solely of all the believers who lived and are living on earth, and as
such is known only to God.
6.
The Church is
to be expressed on earth in only two ways:
locally and universally and never denominationally.
7.
The Church is
the spiritual family of God and must edify the believers and evangelise the
lost.
8.
The great
commission is to teach all nations to observe all the commandments Jesus Christ
taught the apostles; this means to make disciples of all believers so that they
progress towards spiritual maturity.
9.
God does not
approve of dividing his people into a class clergymen and a class of lay people
because we are all equally brothers in Christ, and called to be a royal
priesthood. All earthly,
divisive distinctions having been done away with at the Cross.
10.
Every
Christian denomination of which Christians proudly boast and glorify in are in
terms of spiritual reality, divisions of the universal Body, Scriptures tell
us, which is called the Holy Universal Apostolic Church of Jesus
Christ! (Ask for your free copy of our booklet entitled “Humanity!”).
1.
The work of the
ministry of the Church is comprised of apostolic teams of apostles (itinerant missionaries),
prophets (preachers), evangelists, as well as pastors-teachers (teachers of new
believers, which we call catechumens, as the Early Church did, and the
responsible ministers of an apostolic team for a new local Church who is too
spiritually immature to elect a local counsel of mature elders) ministering,
confirming the believers in the faith and helping churches to be united as they
should, planting true churches where the Gospel has not yet been heard. Only
the Holy Spirit can lead such apostolic teams; they are spiritually mature
enough to be submitted only to Him, regarding their ministry, for they have
properly understood that it is His work, and not theirs
that they are doing
2.
The local
ministry is undertaken by the elders, the deacons and the deaconesses, having
the same spiritual gifts enumerated before, with the exception of the gift of
apostle. When a man is set apart by the
Holy Spirit to be sent to do the work for which he has been prepared since his
conversion, he is thereby liberated from his local frontier and forms a new
regional apostolic team, usually with at least one other qualified brother.
3.
The women
workers, elders, and deacons can also be anointed by the Holy Spirit to
exercise the spiritual gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and
doctors.
All statements above
can be demonstrated in Scriptures, through consistent searching and studying thoroughly,
with an open mind and heart to the truth and the Holy Spirit, all the while
leaving aside any misconceptions, personal and denominational
interpretations. It is imperative to
put on humility and to admit that we do not know everything about Bible
teaching, in order to learn from others.
A fuller explanation
of our beliefs and practices is available at our Pilgrim Christian
Bookstore. Please feel free to contact
us if any of these points are unclear to you, or if any of these points seem
incomplete or out of balance, and we will try to clarify and answer your
questions in the Light of Scriptures.
Page updated on 05
March 2006