- Drumgooland Road
- Ballyward
- Castlewellan
- Down
- BT31 9QG
What we believe
We believe that God created the world and us in it (which means we’re NOT the product of impersonal random forces).
Creation points to God being all-powerful, all-knowing, wonderfully artistic, and generally amazing.
The Bible also says that God is loving. Good news – God loves you and me! And He wants us to enjoy a personal relationship together forever!
Sadly, there’s also bad news. We’ve all turned our backs on God, and gone our own way. This is what the Bible calls sin.
Sin has consequences. God’s sense of right and wrong is so great that God hates sin. And God’s sense of justice is so uncompromising that God cannot ignore sin. And so the Bible speaks of God’s judgment. The worst aspect of this judgment (for us perpetrators of sin) is death, and eternal separation from God.
God hates sin, but God still loves us. So now for more good news or ‘Gospel.’ God has made a way for us to
- come back to Him,
- be forgiven,
- and live forever!
This way is actually a person: Jesus. Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.
The Bible tells us that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, who became a human being just like us. However, unlike us, he lived a perfect life – the sort of life we were meant to live. Jesus is the one person who didn’t have to die for his own sins (he had none). However, he chose to die for ours – as part of God’s amazing plan.
On the cross Jesus took our sins upon himself, and God’s judgment for those sins. Jesus died in our place so that we might be forgiven, and live with God forever!
At the cross, God’s justice was satisfied (Jesus died). At the cross, God’s love was demonstrated (Jesus died for us).
Now it’s not enough to understand this. There’s something for us to do, by the grace of God:
- trust in Jesus and his death for us
- turn back to God
- start to live the life God originally created us for.
This new life begins now, and continues beyond the grave, forever. At church we begin to learn how to live this new life. Not surprisingly, since ‘God is love,’ the life God calls us to is a life of love:
- love for God
- love for neighbour
- love for one another