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"...to
be a people-caring church that is pleasing to God."
Who
are we?
The Chapel is "home" to a group of people of the "non-conformist"
worship stream who want to be true to the Bible and pleasing to
God. Due to our convictions about how we should "do" church,
we are aligned with the 'Open (or Christian) Brethren' groups usually
called 'Assemblies'. Take the time to look over the info below or
the links mentioned on our Web page and you will know more about
us, what we believe and how we function.
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Who
comes to UCC?
We are a very mixed group. The church has been on the present site
for about 50 years now. This means that we have a large group of
older folk. Along with them we have a group of young adults, many
of whom are overseas students, some associated with OCF (Overseas
Christian Fellowship). There is also a small group of young families
and a few teenagers.
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How
do we meet?
We have three main services each Sunday; a communion service (Breaking
of Bread), a Family Bible Hour with songs and preaching/teaching,
and an evening service (smaller attendance) which can vary from
a children-based programme, through video teaching, to deeper Bible
Studies.
The communion service is the place where the most difference from
other churches will be noticed. (Read our list of beliefs and you
will understand why we do what we do in the way we do it.) Apart
from an initial welcome from the day's chairman and a devotional
thought from one of the brothers, the meeting is essentially unstructured,
with people contributing songs and worship prayers, and brothers
also bringing Bible readings and short devotional thoughts as they
feel the Holy Spirit is leading them. Any of the brothers may administer
the bread and cup to the church. The communion is understood to
be symbolic of Christ's sacrifice for us. The symbols themselves
are usually normal bread and a non-alcoholic communion wine, although
there have been occasions when cordial and dry biscuits have been
used. We do not believe that any "grace" is imparted to
the participant as he/she partakes of the symbols, and we believe
that any participant should be a follower and a lover of Jesus,
and for whom the symbols represent the means of their personal salvation.
Their receiving of the symbols indicates that they have personally
received the salvation that Jesus gives.
In the course of the week, a number of home fellowship or Bible
Study groups meet and we encourage all our regulars to belong to
one of those if possible. There are also weekly and monthly meetings
for prayer.
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What
do we see as our distinctives?
As a church, we have much that is in common to other churches, and
much of our public practice would be little different to most Baptist
churches for instance. There are however aspects of our belief-practice
that are distinctive.
A) We put into practise the truth of the priesthood of all believers,
yet along with that we believe that it is not Biblical for our womenfolk
to be involved in teaching the whole church or the exercise of final
authority. Each person in the assembly has special gifting from
the Spirit of God for the carrying out of a ministry that is peculiar
to them and for the common good. Any of the men may lead the church
in worship at the communion.
B) Weekly (at least) open, unstructured worship of the Lord Jesus
in the Breaking of Bread (or communion) is central to our church
character.
C) In line with our emphasis on the significance and the saintliness
of each individual believer, and simple, personal faith and belief
for salvation and ministry, we have a very simple building and worship
environment. We do not revere what other churches may call icons,
or have "churchy" decor. Hence the simplicity of the building
we call "The Chapel".
D) The church has a method of administration that is different to
that of most other Protestant churches. Let's look at that issue
specifically.
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How
are we administered?
Final responsibility in the assembly is not vested in any one person,
but is the role of a group of men we call elders. We believe that
it is not appropriate for women to belong to this group since elders
must teach and take authority, both being ministries that are stated
by the Bible not to be a part of a woman's role in the church (see
the Bible - 1 Timothy 2:12).
Each elder is only part of that group by virtue of specific invitation
by the other elders, who are recognised in the church as being spiritual
men. This is not an elected group. The tenure of each elder is for
as long as he is able, and has the confidence of the assembly, and
as long as he remains Biblical and spiritual. While we have a person
who is called "Pastor" he is actually a pastoral elder
and just one of the eldership when it comes to having authority
in the assembly.
With the eldership is a group of deacons to look after the day-to-day
matters of the running of the church and the church property.
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What
do we believe?
For the sake of brevity and your time, this must be abbreviated.
Even so, it will be fairly long. If you want clarification of any
matter, please contact the Pastor or one of the other elders.
About the Bible?
The Bible is God speaking to us. It is our only, our totally reliable,
and totally sufficient final authority on all matters to do with
God. God has revealed Himself to us in it, and what it says is breathed
out by God Himself and is absolutely accurate and dependable in
the original writings. While the Bible was written by many people,
and contains many books, it has a unity that reflects the unity
of the ultimate author. It is a book to be loved and learnt about
by those who follow Jesus.
Our church accepts that there are many religious writings by many
people of old time, but only the books in what we know as the accepted
"Canon of Scripture" have authority as "inspired"
writings.
About the Creation?
All things whether spiritual or physical were made by God out of
nothing. All was made according to His determining will and for
His particular purpose that He might display His glory. Everything
was made good and perfect. Our church not only believes in Creation
and not Evolution as the origin of all that is, but most of us would
hold to Creation in six days, as stated in the Bible book of Genesis.
About God?
God is the Creator of all that is. But much more, He is eternal,
existing from eternity before Creation, and not being subject to
death or finality of existence in any way. Being spirit by nature,
and infinite and eternal, we his creation can never know Him fully.
God is complete, needing nothing to make Him more than He is. God
is omnipresent - He is everywhere. God is omniscient - there is
nothing that He does not know, including the thoughts of people.
God is omnipotent - He has the power to do anything at all. God
is sovereign and brings to proper completion all that He wills -
nothing causes God to fall back onto a Plan B. God is perfect and
this was reflected in the way He made all things. There is no defect
in God's nature, character, purposes, or decisions. God is fully
good. He is totally merciful, yet absolutely just. God never changes,
in nature or purpose. God is triune - He exists in one substance,
three different persons, three different personalities. Yet in a
way that no person can understand, rationalise or analogise, God
is a complete and perfect unity all the time.
About the Father?
The Father is God. He it is in the Trinity (the Three-in-one) who
initiates or proposes all that happens. God the Father is only knowable
through the Lord Jesus Christ. When Phillip said "show us the
Father ..." Jesus said that to know Him was to know the Father
(check your Bible - John 14:8,9).
About The Son?
The Son is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is fully God. He was active
in history from before the Creation of the world. He is the executive
person of the Trinity. The Bible states that all things were made
through Him. He is the One who became in every way a man, though
without sin - an event we call the incarnation and which we celebrate
at Christmas. All that is true of God is true of Jesus, except that
for one time only, he laid aside his divine exclusive rights and
made Himself subject to death.
Jesus was born as a human into our world through the will of God
in order to put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself as our
substitute, taking the punishment for sin that was due to us, and
giving us life through the gift to us of Himself. He is alive today,
and we expect soon His return to take all those who believe in Him
to be with Him forever. He is the Head of the Church and deserves
and receives our worship.
About the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is God. He is the active power of God for all of
God's purposes and the activities of the believer. Again, all that
is true of God is true of the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor. 12:7-13 shows
us that it is God's Holy Spirit who distributes to each believer
a special gift to enable him to minister to the other believers.
Without the Holy Spirit the so-called Christian is without saving
faith and is powerless. It is possible for a believer to live contrary
to the Spirit's wishes and displeasing to God.
About People?
All people can trace their origin to an historical couple called
Adam and Eve in Genesis, the Bible's first book - chapter 3 and
verse 20. That couple sinned and every one of us, descended from
them, is ruined by their wilful sin. We call that condition "total
depravity"; there is not one aspect of human faculty and experience
that is not tainted by sin. Each one of us is a special creation
in his own right. He/she is loved by God in spite of sin and God
has a provision and a plan for that person.
About sin?
This is a condition ushered into this world by our progenitors,
Adam and his wife Eve. Essentially sin is a wilful determination
to be independent from God, not accepting His purposes and plans
for us, and living as though He did not exist. The person affected
by sin (and that's all of us) is called a "sinner" in
the Bible. Sinners do whatever seems right to them alone. Sin is
hated by God and He must judge and punish the sinner because He
is a Person with perfect justice.
About Salvation?
Each of us is a sinner and wants his/her own way separate from God.
God has pronounced on each person a condemnation because of this;
each of us will go into eternal death and torment in Hell. But God
loves us. In His love He has given His own Son Jesus to take our
punishment for sin. Each of us needs to receive Jesus as our Saviour.
If we do we are given eternal life now and are made children of
God Himself. The old ways and condemnation and punishment are gone
and all things are new. Our future is to enjoy eternal life with
Him in His Heaven. This wonderful change we call salvation, and
this the true Christian can never lose.
About Daily Forgiveness of sins?
The believer may well sin. Not a day passes without the Christian
sinning in his thought life, his speech, or his actions. We will
sin at times without even being conscious of it. God has made provision
for this. We have One, Jesus, who speaks in our defence and who
intercedes for us. This is no saint, or Mary, or devoted family,
but only Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). We are promised that if we confess
to Jesus the sins we've committed, we will be forgiven and fully
made clean again. God does that because the debt for all our sins has been paid. There is no outstanding condemnation. Therefore, because He is just, He will - must - forgive all our daily sins as well as our past sins.
About the Responsibility of the Individual Christian?
Towards God - to obey Him, to worship Him and to please Him. Obedience
to God entails baptism - we believe, by immersion, which we practise. Certain extenuating circumstances may make that impractical. We would then consider other means, but the principle remains unchanged. However, baptism in no way is a part of our salvation or makes us more acceptable to God. Worship of God is MUCH more than mere singing of songs; it includes also our manner of life, our heart, our submission to Him.
Towards the group of believers called the Church - to be committed
to it and to act for its up-building.
Towards other Christians - to love them as your own self and to
encourage them and do deeds of kindness to them.
Towards the world outside the church - to ensure that the message
about Jesus and salvation is made known to it, and to do good deeds motivated by Godly love for
people in it. They may then be challenged by the believer's
goodness.
About Death?
Each person will die physically (although those believers alive
at Jesus' return will go directly to be with Him without dying).
At death, the body is separated from the spiritual side of our humanity.
Death is the end of our opportunity to receive salvation from God
through Jesus. Those who reject Him will, on dying, go straight
to judgment. At death the believer will go straight to be with God
and will enjoy eternal life and blessings for ever. Grief therefore
for the believer on account of a deceased believer is very different to the grief and loss that those
feel who have not believed in Jesus.
About the End of the World?
We believe that a revived Israel will be one of the key players
in the end-time scenario. This world is headed for an horrific time
of war and fear. The nation of Israel will come under severe attack
by huge alliances, but due to the miraculous intervention of God
it will survive and its city Jerusalem will be the centre of a 1000 year kingdom under the
Lord Jesus Christ. We also believe that before that kingdom commences
God will gather His followers, all believers, out of this world.
They will be taken to Heaven and there be seen to be collectively
in vital relationship with the Lord Jesus. After the 1000 year kingdom,
there will be a time of rebellion against God by the people of the earth. A divine miracle
will put an end to that and the earth as we know it will be destroyed
by fire. There will be a new heaven and a new earth that will be
characterised by peace.
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Membership
issues.
The Unley Christian Church has no formal membership as such. All
who genuinely love our Lord Jesus Christ and who want to fellowship
with the Unley Chapel people are welcomed. While we are committed
to the need for believers to be baptised - by immersion in water
- we do not require baptism before the believer is able to participate
in the communion. We ask that all who choose to fellowship at The
Chapel also accept the authority of the elders as mentioned above.
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