WHY DO WE EXIST?
Welcome to the family at Whitiora!
We exist to...
EXALT the name of God
TEACH the Word of God
ENCOURAGE the family of God
REACH the world for God
This fellowship of believers in Christ Jesus exists to glorify God, to worship Him with all that we are and have, and to enjoy intimacy with Him. Our aim is to please God the Father by knowing Christ and making Him known through faithfully proclaiming the Bible, God’s holy, inspired and inerrant Word.
We invite you to join us on our journey in Christ. Our hope is that you will find this a family of faith where you can worship freely, relate authentically and grow spiritually.
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WE OBSERVE....
The communion (the Lord's Supper) each week.
The Baptism of believers by immersion.
A practical fellowship with all Christians who worship God in Spirit and Truth.
STATEMENT OF FAITH
We believe and teach that there is one God who exists eternally in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is the creator and sustainer of all things.
We believe and teach that God, in making Himself known, inspired the sacred scriptures we call the Bible - which is true and trustworthy in its entirety and has supreme and final authority in matters of doctrine, faith and conduct. (2 Timothy3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21)
We believe and teach that the human race was created for fellowship with God but that we have all sinned and are in consequence guilty in God's sight, under God's wrath and separated from Him.
We believe and teach that in the historical person of Jesus Christ, God the Son became a human being. His mother, the Virgin Mary, conceived him through the power of the Holy Spirit. Truly and eternally God, He is also truly human but without sin.
We believe and teach that Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind when He died on the cross. By His death and resurrection He has provided the only way for us to be forgiven and reconciled to God. Salvation is a free gift from God, accepted through faith alone and not based on personal effort in any way at all.
We believe and teach that the Holy Spirit brings us to see our need to trust in Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour. God gives us the Holy Spirit when we believe. He lives in us permanently, changes us inwardly to be more like Christ, empowers us to serve God in the world, and resources us for our life in our new family in the Body of Christ (the church).
We believe and teach that Christ has commanded His church to preach the gospel throughout the world, teaching and making disciples in all nations and people groups, because no one can come to God except through Him.
We believe and teach that Jesus Christ will return to the air to gather all believers to Himself and take us home to the Father’s House. We also believe that following this, one day He will return to this earth to establish his promised kingdom, fulfil his covenant promises to national Israel, and to reign over all the earth for a thousand years as King of kings.
We believe and teach in the everlasting conscious blessedness of the saved, and the everlasting conscious punishment of all who do not believe.