Affirmation Of Essentials

Our life together rests on our life as a child of God. We affirm that He is the reason for our very existence and the foundation upon which we build our lives. It is His character we emulate and His example we follow as we model our lives on the life and teachings of His Son, Jesus. Therefore we begin our journey with the essential theological truths that we embrace as believers.

The Uniqueness of the Scriptures

Baptists by tradition and practice have not set down a statement of faith. We have affirmed orthodox Christian creeds such as the Apostles’ Creed but have not agreed on one ourselves. This is due to many historical factors. Firstly, we believe in the centrality of the scriptures, as opposed to a human authority (such as synod, diocese, or Pope), and secondly, we believe in soul liberty (the freedom of any believer to come before God and hear directly from Him). Spiritual authority issues are endemic to church practice but do not take priority over one’s own reading of the Scriptures. It is this freedom to interpret and draw conclusions about one’s faith for which the Free Church Movement has stood.

There are some balancing factors however. One is the authority of the community to counterbalance a person’s individual reading of the Scriptures. It does not do this by means of a vote but by consensus, influence, and the examination of the Word in preaching and teaching. In addition, we have the strong history of orthodoxy to which we adhere; that there are core beliefs about God, the church, and salvation that are inviolable and agreed upon by all orthodox Christians.

We have traditionally not allowed any creedal authority to bind an individual into any one person or group’s interpretation of Scripture, nor do we advocate total theological libertarianism that would deny the authority of Scripture or the Lordship of Christ. We hold these two things in tension. Like the two foci of an ellipse, the authority of the Bible and the freedom of the individual believer to interpret the Scriptures under the guidance of the Holy Spirit are held together under the Lordship of Christ. We believe that God continues to make Himself known through the Holy Spirit in the fellowship of the church. In fact, the Holy Spirit leads each believer into a new immediacy with God and a growing sense of dependency on Him. In a fellowship where Jesus is the core of our devotion, God is present in an active way; speaking and enlightening and motivating His people. In this way God’s people speak for Him as they interpret the scriptures under the Lordship of Christ.

We at KBC are an “evangelical” body of believers, adhering to certain principles that characterize our witness. These principles include:

Acceptance of the authority of scripture over other documents and traditions.

Affirmation that people are transformed by God through God’s grace alone and reborn as believers in community.

Commitment to the Christian disciplines of worship, prayer, faithful discipleship and service to the world.

Encouragement towards sharing one’s faith with others in our sphere of influence.

KBC is centered in a conservative evangelical persuasion. We align ourselves with the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec (CBOQ), an association of churches in central Canada, and by extension to others across the nation under the banner of Canadian Baptist Ministries, and further globally under the Baptist World Alliance, for mutual support and concerned presence in ministries around the world. Decisions made at the denominational level are suggested courses of action for the local church. There are no set doctrinal positions put forward by the CBOQ, only values and mutual guidelines for how we will work together. This is consistent with Baptist polity.
In addition, both the CBOQ and KBC are in alignment with The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, which includes thousands of churches and dozens of denominations across the nation. They humbly speak for the Canadian evangelical community at large. The standard of orthodoxy that they maintain for joining the fellowship is a basic statement of doctrinal principles that encompasses the core of the Christian expression of the faith. KBC embraces these core theological truths. These essentials provide clarity about our shared beliefs.

Statement of Faith from The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada:

We hold and affirm the essentials of the faith as follows:
The Holy Scriptures as originally given by God are divinely inspired, infallible, entirely trustworthy, and constitute the only supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

There is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh; we affirm His virgin birth, sinless humanity, divine miracles, vicarious and atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension, ongoing mediatorial work, and personal return in power and glory.The salvation of lost and sinful humanity is possible only through the merits of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, received by faith apart from works, and is characterized by regeneration by the Holy Spirit.The Holy Spirit enables believers to live a holy life, to witness and work for the Lord Jesus Christ.The Church, the body of Christ, consists of all true believers.Ultimately God will judge the living and the dead, those who are saved unto the resurrection of life, those who are lost unto the resurrection of damnation. (EFC)