About Us
who are we?
We are a non-denominational independent assembly of Christians, our purpose is to bring God glory in Rugby through our worship, service and honouring his word the bible. There has been an assembly of Christians like us in Rugby on Chester street since the 1950’s and that continues till this day.
what do we believe?
Find below a general overview of what we believe at the gospel hall.
1 Corinthians 2:13 “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.”
We believe and teach that the bible is the word of God. Through many authors across many different points of history, God the Holy Spirit inspired these authors to write the books all 66 books that make up our bible which we still have today, this inspiration in no way robbed them of their free will or forced them to do it mechanically. God has revealed his entire revelation to us, and nothing is missing or is to be added still, from creation, prophecy, salvation and end times, God has entirely and perfectly revealed his holy scriptures to us. From the natural world we can observe the reality of a creator and it is undeniable from natural revelation, however God has revealed to the fullest detail his entire revelation through his perfect word the bible.
We believe and teach that the bible is perfect word of God, infallible and without error, it is God breathed. And has been preserved and faithfully handed down generationally to this very day.
Any later additions to the canon of scripture are false and we do hold this, such as the apocrypha and gnostic gospels which are not inspired texts and are not the products of the biblical authors.
The bible is perfect for all of life and godliness, it is to be what we feed upon, it is the only text we preach and teach when the church is gathered together.
We believe and teach a perfect harmony between old and new testament in our bibles and do not unhitch the old for the new this is erroneous teaching. For understanding the text, you must have the entire canon as the infallible standard for interpretation of the Bible is the Bible itself.
John 20:31 “ But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
The books of scripture are as followed:
The Old Testament:
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
The New testament:
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation
We believe and teach there is one God who is three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We deny the teachings of three gods, or one God with three different appearances or modes, we believe there is one God and three distinct, individual, eternal, unchangeable, omniscient, omnipotent, almighty, sinless, wise, limitless, holy, co-equal, perfect persons that make up the triune Godhead. God is eternal and has always been, the son was not created of the Father but is his eternal son who has always been with the father, the holy spirit is eternal as the Father and Son are and was sent by the Son after his ascension on the day of Pentecost.
God is the perfect creator, and all of the Godhead was involved in the creation of the world in the literal 6 days of creations and 7th day of rest as recorded in the opening chapters of Genesis. The world did not come about by chance, or an accidental phenomenon of physics, but rather there is an all wise and wonderful creator who made our world.
The Father is eternal, not created and perfect in all ways. He has sent the son into the world to be our saviour, the son then sent the spirit after him. The Father is the one to whom we direct our prayers to in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have fellowship with the Father and the son. He is our God, and our Father as Jesus would say after his resurrection. He is not some distant impersonal being, but a loving, merciful, gracious, righteous, patient, just, holy, God that we serve and seek to honour and glorify everyday through adherence to his word and being a disciple of his son the Lord Jesus Christ. He has perfectly revealed his revelation to us through his prophets and apostles as recorded in the Bible. He has made his covenants with his people Israel and eternal covenants with his people, now in this day and age a new covenant in the dispensation of grace.
After the ascension of the Lord Jesus the Holy spirit descended on the apostles as recorded in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is not created but he is an eternal person of the Godhead, he is not a force, or a feeling but he is truly God the Holy Spirt. The Holy Spirit enabled many signs and wonders in the apostolic days to give authority to the message they preached to repent and believe in the risen Lord Jesus Christ, these signs and wonders ceased with the apostles as now we have the full authority and canon of scripture. The Holy spirit does not work miracles, tongues, wonders in this day and age but rather he convicts the heart of sin, regenerates us, preserves us, sanctifies us, indwells us and has an active working in our lives for those that believe and trust in Christ for our salvation.
The Lord Jesus Christ was not created as heretics have falsely claimed for many centuries. He is eternal, begotten to show his position in relation to the Father not created in a lesser fashion to the Father, he is co-equal with the Father. He is truly God and he truly man, he became man for our salvation. He was truly man and truly God in a hypostatic union of the two natures that are not mixed or confused but perfectly existed in the perfect man the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was sinless and unable to sin otherwise he would not be God, those that claim that Christ was capable of sin in his humanity are in error.
The Lord Jesus was born of the virgin Mary and conceived by the Holy Spirit, the virgin birth is an essential undisputable doctrine for the sinlessness of Christ not born of the line of Adam but from above. He grew in wisdom and stature, was baptised by John the Baptist in the river Jordan and the Father declared his delight in his son. After his testing in the wilderness his ministry of preaching, teaching and miracles began to show that he was the son of God.
The Lord Jesus was tempted in everyway that we are and overcame them all, never once sinning, and now is our great high priest to God who represents us to God as he has overcome all. He came into this world to seek and to save that which was lost. He came unto his own and his own received him not. He came to be the one sacrifice for sin forever, crucified on the cross at calvary for our transgressions. As was foretold by the prophets. So that whosoever shall believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Nor can any who come to him in faith be lost, for being predestined to the image of his son, secure in the Fathers hand, we may sin and fall but never can we lose our salvation.
He truly died, he did not fall into a coma or faint and revive again in the tomb. He gave up his spirit, truly died, and on the third day truly rose again in a bodily resurrection. This was witnessed by his disciples, the women who went to the tomb and over 500 brethren.
If he was not risen, then our faith would be in vain, and we’d still be in our sins. But he is risen therefore through faith in his name for our salvation anyone can be saved.
He ascended back into heaven where he is now, sat at the right hand of the Father and he will one day return to rapture his church of believers away to be with him in paradise forever, before the final righteous judgment of the world called the tribulation begins.
We believe and teach of the literal places call heaven and hell; we reject the teachings that deny these places or add different places such as purgatory or a merit system or the treasury of saints. The scriptures tell that it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment. And many are heading down the broad road that leads to destruction, but there is a narrow gate that leads down a narrow road to life. Both of these places are real and both are eternal, once in that place it will never cease or change it is the eternal state of the soul who will either reject Christ or believe in him and be with him in paradise forever.
We believe that the baptism is for believers who confess they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we reject the practise of paedobaptism as Scriptural. Baptism is the outward and public confession that an individual believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and associates themselves with his death, burial and resurrection and they have new life in him. Following the teaching of our Lord we baptise an individual in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Each local church is an autonomous unit, and each church is accountable to the Lord himself, we reject the practise of hierarchical denominationalism as this goes against the teaching of scripture. But each local assembly is to be governed by a body of elders who are qualified with the qualifications of scripture and they are tasked to oversee the flock of God. We reject the practise of a “one-man” ministry such as a priest or pastor but we follow the biblical teaching of a plurality of elders that meet the biblical qualifications. The church is not the building or the place of gathering, the local church is the assembly of the believers, the church are the people that are in the fellowship and not the building.
Each Sunday (The Lords day) the day of his glorious resurrection, we take of the Lords supper, we worship him and remember him by taking the emblems of bread and wine and sharing it one with another as they did in the upper room as recorded in the gospel accounts. We reject the false practise that attempts to pervert this precious remembrance, such as transubstantiation or consubstantiation. The bread and wine is in no way the literal body or blood of Christ, nor does it change into this, Christ is not re-sacrificed nor the application of his sacrificed re-applied each time we take of these emblems. We take them to remember him, who he is and what he has done. The bread and wine is not to be taken by all present but those that are saved, baptised and have been received into local assembly fellowship.
It is our mission now to go into the world and preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations as our Lord commissioned us, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Calling people to repent of their sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
These are the scriptural references to support our statement of faith. We invited you to go to your bible and look for yourselves at these many readings to see for yourself what the bible teaches in these many important areas.
Scriptures:
2 Timothy 3:16; Romans 1:22-25; 2:1,14-15; Psalms 19:1-4; Hebrews 1:1-2; 2 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 22:18-19; 1 Corinthians 10:2-4; 1 Corinthians 3:1-3; 2 Peter 1:3; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Matthew 4:4; John 5:45-47; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Acts 15:15
On the triune God and his workings:
1 Timothy 2:5; Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:29,32; John 8:41; 1 Corinthians 8:4,6; Galatians 3:20; Ephesians 4:6; James 2:19; Matthew 19:17; Mark 1:24; Mark 10:18; Luke 4:34; Luke 18:19; Isiah 6:3, Ezekiel 1; Daniel 7:9-13; Isaiah 43:10 Deuteronomy 33:27; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 5:9; Genesis 17:1; Revelation 22:13; Matthew 3:17 & 17:5 Job 38:4; Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-14; Hebrews 7:1-3; Exodus 3:14; John 1:1-14; Colossians 1:15-19; John 14:7-9; John 15:24; Acts 1:1-11; John 20:21-22; 1 John 5:7
Creation:
Genesis 1-3; Psalm 89:12; Psalm 102:18; Psalm 102:18; Psalm 104:30; Psalm 148:5; Mark 13:19; Revelation 4:11; Revelation 10:6; Job 38-42; Ecclesiastes 12:1; Romans 1:25; 1 Peter 4:19; Psalm 33:6; Psalm 95:5; Psalm 96:5; Psalm 100:3; Psalm 104:24; Psalm 111:4; Psalm 115:15; Psalm 119:73; Psalm 121:2; Psalm 124:8; Psalm 134:3; Psalm 146:6; John 1; Colossians 1:16-19
The Father:
1 Timothy 2:5; Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:29,32; John 8:41; 1 Corinthians 8:4,6; Galatians 3:20; Ephesians 4:6; James 2:19; John 5:23; John 10:36; 1 John 4:14; John 14:16,26; John 15:26; John 16:7; Matthew 6:9 & 7:11; Luke 11:13; John 14:13; John 15:16; John 16:23 & 26; 1 John 1:1-4; John 20:17; Matthew 5:16 & 48; Matthew 6:1 & 8; Deuteronomy 7:9; 1 John 4:8; Romans 5:5; Romans 8:39; 1 Corinthians 8:3; Ephesians 2:4; Luke 6:36; Exodus 34:6; Deuteronomy 4:31; Psalm 37:26; Psalm 103:8; Psalm 116:5; Psalm 117:2; Matthew 5:7; Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 8:12; 1 Peter 2:3; Genesis 18:25; Romans 15:5; Proverbs 21:3; Hosea 14:9; Zephaniah 3:5 Isaiah 6:3; Exodus 3:5; John 14:26; John 17:11; 1 Peter 1:15-16; John 14:15; Galatians 5:7; Hebrews 5:9; Hebrews 8:8-13
The Son:
John 1:1-14; John 8:58; Philippians 2:6-8; Colossians 1:14-20; John 1; John 5:37; John 14:6-13; John 8:58; 1 John 1:5; Hebrews 2:18; Hebrews 4:15; James 1:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Psalm 37:37; Hebrews 1:1-8
His life, death and resurrection:
Matthew 1:20-23; Isaiah 7:14; Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:44-46; Hebrews 2:18; Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5:21; John 20:31; Hebrews 4:14-16; 1 John 2:1-2; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 10:12; John 1:19-34; Matthew 3:17; Matthew 17:5; Luke 19:10; John 1:11; 1 Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 10:12; John 6:68; John 10:28; John 17:3; Matthew 13:17, Luke 24:24-27; Luke 24:44; Romans 1:1-3; Hebrews 1:1-8; John 3:16-21; Romans 8:29; John 10:28-29; Mark 15:37-39; Luke 23:46; John 19:30; Mark 15:43-45; John 19:38-40; John 20; Mark 16; Luke 24; Matthew 28; Revelation 1:18; John 11:25; Acts 1:22; Acts 2:31; Acts 4:2; Acts 4:33; 1 Corinthians 15; 1 Peter 1:3; 1 Peter 3:21; Romans 1:4; Romans 6:5; Acts 1:1-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 1:5; Revelation 22:7-12; Revelation 3:11
The Holy Spirit
John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:7; John 7:39; John 20:22; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:33; Acts 8:15-18; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:22; Luke 12:12; Acts 4:31; Romans 15:16; Luke 12:10; 1 Corinthians 2:13; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 2 Timothy 1:14; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 2:1-4; Hebrews 10:14-16; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John 5:7