1
CHINA HORIZON
INTERNATIONAL
STATEMENT OF FAITH
The church of Jesus Chrst is called to worship and praise the Triune God, to teach the Word of God for the edification of God’s people, and to witness to the power and grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ through word and deed, for His glory. As she engages in the task of witness in and across cultures, the church labors toward the conversion of men, women and children to saving faith in Christ; the maturing of the Body of Christ in every culture; and the transformation of society, thought and culture, according to the Word of God.
I Peter 2:4-5, 9
As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by man but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ … But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Ephesians 4:11-13
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
II Corinthians 10:4-5
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
The Board of Trustees and staff of China Horizon affirm our duty to proclaim, teach and defend the truth once delivered to the saints. Recognizing that there are excellent expositions of Christian doctrine such as the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Westminster Confession and Catechisms (1647), the Lausanne Covenant (1974), the Declaration of the Chinese Congress on World Evangelism (1976), the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1978), and the Cambridge Declaration (1996), we subscribe to the following summary of our Biblical faith.
- SCRIPTURE
The Bible of the Old and New Testaments is the inspired Word of God, is infallible and inerrant in its original manuscripts in all it affirms, in matters of faith, conduct, history and science, and is the only authority for every believer and the church. Scripture alone can bind the human conscience. Christians receive the Bible as the Word of God because of the testimony in Scripture by the Holy Spirit, Who is its Author.
II Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
II Thessalonians 2:15
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
II Thessalonians 2:13
But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
II Timothy 3:15
How from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Isaiah 55:8-11
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
John 14:26
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 15:26
When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.
- GOD
There is only one true, living and Triune God, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Who is infinite, eternal, and unchanging in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. The three persons of the Triune God are equal in glory and power, and worthy of worship.
John 17:3
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
John 4:24
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.
Exodus 15:11
Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you - majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
Matthew 28:19
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
II Corinthians 13:14
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Psalm 147:5
Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.
Psalm 139:7-10
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
Psalm 90:2
Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Daniel 2:20-21
Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up
kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
Revelation 4:11
You are wove glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.
Ephesians 1:11
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.
Isaiah 6:3
And they were calling to one another: Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.
Exodus 15:11
Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you - majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
Psalm 89:14
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.
Psalm 145:17
The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made.
Psalm 86:5
You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.
Psalm 118:29
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Nehemiah 9:17
They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them.
Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
3. CREATION
God created the universe out of nothing by the power of His Word, and created man male and female in His own image, to rule over the world for His glory.
Psalm 33:6
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Genesis 1:26-28
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 9:6
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.
Genesis 2:15
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Isaiah 43:6,7
I will say to the north, “Give them up!” and to the south, “Do not hold them back.” Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth - everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.
Psalm 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
4. SIN
In Adam’s one sin all humanity sinned and fell into death, and is subject to God’s eternal judgment and curse. Only by the grace of God in Christ can men and women be redeemed from sin, and reconciled with God.
Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.
Romans 5:18, 19
Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
I Corinthians 15:21, 22
For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Ephesians 2:5-9
[God] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.
5. JESUS CHRIST
Jesus Christ is God the Son, eternally begotten by the Father. Fully God and fully man, he took on human nature, was born of a virgin, and lived a sinless life among us. He died on the cross as a substitutionary, propitiatory* sacrifice for the sins of God’s people. Jesus Christ bodily rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and will physically, visibly and imminently return to judge the living and the dead.
* to turn aside God’s wrath
John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Philippians 2:5-11
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
Galatians 4:4, 5
But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Romans 8:3
For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man.
Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Isaiah 53:4-9
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
I Corinthians 15:20
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Luke 24:51
While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.
Ephesians 1:20
Which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.
Acts 1:11
“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Revelation 1:7
Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
- SALVATION
Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. Salvation is by the grace of God alone, and received through faith alone.
Acts 4:12
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Ephesians 2:5-9
[God] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions- it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.