WHAT WE BELIEVE / WAS WIR GLAUBEN

We are Protestant
Neuenburg International Church is a Protestant Christian Church.  Because many churches today no longer believe nor teach some of the basic truths of historic Christianity, we joyfully affirm our unity with those who believe in certain fundamentals of the Christian faith including: the existence of the triune God; the deity, virgin birth, and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ; the substitutionary atonement of Christ; the certain and bodily return of our Lord; the necessity of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ for salvation from sin; the historicity of supernatural events described in the Bible; and the infallibility and inerrancy of the Bible which is our only guide for faith and practice.  Though we may have certain disagreements in areas beyond these fundamental truths, we affirm our unity with those who share our common commitment to these most important doctrines.

We are Reformed
To say that we are reformed means that our theological heritage descends from the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century and from the biblical teaching of reformers such as John Calvin, John Knox, and Martin Luther to name just a few.  Some of the distinctives of reformed theology include: the sovereignty of God in His creation; the providence of God and the election of believers apart from any merit of their own; the irresistible grace of God which precedes the faith of the individual; the sufficiency of God’s grace without which man is dead in sin and utterly corrupt in his nature; the efficacy of Christ’s death for all those who believe in Him by grace; the safe-guarding unto eternal life for all those for whom Christ died; salvation by grace alone through faith alone; the unity of the Old and New Testaments, and the abiding validity of the moral law (the ten commandments).  This reformed heritage is described in our Confessions of Faith (The Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger and shorter Catechisms).  These documents, although not infallible, are faithful expressions of God’s Word.  Therefore, while members are not required to subscribe to the Confession and Catechisms, officers (Ministers, Elders, Deacons) must subscribe to the Confessional documents and teach in conformity with them.

We are Evangelistic
Jesus told His church to “go and make disciples of all nations…”  To say that we are Evangelistic means that we take the great Commission (Matthew 28) very seriously and are committed to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our city, our country, and the world.  We believe that the Gospel (Good News of the Christian faith) includes: That every person is dead in sin and deserving of an eternal punishment in Hell; that God, in His mercy, sent His Son Jesus Christ who was without sin to die on the cross for our sins; that in Christ’s death He reconciled to God all who believe;  we believe that in the resurrection of Jesus He established power over death and demonstrated the certainty of eternal life in a future resurrection for all God’s people; we believe that all who repent and believe in the substitutionary work of Christ by the confession of sin and entrusting of themselves to follow Christ will be forgiven of their sins and made heirs of eternal life.  All those, however, who reject the free gift of Christ’s atoning and reconciling work will pay for their sins themselves in Hell for eternity.  The gospel is available to all and it is the “power of God unto salvation for all who believe”.  The Good News of forgiveness and eternal life in Christ is the hope of the world, not simply the message for the church.  At the NIC we believe that there are only 2 kinds of people in this world: sinners and sinners who are forgiven!  Which are you?

We are dependent on the “means of grace”
We at Neuenburg International Church are not only committed to helping people begin a relationship with Christ through belief in the Gospel but we are also committed to helping them grow in maturity as disciples of our Lord Jesus.  We believe that the proper and ordinary instruments for bringing about this maturity are found in the “means of grace” which include: the reading and preaching of God’s Word; the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper; the fellowship, accountability, and discipline of the local church family; and prayer.  These “means” or “instruments” of grace under the direction of the Holy Spirit are central for maturing Christian faith in our church.

We are Presbyterian
The word “Presbyterian” refers to our type of church government in which authority rests within the body of “Elders” or “Presbyters” in the church.  The body of Elders which governs the local church is called the “Session”; the body of Elders which governs the churches in a geographical area is called a “Presbytery”; and the body of Elders which governs the entire denomination is called the “General Assembly”.  The Presbyterian form of Church government stands in contrast to the Congregational (independent) and Episcopal (Hierarchical) forms of church governance.

We are Kingdom minded and “catholic”
Our goal at NIC is to participate in a wide variety of ministries beyond those of our own church.  We are committed to engaging in ministry with other like-minded local churches, presbyteries, denominations, and worldwide ministries in order to extend the kingdom of God to the ends of the earth.  On the one hand we are committed to being as specific and narrow as possible in OUR theological formulations and yet, on the other hand, we are committed to being as “catholic” (universal and broad) as possible in our fellowship with OTHER Christians.

We are Confessional
This means that we have a written Confession of Faith which we believe to be a good and accurate summary of the Bible’s teaching.  Our Confessions consist of the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechism, and the Heidelberg Catechism.  These documents are not without flaw, yet we believe they do contain carefully worded summaries of the Bible’s content.  All ministers and officers in our church must take a vow that they hold to these standards and are required to indicate to their presbyteries or sessions where and when they take exceptions to them.  It is important to note that every church has a confession, formal or informal, even though some claim that they have “no confession but Christ” or “no creed but the Bible.”  Every church summarizes its convictions in some form in order to distinguish its member from those who are not believers or those who do not believe in their church’s distinctive.