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CHINA HORIZON
INTERNATIONAL
STATEMENT OF FAITH
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 worthy, our Lord and God, to receive 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?
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 first fruits 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.
Acts 11:18
When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God,
saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto
life.”
Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him
turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for
he will freely pardon.
Acts 17:30
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people
everywhere to repent.
Ezekiel 33:11
Say to them, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take
no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from
their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die,
O house of Israel?”
Romans 3:23-26
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his
blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance
he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to
demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the
one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
- THE NEW LIFE
True repentance and faith will bear the fruit of obedience and good
works. Faith and its fruits are not meritorious before God, but are
the results of the Spirit’s gracious work in men and women. Born again
men and women are exhorted to live holy lives in obedience to the Word
of God, to the glory of God.
James 2: 17-18, 20- 22
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accomplished by action,
is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” …You
foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
Was not our ancestor Abraham consider righteous for what he did when
he offered his son Isaac on the Altar? You see that his faith and his
actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what
he did.
John 15:4-6
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by
itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless
you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains
in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do
nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is
thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the
fire and burned.
Ezekiel 36:26, 27
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove
from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will
put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful
to keep my laws.
Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require
of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your
God.
I Peter 1:15, 16
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for
it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve
what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.
- THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ. All believers are
filled by the Spirit as they yield in repentance and faith to His sovereign
and gracious rule. The Holy Spirit is the giver of all gifts for the
work of ministry in the Kingdom of God.
Romans 8:9
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit,
if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit
of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
Ephesians 4:4-7, 10-16
There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope
when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and
Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each
one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it… He who descended
is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to
fill the whole universe.) 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. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed
back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind
of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful
scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things
grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole
body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and
builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
- THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY
The Church is the people of God and the Body of Christ, instituted by
God to worship Him, proclaim His Word, evangelize the lost and instruct
His people, for His glory. All who have professed faith in Christ should
belong to a local church. They and their children need to submit under
the church’s teaching and discipline. While God has called some to be
single for the kingdom’s sake, marriage is ordained by God, and should
be held in high honor by all. Children are a heritage of the Lord; Christian
parents and churches are obliged to pray with and for their children,
and to bring them, by the Word of God, to fear and know Him, and to
repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We affirm the spiritual unity
of all believers in Christ throughout history.
I Peter 2:4-5, 9
As you come to him, the living Stone - rejected by men 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.
Genesis 2:24
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united
to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Matthew 19:6
“So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together,
let man not separate.
Matthew 19:12
“For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made
that way by men; and other have renounced marriage because of the kingdom
of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for
God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
Ephesians 6:1, 4
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right… Fathers,
do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training
and instruction of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 6:6, 7
These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home
and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get
up.
- CULTURE
Culture is the product of men and women created in God’s image, as they
carry out the mandate to rule over the earth. Thus all culture bears
the marks of God’s image. Since all humanity has fallen in Adam, all
cultures have been marred by sin, and are judged in the light of the
Word of God.
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.”
Romans 1:18-21
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness
and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since
what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it
plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities
- his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being
understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave
thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts
were darkened.
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.
Acts 17:22-26
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of
Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked
around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found
an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship
as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made
the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does
not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands,
as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and
breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men,
that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times
set for them and the exact places where they should live.”
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 GOSPEL AND CULTURE
As men and women mature as the church of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit
illumines and equips them by His Word to engage their culture. In this
process, some elements in culture will be affirmed and retained; some
will be modified and adjusted for use in life and ministry; and still
others will be rejected as contrary to the principles of the Word of
God. We reject any belief and conduct built on the mixture of the Christian
gospel and the philosophies and religions of the world.
Acts 17:22-26
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of
Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked
around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found
an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship
as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made
the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does
not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands,
as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and
breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men,
that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times
set for them and the exact places where they should live.”
Revelation 21:24, 26
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will
bring their splendor into it… The glory and honor of the nations will
be brought into it.
- HISTORY
History is the record of God’s redemption of His people, His revelation
of truth, and the response of mankind in obedience and disobedience
to Him. History will be consummated with the return of Christ to gather
His people, judge the world, and usher in a new heaven and new earth.
Ephesians 1:10
To be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment
- to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head,
even Christ.
Revelation 21:2-5
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from
God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I
heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God
is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and
God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear
from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or
pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated
on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write
this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 21:24, 26
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will
bring their splendor into it… The glory and honor of the nations will
be brought into it.
I Corinthians 15:28
When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to
him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
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