Declaratory Statement of Common Faith and Practice

This statement was adopted on March 26th, 1917, as a doctrinal basis of the former Federal Council of Evangelical Free Churches of England. It shall be the doctrinal basis of the Free Churches Group. The full statement, amended in 1990 to avoid exclusively male language, is as follows:

The Evangelical Free Churches of England claim and cherish their place as inheritors, along with others, of the historic faith of Christendom, which found expression in the ecumenical creeds of the early and undivided Church; and this Declaratory Statement does not profess to be a comprehensive creed, but is a declaration of such truths as in the circumstances, it seems proper to rehearse and emphasise.

It is an essential element in the proposals for federation that each of the federated Churches should preserve its own autonomy as regards faith and practice; this Statement, therefore, is not to be imposed as a disciplinary standard on any of these Churches, nor, on the other hand, does it supersede or in any way alter the place of whatever doctrinal standards any of these Churches may maintain in their constitution

There is One Living and True God, Who is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Him alone we worship and adore.

We believe that God so loved the world as to give His Son to be the Revealer of the Father and the Redeemer of humanity; that the Son of God, for us and for our salvation, became man in Jesus Christ, Who, having lived on earth the perfect human life, died for our sins, rose again from the dead, and now is exalted Lord over all; and that the Holy Spirit, Who witnesses to us of Christ, makes the salvation which is in Him to be effective in our hearts and lives.

We acknowledge that all are sinful and unable to deliver themselves from either guilt or power of their sin; but we have received and rejoice in the Gospel of the grace of the Holy God, wherein all who truly turn from sin are freely forgiven through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and are called and enabled, through the Spirit dwelling and working within them, to live in fellowship with God and for His service; and in this new life, which is to be nurtured by the right use of the means of grace, we are to grow, daily dying unto sin and living unto Him Who in His mercy has redeemed us.

We believe that the Catholic or Universal Church is the whole company of the redeemed in heaven and on earth, and we recognise as belonging to this holy fellowship all who are united to God through faith in Christ.

The Church on earth - which is one through the Apostolic Gospel and through the living union of all its true members with its one Head, even Christ, and which is Holy through the indwelling Holy Spirit Who sanctifies the Body and its members - is ordained to be the visible Body of Christ, to worship God through Him, to promote the fellowship of His people, and the ends of His Kingdom, and to go into all the world and proclaim His Gospel for the salvation and unity of all. Of this visible Church, and every branch thereof, the only Head is the Lord Jesus Christ; and in its faith, order, discipline and duty it must be free to obey Him alone as it interprets His Holy will.

We receive, as given by the Lord to His Church on earth, the Holy Scriptures, the Sacraments of the Gospel, and the Christian Ministry.

The Scriptures, delivered through those moved by the Holy Spirit, record and interpret the revelation of redemption, and contain the sure Word of God concerning our salvation and all things necessary thereto. Of this we are convinced by the witness of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men and women to and with the Word; and this Spirit, thus speaking from the Scriptures to believers and to the Church, is the supreme Authority by which all opinions in religion are finally to be judged.

The Sacraments - Baptism and the Lord's Supper - are instituted by Christ, Who is Himself certainly and really present in His own ordinances (though not bodily in the elements thereof), and are signs and seals of His Gospel not to be separated therefrom. They confirm the promises and gifts of salvation and, when rightly used by believers with faith and prayer are, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, true means of grace.

The Ministry is an office within the Church - not a sacerdotal order - instituted for the preaching of the Word, the ministration of the Sacraments and the care of souls. It is a vocation from God, upon which therefore no one is qualified to enter save through the call of the Holy Spirit in the heart; and this inward call is to be authenticated by the call of the Church, which is followed by ordination to the work of the Ministry in the Church. While thus maintaining the Ministry as an office, we do not limit the ministers of the New Testament to those who are ordained, but affirm the priesthood of all believers and the obligation resting upon them to fulfil their vocation according to the gift bestowed upon them by the Holy Spirit.

We affirm the sovereign authority of our Lord Jesus Christ over every department of human life, and we hold that individuals and peoples are responsible to Him in their several spheres and are bound to render Him obedience and seek always the furtherance of His Kingdom upon earth, not however, in any way constraining belief, imposing religious disabilities or denying the rights of conscience.

In the assurance given us in the Gospel, of the love of God our Father to each of us and to all, and in the faith that Jesus Christ, Who died, overcame death and passed into the heavens, the first-fruits of them that slept, we are made confident of the hope of Immortality, and trust to God our souls and the souls of the departed. We believe that the whole world must stand before the final Judgement of the Lord Jesus Christ. And, with glad and solemn hearts, we look for the consummation and bliss of the life everlasting, wherein the people of God, freed for ever from sorrow and sin, shall serve Him and see His face in the perfected communion of all saints in the Church triumphant.

These things, as all else in our Christian faith, we hold in reverent submission to the guidance and teaching of the Holy Spirit Who is Truth, and we shall ever seek of Him enlightenment and grace both to unlearn our errors and also more fully to learn the mind and will of God, Whom to know is life eternal and to serve is perfect freedom. And being thus called of God unto the presence of His redeeming love wherein He is delivering the world from sin and misery and is reconciling all things to Himself in Jesus Christ, and being animated with faith in the final triumph of our Lord, we set before us as our end and aim to carry the Gospel to every creature and to serve and stablish, in our land and throughout the earth, His reign of righteousness, joy and peace.

Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. And to God be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

The Declaratory Statement of Common Faith and Practice adopted on March 26th, 1917, as a doctrinal basis of the former Federal Council of Evangelical Free Churches of England shall be the doctrinal basis of the Free Churches Group. The full statement, amended in 1990 to avoid exclusively male language, is as follows:

3.1) The Evangelical Free Churches of England claim and cherish their place as inheritors, along with others, of the historic faith of Christendom, which found expression in the ecumenical creeds of the early and undivided Church; and this Declaratory Statement does not profess to be a comprehensive creed, but is a declaration of such truths as in the circumstances, it seems proper to rehearse and emphasise.

3.2) It is an essential element in the proposals for federation that each of the federated Churches should preserve its own autonomy as regards faith and practice; this Statement, therefore, is not to be imposed as a disciplinary standard on any of these Churches, nor, on the other hand, does it supersede or in any way alter the place of whatever doctrinal standards any of these Churches may maintain in their constitution

There is One Living and True God, Who is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Him alone we worship and adore.

We believe that God so loved the world as to give His Son to be the Revealer of the Father and the Redeemer of humanity; that the Son of God, for us and for our salvation, became man in Jesus Christ, Who, having lived on earth the perfect human life, died for our sins, rose again from the dead, and now is exalted Lord over all; and that the Holy Spirit, Who witnesses to us of Christ, makes the salvation which is in Him to be effective in our hearts and lives.

We acknowledge that all are sinful and unable to deliver themselves from either guilt or power of their sin; but we have received and rejoice in the Gospel of the grace of the Holy God, wherein all who truly turn from sin are freely forgiven through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and are called and enabled, through the Spirit dwelling and working within them, to live in fellowship with God and for His service; and in this new life, which is to be nurtured by the right use of the means of grace, we are to grow, daily dying unto sin and living unto Him Who in His mercy has redeemed us.

We believe that the Catholic or Universal Church is the whole company of the redeemed in heaven and on earth, and we recognise as belonging to this holy fellowship all who are united to God through faith in Christ.

The Church on earth - which is one through the Apostolic Gospel and through the living union of all its true members with its one Head, even Christ, and which is Holy through the indwelling Holy Spirit Who sanctifies the Body and its members - is ordained to be the visible Body of Christ, to worship God through Him, to promote the fellowship of His people, and the ends of His Kingdom, and to go into all the world and proclaim His Gospel for the salvation and unity of all. Of this visible Church, and every branch thereof, the only Head is the Lord Jesus Christ; and in its faith, order, discipline and duty it must be free to obey Him alone as it interprets His Holy will.

We receive, as given by the Lord to His Church on earth, the Holy Scriptures, the Sacraments of the Gospel, and the Christian Ministry.

The Scriptures, delivered through those moved by the Holy Spirit, record and interpret the revelation of redemption, and contain the sure Word of God concerning our salvation and all things necessary thereto. Of this we are convinced by the witness of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men and women to and with the Word; and this Spirit, thus speaking from the Scriptures to believers and to the Church, is the supreme Authority by which all opinions in religion are finally to be judged.

The Sacraments - Baptism and the Lord's Supper - are instituted by Christ, Who is Himself certainly and really present in His own ordinances (though not bodily in the elements thereof), and are signs and seals of His Gospel not to be separated therefrom. They confirm the promises and gifts of salvation and, when rightly used by believers with faith and prayer are, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, true means of grace.

The Ministry is an office within the Church - not a sacerdotal order - instituted for the preaching of the Word, the ministration of the Sacraments and the care of souls. It is a vocation from God, upon which therefore no one is qualified to enter save through the call of the Holy Spirit in the heart; and this inward call is to be authenticated by the call of the Church, which is followed by ordination to the work of the Ministry in the Church. While thus maintaining the Ministry as an office, we do not limit the ministers of the New Testament to those who are ordained, but affirm the priesthood of all believers and the obligation resting upon them to fulfil their vocation according to the gift bestowed upon them by the Holy Spirit.

We affirm the sovereign authority of our Lord Jesus Christ over every department of human life, and we hold that individuals and peoples are responsible to Him in their several spheres and are bound to render Him obedience and seek always the furtherance of His Kingdom upon earth, not however, in any way constraining belief, imposing religious disabilities or denying the rights of conscience.

In the assurance given us in the Gospel, of the love of God our Father to each of us and to all, and in the faith that Jesus Christ, Who died, overcame death and passed into the heavens, the first-fruits of them that slept, we are made confident of the hope of Immortality, and trust to God our souls and the souls of the departed. We believe that the whole world must stand before the final Judgement of the Lord Jesus Christ. And, with glad and solemn hearts, we look for the consummation and bliss of the life everlasting, wherein the people of God, freed for ever from sorrow and sin, shall serve Him and see His face in the perfected communion of all saints in the Church triumphant.

These things, as all else in our Christian faith, we hold in reverent submission to the guidance and teaching of the Holy Spirit Who is Truth, and we shall ever seek of Him enlightenment and grace both to unlearn our errors and also more fully to learn the mind and will of God, Whom to know is life eternal and to serve is perfect freedom. And being thus called of God unto the presence of His redeeming love wherein He is delivering the world from sin and misery and is reconciling all things to Himself in Jesus Christ, and being animated with faith in the final triumph of our Lord, we set before us as our end and aim to carry the Gospel to every creature and to serve and stablish, in our land and throughout the earth, His reign of righteousness, joy and peace.

Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. And to God be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.