Statement of Faith
What we believe and preach, rooted in the Word of God.
We believe in one only God, who created all things, holy, perfect, and eternally self-existent, in a unity of love among three equally divine persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In His infinite knowledge and sovereign power, God graciously determined from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His glory.
We believe that God has spoken in the Holy Scriptures, the Old Testament and the New Testament, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings; it is the complete revelation of God’s will for salvation, and the final authority by which every area of human knowledge and endeavor is to be judged. Therefore, we are to believe everything it teaches, obey everything it commands, and have confidence in everything it promises.
We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when they were tempted by Satan. As their descendants and in union with Adam, human beings are sinful by nature and by the choices they make, so that man in his natural state is spiritually dead and under His wrath. Only through the saving work of God in Jesus Christ can we be saved, reconciled to God, and renewed.
We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, truly God and truly man, one person with two natures. Jesus — the promised Messiah of Israel — was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified and died under Pontius Pilate, rose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.
We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as a perfect and sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only basis for salvation.
We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its sin. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illumines, guides, equips, and empowers believers to live and serve like Christ.
We believe that the true church comprises all those who are justified by the grace of God through faith in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifested in local churches, whose membership should consist only of believers. The Lord Jesus gave the church two distinct ordinances/sacraments, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which clearly and visibly express the gospel. Although they are not means of salvation, when celebrated by the church with true faith they confirm and nourish the believer.
We believe that God’s saving grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him above all and to love others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion for the poor, and justice for the oppressed. With the Word of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, and prayer in the name of Christ, we are to fight against the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s command, we are to make disciples among all peoples, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.
We believe in the personal and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ’s return will take place at a time known only to God, and calls for continual expectation, as our blessed hope, which motivates believers to live in a godly manner, to serve sacrificially, and to pursue a purposeful mission.
We believe that God commands all people everywhere to repent and believe the gospel by turning to Him and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and will judge the world, giving to unbelievers eternal condemnation and punishment in a conscious state, and to believers eternal blessing and joy together with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His grace.
Faith Bible Church is an autonomous church whose purpose is to glorify and serve the Lord Jesus Christ under the leading of the Holy Spirit, in obedience to the Word of God. Our church first began to gather on 17 June 2012 with a group of five believers in a small house in Tirana. With simple gatherings, yet following the model of the Acts of the Apostles, we continued — preaching from the Word of the Lord, praying, and taking the Lord’s Supper together. We gather every Sunday to worship the Lord and to encourage one another.
