MISSION AND VALUES

1. STEADFAST PRAYER

We consider prayer to be of the highest priority. We hold prayer meetings every day of the week and these culminate in a combined prayer meeting on the last Friday of each month      (2 Chronicles 7:14)

2. VIBRANT WORSHIP

We enjoy enthusiastic praise and worship. Our worship is an expression of our love for God and each Sunday, we celebrate God's goodness with worship that is relevant, contemporary and prophetic.(Ephesians 5:19)

3. DEVOTION TO GOD'S WORD

We believe the Bible is God's Word and that its message is relevant to the world today. We preach the truth of God's Word in a clear, applicable way. (2 Timothy 2:15)

4. EFFECTIVE OUTREACH

We are called to reach out and share the message of the Gospel to all who will hear, from those close to us to those far away in other countries. (Matthew 28:18-20)

5. LOVING PEOPLE

Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another as He had loved them. We express His love to our church family as well as those who are outside the family of faith. (John 15:2)

6. EMPOWERED LIVING

We believe that God has a great purpose for each one of our lives and that if we live in obedience to Him, He will bring us success and fruitfulness. (John 10:10)

7. HONOURING GOD

We want everything we do and say to bring glory and honour to Jesus Christ. (Colossians 3:23)

STATEMENT OF FAITH

• In essential beliefs – we have UNITY. 
• "There is one Body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope." Ephesians 4:4 
• In nonessential beliefs – we have LIBERTY. 
• "Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgement on disputable matters...Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls...So then each of us will give an account of himself to God...So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God." -  Romans 14:1, 4, 12, 22 
• In all our beliefs – we show CHARITY. 
• "...If I hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but also the very secrets of God, and if I have the faith that can move mountains but have no love, I amount to nothing at all." 1 Corinthians 13:2 

The essentials we believe:

1.  About God

God is the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He has eternally existed in three personalities: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are coequal and are one God. (see Genesis 1:1, 26, 27; 3:22; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19;1 Peter 1:2; 2 Corinthians 13:14) 

2. About Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is coequal with the Father. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people, by dying on a cross. He rose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to Heaven's glory and will return again to earth to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. (see Matthew 1:22,23; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:15, 14:1030; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 4:14,15; 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4; Romans 1:3,4; Acts 1:911;1 Timothy 6:14,15)

3. About the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is coequal with the Father and the Son of God. He is present in the world to make men aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation. As believers, we are encouraged to seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This baptism, distinct from water baptism, is essential to effectively live a Holy Spirit empowered life. (see 2 Corinthians 3:17; John 16:713, 14:16,17; Acts 18; 1 Corinthians 2:12, 3:16; Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 5:18)

4.     About the Bible

The Bible is God's Word to us. Human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit, wrote it. It is the supreme source of truth for Christian beliefs and living. Being inspired by God, it is the truth without any mixture of error. The Bible is our sole authority. "The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and make us realise what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us to do what is right." 2 Timothy 3:15

Since God's Word is the only completely reliable and truthful authority, we accept the Bible as our manual for living. Our first question when faced with a decision is "What does the Bible say?" We practice daily Bible reading, Bible study, and Bible memorisation. The Bible is the basis for all we believe. (see 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20,2 1; 2 Timothy 1: 13; Psalm 119:105, 160, 12:6; Proverbs 30:5)

5.     About human beings

People are made in the spiritual image of God. They are to be like Him in character. People are the supreme object of God's creation. Although every person has tremendous potential for good, all of us are marred by an attitude of disobedience toward God called "sin". This attitude separates people from God and causes many problems in life. (see Genesis 1:27; Psalm 8:36, Isaiah 53:6a; Romans 3:23; Isaiah 59:1,2)

6.     About Salvation

Salvation is God's free gift to us but we must accept it. We can never make up for our sin by selfimprovement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God's offer of forgiveness can anyone be saved from sin's penalty. When we turn from our selfruled life and turn to Jesus in faith we are saved. Eternal life begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into his life by faith. Salvation carries with it the responsibility to remain a disciple of Jesus to the end of your earthly life. (see Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8,9; John 14:6, 1:12; Titus 3:5, Galatians 3:26; Romans 5:1; Matthew 10:22)

7.     About Eternity

People were created to exist forever. We will either exist eternally separated from God by sin, or eternally with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is Hell. To be eternally in union with Him is Eternal Life. Heaven and Hell are real places of eternal existence. (See John 3:16; John 14:17; Romans 6:23; Romans 8:1718;Revelation 20:15; 1 Corinthians 2:79)

Our Sunday Expression.

• Biblical Worship : The way we worship we believe is biblically based.
• It is God Glorifying and Jesus Focused : We try to express faceless worship. It is about US together, expressing our love for God. Not a performance or a show. Jesus is the focus of our worship. It is for Him, through Him and because of Him.
• Our expression of worship (songs written) comes from revelation and relationship.
• Allows for ‘the Presence' of God to be manifest : As we lift the ‘name of Jesus', he will draw people to Him (Salvation). "He is enthroned in the praises of His people". God responds to His people who are passionate about loving, serving, giving and worshipping Him. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty" – life and healing.

Our meetings are structurally unstructured :

• We are prepared, yet flexible.
• We look for the Holy Spirit ‘suddenly's'.
• We are ready to deviate at any time (not for deviation's sake but wanting to give the Holy Spirit free reign).
• We don't like chaos, but we love passion.
• We accept authority and leadership.

Our expression of Spiritual Gifts

According to Acts 1:8 we believe the supernatural gifts of God given to us, are not just for the benefit of other Christians but for the workplace, to impact the unsaved in the community. We also believe that although we are Pentecostal the gifts found in 1Corinthians 12 need to be balanced with the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23. We believe that speaking in tongues is the ‘initial' evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but not the only evidence eg Acts 4:31 teaches us boldness in preaching the Word of God was a result.

We believe prophecy given publicly to a church congregation or spoken personally to people's lives should be edifying, encouraging and comforting according to 1Cor 14:3. We believe prophecy should not be despised but first tested before believing 1John 4:1 and 1Thess 5:19-21.

For this reason we ask people to give personal prophecies at a time when other mature believers are present and when giving a prophecy during Sunday services that they submit it to leadership first before speaking publicly.

Preaching and Teaching

We believe in preaching and teaching that is founded on the Word of God. This preaching/teaching should be dynamic, carrying the anointing of the Holy Spirit; it should be relevant but uncompromised; and it should be balanced, focusing on the whole of scripture, not just one particular theme or topic.

The preachers consider it a privilege to be able to share God's Word and therefore they prayerfully consider what God wants them to say to the church when preparing.

Guest ministries that come to the church come out of relationship with our senior pastor. We do not offer our pulpit to anyone on reputation alone.

Salvation and Altar Calls

The doctrine of salvation will be covered later in the Doctrine course but a brief outline would be as follows:

• John 14:6 and Acts 4:12 Salvation is only through Jesus
• Eph 2:8-9 We are saved by God's grace alone through faith in Christ
• John 1:12 When we receive Christ as our Lord and Saviour we become the children of God
• 1 Cor 15:1-20 and Romans 10:8-10 Belief and confession in the resurrection is necessary.

We realise that we don't necessarily need to have an altar call at Sunday services for people to get saved. People are getting saved everyday of the week in homes, schools, shopping centres etc and quite often in the Visitors Lounge. Some people are embarrassed to come to the stage area in front of everyone, others don't want to raise their hand etc Also just because a person responds to an altar call after the preaching, it doesn't necessarily mean they are saved, it's a heart issue and a commitment issue. It's about an internal transformation not an external demonstration. We are called to make disciples not to just get decisions. So, in summary, we are flexible in our approach to altar calls.

A BRIEF HISTORY

Ps. Lloyd and Edith Averal founded our church, formally known as the Tuggeranong Assemblies of God, in the early 1980's. The faith and motivation of this couple to answer the call of God in the 60's to Church Plant is still awe-inspiring today.

Under the Averal's ministry, they trained Martin and Penny Goodall who served the church as Senior Ministers from 1986 to 1994. The church experienced good growth and momentum during this time.

It was then that Evangelist Allan Barker and his wife Fay, (also a noted preacher) came to Canberra. The church in Tuggeranong exploded with unprecedented growth. It was Allan's desire and vision to rally God's people and build a permanent home for their fellowship. Their diligence and faithfulness opened the door to the next generation.

In 1988, Allan's son Glenn and wife Shereen joined the team at Tuggeranong.  Soon after in 1999, they were called to take the senior position of the church. A confirmation of their appointment was the securing of a permanent home for the church at Erindale Shopping Centre.

In a short period of time, the church, (then called Erindale Christian Centre), experienced steady growth with first time salvations becoming increasingly more frequent. With a renewed focus on prayer, the church experienced the blessing and favour of God.

In mid 2006, Glenn and Shereen Barker received a call to pastor a church in Bedworth, England. God had been stirring their hearts for some time to go to this nation and in March 2007, they left to pursue this call.

Meanwhile, Ps. Jon and Edith Cathie from Edge International Church in Adelaide were approached to see if they would take on the senior role at Erindale Christian Centre. After much prayer, they were appointed in March 2007.

We look forward to this new phase of the journey and know that God will be faithful in building His church.

And now at Capital Edge Community Church the vision continues….