PILLAR CHURCH

Pillar Church is made up of people from all walks of life, and we place an emphasis on love and acceptance of others. We are a missional church who desire to reach out to our community and beyond. We do this with a contemporary approach to culture yet with an unswerving belief in the power of God's Word and Spirit to transform lives.

We are affiliated with Calvary Chapel, a non-denominational Christian fellowship of believers under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our supreme desire is to know Jesus and to be made like Him by the power of the Holy Spirit.

HOW WE OPERATE

UPWARD

We believe that knowing God is our highest calling and our relationship with Him is our highest priority (Matthew 22:37-40, John 17:3).

INWARD

As members of a church family we seek to love and support each other in our relationship with God and encourage each other towards spiritual maturity (Ephesians 4:11-16, 2 Peter 3:18).

OUTWARD

God's desire is that all the world would hear and believe the Good News of Jesus Christ and be saved from sin, and we seek to share God's love with all those around us (Matthew 28:18-20, Romans 1:16-17).

WHAT WE BELIEVE

GOD

There is only one true God who exists as a Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is eternal, all powerful, all knowing and ever-present. He is in complete control of everything, absolutely pure, perfectly just, and abounding in love.

CREATION

God lovingly and purposefully created the universe and everything in it. Above all He made human beings in His own image, which gives all people inherent dignity and value. We were made to know Him, to love Him and to give Him glory.

SIN

All people are sinners by nature and choice, falling short of God’s standard and breaking His commandments – and therefore are under God’s righteous judgment. Yet God saves and gives new life to all who come to Him in repentance and faith, trusting in the Person and work of Jesus Christ.

SAVIOUR

God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, on a rescue mission to serve and save the people that He loves. Jesus, being both fully God and fully man, was born to a virgin and lived a perfect life of humility, truth, justice and mercy.

CROSS

Jesus willingly died on the cross in our place. He bore the full weight of God’s wrath for all our sin, redeeming us, reconciling us to God and providing for us forgiveness, freedom, healing and righteousness. The cross is the ultimate expression of God’s love for us.

RESURRECTION

Just as He promised, Jesus physically rose from the dead on the third day, conquering Satan, sin, and death, and proving that He is the Son of God and Saviour of the world. His mission complete, Jesus then returned to heaven where He reigns forever.

GRACE

The only way to be forgiven, made right with God and be assured of a place with Him in heaven, is to believe that what Jesus did was for us, to turn to God in faith, confess our sins, and trust Him to save us by receiving the gift of His amazing grace.

SPIRIT

God the Holy Spirit enables us to come to God through Jesus. He lives and works within every believer and is the seal of their salvation. He gives us the power to live new lives that glorify God, comforting, guiding, helping us in prayer and reassuring us that we belong to God.

BIBLE

The Bible is God’s perfect, living and inspired Word. It reveals the true nature of God and His great salvation plan, and is all we need to learn how to live lives that please, honour and glorify Him. The Bible is our standard in all matters of life and faith.

CHURCH

All true believers belong to the global church, and are also called to be part of a local church. God has blessed us with specific roles and unique gifts in order to glorify God together, and to serve one another in love.

MISSION

Jesus has commissioned His church to make disciples locally, nationally and globally. We all have a part to play in this mission. We are called to reach the lost through living and proclaiming the gospel, and to establish new believers in truth and love.

ETERNITY

Jesus will one day return to renew all things and to judge the people of the earth in truth and righteousness. All those who trusted Him to save them will enjoy the bliss of His eternal presence. All those who rejected His grace will be separated from Him for eternity.

WHAT WE DON'T BELIEVE

We do not believe that it is essential to take a particular stance on non-foundational issues that have the potential to divide or exclude. Our desire is to be able to minister to and with as broad a group of people as possible. The moment we begin to take a hard-line position on any of the non-foundational (and sometimes controversial) issues, we alienate some people. It is important to recognise that we can agree to disagree and still maintain a spirit of unity and love.

  • We are happy for people to hold to varying views on the gifts of spirit. We would just encourage people to refer to 1 Corinthians 14 for the relevant Biblical principles. For those brethren who wish to speak in tongues we would emphasise the private nature of this gift unless there is a very real evidence of available interpretation from God.
  • We do not wish to establish a system of theology that adopts either a Calvinistic or Arminian view. We would encourage Christians to believe in a sovereign God who wants to see people come to know Him through the preaching of the gospel. Our hearts must yearn in the way that the heart of God does for sinners who need to be saved. Two contemporaries who were diametrically opposed on this issue, Whitefield and Wesley, both gave themselves to achieve this end, and so must we.
  • We will also not take a hard-line stance on the various theories of the baptism of the Spirit or the two main beliefs with regard to water baptism.
  • We do not believe the Bible teaches that health and wealth are meant for all Christians while on earth. While it is clear that we do have full forgiveness and new life in Christ, it is also clear that we will not be completely free of the consequences of sin until we go to Heaven. It is also true that God can heal and bless people materially, but huge damage has been done to people who are falsely assured of either health or wealth upon the act of true faith. Countless believers have suffered guilt and huge disappointment as a consequence of this error.

THE TEAM

Solomon

Lead Elder
Pastor

Misha

Elder
Head of Women's Ministry

Andy

Elder
Head of Men's Ministry

Carys

Elder
Treasurer & Administrator