We are ordinary people who, by faith, have met the risen Lord Jesus, spoken of in the whole Bible. He, by the Holy Spirit, confirms to us the utter reliability of this full testimony of his story. This testimony about God and his story of the Lord Jesus includes orders to reach out to everyone with this offer of true life, so that, like us, they can find the purpose of their existence: glorifying and enjoying God in Neath Abbey, and beyond, now and then for ever in heaven because of his salvation for us, through his death on the cross.

Confession of Faith

  1. The Holy Scriptures are the only sufficient and infallible rule of faith and practice. These Scriptures being inerrantly given in every part by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit thus the Word of God written. Their full authority is received by the church not on the grounds of human testimony to their truth, but because God Himself declares their perfection and bears witness thereto in the hearts of His people.
  2. There is but one true and living God, who is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. There are three Persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.
  3. God is the Creator of all things, and directs and governs all His creatures by His most holy will for the glory of His own Name and the blessing of His Church. While the dominion and power of God order all persons, events and actions, human responsibility is not thereby violated, nor is God in any respect the author or approver of sin.
  4. The Lord God made the first man, Adam, after His own image in knowledge, righteousness and holiness, to enjoy perfect fellowship and communion with Himself. When tempted by Satan, man broke the law of God and rebelled against his Creator. By this one sin man fell from his original righteousness and became subject to death and the wrath of God. Because Adam was the representative of the human race his sin was imputed to his posterity and his inward corruption flowed by natural generation to all mankind. This sinful nature, possessed by all men, infects every part of their being, blinding their minds towards spiritual things and wholly inclining their wills to evil.
  5. God is gracious and full of mercy, and before ever the world was created He planned, according to the election of grace, to save out of the lost and fallen race a people for His own praise and glory and ordained them to everlasting life.
  6. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man. By the agency of the Holy Spirit He was born of the Virgin Mary and is thereby possessed of a true humanity. By His perfect obedience and sacrifice of Himself, which He through the Eternal Spirit once offered up to God, He fully satisfied the justice of God, and purchased the reconciliation and redemption of all those whom the Father had given unto Him. By His death and historic bodily resurrection He triumphed over Satan, sin and death. He ascended into Heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father Almighty, exercises dominion as Head over all things to His body, the Church, and makes intercession for His people.
  7. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to apply to sinners the redemption procured by Christ, His work is essential to regenerate the sinner, and to work in him repentance toward God and faith toward Christ.
  8. God freely justifies all who believe in His Son Jesus Christ; their sins are reckoned to Christ who bore them on the cross and His righteousness is reckoned to their account. Sinners are united to Christ by faith and are accounted righteous by God for Christ’s sake.
  9. God undertakes, in and for the sake of His Son Jesus Christ, to confer on all those who are justified the grace of adoption; by which they are taken into the number of, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of, the children of God.
  10. Those whom God justifies He also sanctifies. The work of sanctification consists in the restoration of the image of God in man and in the practice of true holiness. Although believers receive a new nature by regeneration their old sinful nature remains; hence arises the continual warfare in the saints between the flesh and the Spirit. Yet through the intercession of Christ on their behalf, the supply of the Spirit, and the indwelling of the Word of God they are enabled to overcome and are made ‘more than conquerors through Him that loved us’. The work of sanctification is gradual and incomplete in this life. All who truly belong to Christ will certainly persevere in faith and obedience though they stumble and fall into sin many times, yet divine grace will cause them to return to the ways of God so that they are brought at last by Christ to glory.
  11. The Universal Church consists of all people of God in Heaven and on earth who are elected by the Father, redeemed by the Son and quickened by the Holy Spirit. The church finds visible expression in the local church which is to be recognised chiefly by its adherence to the truth in the preaching of the Word of God, the right administration of the sacraments and the exercise of discipline.

There are two offices of the church prescribed by Scripture.

First the office of an elder, to whom is committed the rule of the church and the ministry of the Word. All elders are to exercise pastoral oversight, but some may also have preaching and teaching gifts. The Pastor is a preaching elder who should, where possible, receive material support form the church so that he may devote himself to the Word of God and prayer and the care of the church.

Second, the office of a deacon, whose task is the ministry of mercy and attendance to the administration aspects of the life of the church.

The chief means of grace according to the institution of Christ is the preaching of the Word of God. Christ also instituted two further ordinances as means of grace – these are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is the sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace, of union with Christ, of regeneration and the remission of sins. It does not convey regenerating grace nor is it essential to salvation, though it is sinful to neglect it. Baptism is to be administered in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit to all who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. The ordinance may rightly be administered by sprinkling or immersion. The Lord’s Supper is to be observed by the church for the perpetual remembrance of the death of our Lord once for all as a sacrifice for our sins, and as a means of communion until He come. It is in no sense a sacrifice and there is no change in the substance of the bread and the wine. Those who partake of the Supper in faith do so spiritually and inwardly feed on Christ.

  1. At death the souls of all believers are made perfect in holiness and are received into the very presence of Christ, there to behold His glory and wait for the redemption of their bodies. But the souls of the unrighteous are cast into hell where they are reserved until the judgement of the Great Day. There is no other place for the soul departed from the body than these two.
  2. At the end of the present age the Lord Jesus Christ will return personally, visibly and gloriously to the earth, at once to raise all the dead and judge the world in righteousness. The godly will enter into everlasting bliss with Christ in Heaven, whilst the ungodly will be condemned by God to hell, there to suffer eternally the just punishment of their sins.