What We Believe
We recognise that God is a missional God and that church, as the body of Christ, exists for the benefit of our non-members. We are here as a place of redemption and restoration. If PDBC disappeared from Colwyn Bay we want people to miss us, to be sorry that we are not here.
Our values reflect the core of what it means for us to be church together...at PDBC we seek to be
1. Serious about the Bible: 2 Timothy 3:14-17
The Bible is the word of God and we do not want to be a church that simply pays lip service to the book or uses it as a jumping off point into discussion. We believe it to be our source of authority about the things of God. So what this means is that we reccomend bringing your Bible to all our meetings as we seek to use them and to learn more about God.
2. People who pray and seek God: Matthew 6:33
The Westminster shorter catechism asks 'what is the chief end of man?' the reply is to 'glorify God and enjoy him forever.' We understand that it is very easy to believe in God but to live like an atheist. We seek to be a community which takes the call to pray and seek God very seriously knowing that that is the only way we will truly grow in faith and knowledge of God.
3. A blessing to our community Mark: 12:28-31
We do not believe that we have to choose between being a Gospel church and a church engaged with the community. It matters that we are engaged in the community around us and that as we show support and care that we speak of the reality of Jesus and the need for salvation in him.
4. Becoming more like Jesus: Philippians 2:1-11
We are followers of Jesus and we should seek to be more like Him in word and deed.
5. Welcoming to all: 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
A Church community should be a place of redemption and restoration. All are welcome to come and explore what it means to follow Jesus.
About God
The belief: There is only one living and true God, who exists in an everlasting loving relationship as Father, Son, and Spirit - one God in three persons. These three persons are equal in being, but have distinct roles in the great work of salvation. God is sovereign in all things: including creation, revelation, redemption, judgement and the establishing of his kingdom. As sovereign loving creator and redeemer, he is worthy of all glory, confidence,honour and praise.Practical Outworking: This sovereign God is the only one worthy of our worship. We can find ourselves replacing God as the object of our worship with people, objects, achievements and even our desires. The danger of any type of ‘idolatry’ is that we become what we worship. God must have His rightful place in our lives and through Him everything else is put in its right perspective.
About the human condition
The belief: Men and women together are created in the image of God, in original righteousness to worship God and enjoy a unique relationship with Him, and together to exercise dominion over the created order. Tragically, we fell from that state through voluntary disobedience, and since ‘The Fall’ men and women are by nature universally sinful, all fall short of God’s standards, are inclined to do evil, and all are guilty before God. This leaves us under the just wrath and condemnation of God. After death we face certain judgement and stand justly condemned. We are unable, without the prior regenerative work of God's Spirit, to turn ourselves to God.Practical Outworking: All are valuable and precious as all are made in the image of God. So we will not tolerate that which degrades and devalues us or others. We acknowledge that we are by nature separated from God and sin is that which separates us. Even with the assurance of salvation, we still have that inclination to turn away from God and go our own way.
About the Bible
The belief: Given this fallen condition there is no other way to know God except that he reveals himself to us. The Bible is God’s revelation to us. The words of the entire Bible are divinely inspired and infallible, true in all that they affirm, as originally given, and have supreme authority in all matters of faith, conduct and experience. The Bible is sufficient for knowing God. It is not only central to the wellbeing of the church but is able to thoroughly equip all believers for life and godliness. Practical outworking: We take the Bible seriously. We do this by reading it publicly and privately, and by being taught about it and from it so that we can apply God’s truth to our lives. So, our preaching and teaching seeks to expound the text and we often work through whole books of the Bible and key Biblical themes.
About Jesus Christ
The belief: Jesus Christ, as he is truly revealed in the Bible, is the eternal Son of God. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He is both fully God and fully human. He entered fully into human experience. He endured temptation and he was perfectly obedient to God his Father. He was put to death by crucifixion and was physically buried. On the third day he rose from the dead bodily. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted as ruler over all. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.Practical outworking: We must be careful that we do not try and change Jesus, to try and make Jesus just like us and in doing so deny the truth about Him. Many are happy with Jesus just as a great moral teacher but He was so much more than that. Jesus said so much that means that He cannot be left as a teacher or a great example of a life well lived, we have to acknowledge Him as God made flesh. That means that we keep Jesus as our focus as we seek to honour Him and help others to discover relationship with Him. From the time of ’The Fall’, Jesus is the only person who has lived fully as a man in the way God intended for all mankind.
About Salvation
The belief: It is only through the work of Jesus Christ – his perfect obedience, penal substitutionary death, bodily resurrection and exaltation as Lord – that the guilt, penalty and power of sin can be removed. In that death God demonstrates his love to us most perfectly, establishes his victory over Satan and all his foes, and makes available forgiveness of sins, freedom from condemnation and a new spiritual life, which will continue for eternity, for all who put their faith in Jesus Christ. The work of the Holy Spirit is necessary to make the death of Jesus effective in an individual's life. The Spirit enables sinners to repent and put their faith in Jesus Christ, so that salvation is entirely of God's grace and not of human merit or works. Although we enjoy now the blessing of union with Christ and secure relationship with God, we await the final consummation of our hope with the return of Christ, the resurrection of our bodies and life with him eternally. Practical outworking: ‘What was accomplished on the cross?’ is perhaps the central question of the Christian faith. We hold that it is only through Jesus that we can know God and that each and every person needs a relationship with Jesus. What Christ has done for us, should affect how we are seen by others. Our lives should hold out love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control towards others. This is the fruit that the Holy Spirit should produce in all of us. (Gal 5: 22-23)
About the Spirit in the believers life
The belief: The Holy Spirit is co-equal with the Father and the Son, and indwells all true believers. His work in the believer is necessary and sufficient for the individual’s new birth and growth to maturity. The Spirit works to illuminate believers’ minds to grasp the truth of the Bible, producing in them his fruit, granting them his gifts and empowering them for service for the building of the church. Because the Spirit works in the lives of true believers to bring about the transformation from God in the form of an increasingly Christ like character, salvation is evidenced by godly conduct and works pleasing to God.Practical outworking: We recognise that people often ignore the work of the Holy Spirit and in doing so we miss the fullness of our relationship with God. We seek to make ourselves aware of the Spirit’s work in our lives and acknowledge that through His gifts the church and believers are built up. We are engaged in a lifelong process of transformation by His Holy Spirit towards the full likeness of Jesus.
About the Church
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The belief: The visible church is the gathering of believers around Christ as revealed in the word, an expression of the heavenly church gathered around Christ in heaven. It is a community of people intended by God to bear witness to him and actively seek the extension of his rule. Within its community both men and women are to seek proper expression of their gifts as they work to build the church in love and to demonstrate the transforming power of the gospel.Practical outworking: We believe that the church matters, that every Christian needs to be part of a church community. We recognise that people have lost confidence in the church but we believe that it is only through the church that our communities will be transformed. We practise the sacraments of baptism and communion. We dedicate infants before God leaving baptism for a time when they can make their own decision. We govern ourselves congregationally and have membership as a way of organising this.
About the world to come
The belief: At a time known only to God, Jesus Christ will return from heaven to bring this world, and this current age, to an end and to bring salvation and judgment to final completion. He will return in person to gather all his people to himself. The dead shall be raised and all men and women shall be judged by him. Those who are not regenerate and justified shall be condemned. Those who are regenerate shall dwell eternally in the presence of God, reigning with Christ in His kingdom. God will fully establish His kingdom when He creates a new heaven and a new earth from which evil, suffering and death will be excluded, and in which he will be glorified forever.Practical outworking: The only way to have salvation is through Jesus Christ. We are committed to mission and evangelism because we know that each and every person needs to know Jesus.