Who We Are
How We Are Organised and What We Believe
Congregation
In a Baptist church the congregation represents the final authority on all matters of church life. It is the shared commitment and convictions of Christian believers, binding themselves together to be a church, that started Hastings Baptist Church - and will keep it going. Many week to week responsibilities are entrusted to the oversight of church leaders - but the heart of church life is the involvement and investment of rank and file church members.
Membership
Church members are people who are committed to the church and keep the church going! Members of this church are ordinary Christian people, who have been baptised as a demonstration of their personal faith. They have agreed on a core set of Christian truth and have pledged themselves, along with the other church members, to growing and serving in this particular congregation.
Church Staff
Paul Davison
Senior Pastor
Paul Davison has been at Hastings Baptist Church since 1999. He is married to Joy and together they have four adult daughters. Paul is committed to all sorts of ministries of God’s Word, because God works powerfully through his Word. In his spare time, Paul tries to make the perfect cup of coffee, grow a superior lawn, and keep running to one day be fit.
Jo Cox
Women's Worker
Jo wants to encourage and help women to grow in their love for, and knowledge of, God. She also leads teams in our projects like the Easter Egg Hunt & Christmas Walk Through.
Jo and her husband, Tim, love serving together at Hastings Baptist Church. They have 4 adult sons, a daughter-in-law and 2 gorgeous grandchildren.
Elders
These are people elected by the congregation to give spiritual oversight and direction to the church. Some are staff, most aren’t.
Deacons
These are people elected by the congregation to give practical direction and service to the church.
We have Admin Deacons who look after things like our buildings and money, and Ministry Support Deacons who promote missions in the church and help us practically care for one another.
What We Believe
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ScriptureWe believe the Bible, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God. Rightly interpreted, the Bible is fully trustworthy in all that it affirms. The Scriptures are the written revelation of God to humanity and are the sufficient and supreme authority for all matters of life and faith.
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TrintyWe believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are equal in divine nature and distinct in personal attributes.FatherWe believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power and love. He sovereignly foreknows all that will come to pass and providentially cares for His universe, concerning Himself mercifully in the affairs of humanity. He hears and answers prayer, and saves from sin and death all who come to him through Jesus Christ.SonWe believe in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who through his incarnation was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. We believe in His sinless life, atonement for our sin by dying on the cross in the sinners' place, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people and His promised return in power and glory.Holy SpiritWe believe in the Holy Spirit who came forth from the Father and the Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgement, and to regenerate, sanctify and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. He indwells every believer, baptising them into the Body of Christ, and is an abiding helper, teacher and guide.
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CreatedWe believe human beings are the special creation of God, made in His own image: male and female. Every person of every race possesses full dignity being made in the image of God.FallenWe believe that humanity sinned and thereby incurred physical, spiritual and eternal death, which is separation from God. Consequently, all people are born with a sinful nature, are sinners by choice and are under God’s condemnation. Only the grace of God can restore a person into fellowship with Himself.
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SalvationSalvation involves the redemption of the whole person, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.RegenerationRegeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart produced by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.JustificationJustification is God's gracious and full acquittal of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer into a relationship of peace and favour with God.SanctificationSanctification is the experience, established in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God's purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person's life.GlorificationGlorification is the joyful culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.
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UniversalWe believe in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all regenerate persons are members.LocalWe believe in the local church, consisting of a congregation of baptised believers, who have pledged themselves to one another in the love, faith and fellowship of the gospel. We believe that God has laid upon the members of the local church the primary task of giving the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world.
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Believer's BaptismChristian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience to Jesus’ command and example, symbolising the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a testimony to their faith in the final resurrection of the dead.The Lord's SupperThe Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialise the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
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Christ Will ReturnWe believe that the end of the world is approaching. The Christian hope is anchored in the promise of Jesus that He will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all people in righteousness.JudgementThe unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.