What We Believe

The following are the core beliefs of Bradley Street Church of God based on the foundational truths taught in the bible. All of our teaching and ministry is rooted in and flows out of these biblical doctrines.

There is one God, the Creator and Preserver of all things, infinite in being and perfection. He exists eternally in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who are of one substance and equal in power and glory.

God created Adam and Eve in his own image. By disobedience, they fell from their sinless state through the temptation by Satan. This fall plunged them and their progeny into a state of sin and spiritual death, and brought upon all humanity the sentence of eternal death. From this condition we can be saved only by the grace of God, through faith, on the basis of the work of Christ, and by the agency of the Holy Spirit.

The eternally pre-existent Son became incarnate without human father, by being born of the Virgin Mary. Thus, in the Lord Jesus Christ, divine and human natures were united in one Person, both natures being whole, perfect, and distinct. To effect salvation, Jesus lived a sinless life and died on the cross as the sinner’s substitute, shedding his blood for the remission of sins. On the third day he rose from the dead in the body which had been laid in the tomb. He ascended to the right hand of the Father, where he performs the ministry of intercession. He shall come again, personally and visibly, to complete his saving work and to consummate the eternal plan of God.

The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Triune God. He applies to man the work of Christ. By justification and adoption we are given a right standing before God; by regeneration, sanctification, and glorification our nature is renewed. The Holy Spirit continually draws believers closer to God, transforms them into the image of Christ, empowers them for ministry, and distributes spiritual gifts to the church.

When we have turned to God in penitent faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are accountable to God for living a life separated from sin and characterized by the fruit of the Spirit. It is our responsibility to contribute by word and deed to the universal spread of the Gospel.

The one universal church consists of all those who are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Thus, a local congregation such as ours is only one of the many and varied expressions of God’s universal church. The primary purpose of the church is to use every possible means to advance the kingdom of God.

Special ordinances were given to the church by the Lord. They include baptism by immersion (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 8:26-40), communion (Acts 2:42-46), and foot-washing (John 13:14).

At the end of the age, the bodies of the dead shall be raised. The righteous shall enter into full possession of eternal bliss in the presence of God, and the wicked shall be condemned to eternal destruction.