Haven Ministries Statement of Faith

1 We believe the Bible to the inspired, inerrant, authoritative Word of God. We affirm the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Scriptures. We reject the claim that Bible merely contains God's word, and the claim that God is inspiring additional revelation today. 

2 We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We reject the claim that God does not know the future ("openness") and the claim that God is to be addressed as "she".

3 We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood on the Cross, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory. We reject the claim that Jesus was only an exemplar of God, and the claim that Jesus' death saves even the unbelieving.

4 We believe that salvation must come through personal faith in the Gospel, that is through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone and that no works, or indulgences or any other contrivance can bring about or add to the work of Christ. This gift is caused by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. We believe that those who do not believe in the Gospel are sadly condemned to an everlasting Hell, and that it is the work of every Christian to share the Gospel with a lost and unbelieving world. We believe that all who believe the Gospel shall spend eternity in Heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ. We reject the claim that all the lost will be saved regardless of their rebellion and the claim that Christ mediates salvation through the world's religions. 

5 We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life. We endorse that the Holy Spirit is the giver of all spiritual gifts and abilities, and that God can and does act consistently within the parameters of the Scriptures. We reject the claim that the Holy Spirit is working through the current false revivals and the claim that God is doing a "new thing", which is in fact contrary to the Word of God in teaching and lifestyle.

6 We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; and that this resurrection, following the pattern of the first fruit of the resurrection - Jesus Christ, is the exact person who lived, died and then was raised. We reject that the resurrected Jesus was merely an appearance or a apparition.

7 We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. We further believe that this unity is and must be based on the truth of the Scriptures alone. We reject the notion that "doctrine divides" and therefore must be avoided. We also reject the notion that truth is not as important as love and that therefore unity can be based on mere sentiment.

8 We believe that there is objective truth (that is truth that is outside of ourselves and discoverable by any who seek it). We further believe that God's ethical standards are absolutes, (that is they apply to all times and all peoples). We reject the postmodern ( or postcritical, postliberal, postconservative or by whatever other name it might go by) notion that truth is inherent within the individual and further reject the "hermeneutic of suspicion" that undermines the authority of the Word of God.

Haven Ministries affirms the doctrinal statement of the National Association of Evangelicals, whose statement is the basis of this one and the doctrinal statement and stand of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.