Malaysia Baptist Convention Statement of Faith.
This statement of faith was adopted by the Malaysian Baptist Convention in its 1979 Annual Messengers' Conference.

 

2.  God.                                                               11. Evangelism and Missions.
   A.   God the Father.
   B.   God the Son.                                             12. Education.
   C.   God the Holy Spirit.
                                                                            13. Stewardship.
3. Man.
                                                                             14. Cooperation.
4.Salvation.
                                                                             15. The Christian and The Social Order.
5.God's Purpose of Grace.                                 
                                                                             16. War and Peace.
6.The Church.                                                     
                                                                             17.  Religious Liberty.
7.Ordinances.                                                     

8.The Lord's Day.                                              

9.The Kingdom. 

 3. MAN

 4. SALVATION

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by his own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, and glorification.

 Regeneration, or the new birth, is work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner respond in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 Repentance and faith are inseparable 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 Savior. Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal, based upon His righteousness, of al sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer into a relationship of peace and favor with God.

Sanctification begins in regeneration. This mean the believer is purified and set apart to God’s purposes and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regeneration person’s life.

Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed ad abiding state of the redeemed.

Election in the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regeneration, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, and God in His election is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. Election excludes boasting and promotes humility.”

 All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall preserve to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their grace and comforts, bring reproach on the cause of Christ, and temporal judgments on themselves, yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

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A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ, committed to His teaching, exercising scripturally the gifts, rights and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.

This church is an autonomous body, operating through democratic processes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In such a congregation members are equal rights and privileges. According to the Scripture the two major officers of the church are pastors (i.e. elders and bishops) and deacons.”
The New Testament speaks also of the church as the body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages.

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the two ordinances of the church. Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is administered upon the authority of the local congregation. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Baptism is a church ordinance and is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.

 The 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, remember and proclaim the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

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The first day of wee is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should be observed by worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private, and in so far as possible by refraining from worldly amusements, and resting from secular employments, work of necessity and mercy only being excepted.

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The Kingdom of God includes both general sovereignty over the universe and His particular kingship over men who will fully acknowledge Him as king. Particularly the Kingdom is the realm of salvation into which men enter by trustful childlike commitment to Jesus Christ. Christians ought to pray that the Kingdom may come and God’s will be done on earth. The full consummation of the Kingdom awaits of Jesus Christ and the end of this age.

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God, in His own time and His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteous will be consigned to Hell, to place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrection and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will be with the Lord forever.

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It is the duly and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to Endeavour to make disciples of all nations. The new birth of man by God’s Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. Missionary effort on the part of all rest thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teaching of Christ. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost Christ by personal witness and by al other methods in harmony the gospel of Christ.

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The church itself is a school. The first followers of Jesus were called “disciples” which means “learners”. Jesus told His followers to make disciples and to teach them all things He had commanded them.  It is the responsibility of the church to provide systematic Christian education for the believers which would assist them in living exemplary Christian lives in the community. In addition, for a church to achieve its objective of Christian outreach, it must continually provide training for recognized Christian leaders both Christian leaders both independently and cooperatively.

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God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and we owe to Him. Christians have a spiritual debt to the whole world, a sacred responsibility to spread the gospel and a binding stewardship in all areas of life. They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time, talents and material possessions; and should recognize all there as entrusted to them to use for the glory of God and for helping others. According to the Scripture, Christians should contribute of their means through tithes and offerings. This should be done cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately and liberally for the advancement of the Redeemer’s cause on earth.

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Christ’s people should, as occasion requires, organize such associations and conventions as may best secure cooperation for the great objects of the Kingdom of God. Such organizations have no authority over one another or over the churches. They are voluntary and advisory bodies designed to elicit, combine, and direct the energies of our people in the most effective manner. Members of New Testament churches should cooperate with one another in carrying forward missionary, educational, and benevolent ministries in the Spirit of Christ. Christian unity in the New Testament sense is spiritual harmony and voluntary cooperation for common ends by various groups of Christ’s people. Cooperation is desirable between the various Christian denominations, when the end to be attained is itself justified, and when such cooperation involves no violation of conscience or compromise of loyalty to Christ and His Word as revealed in the New Testament.

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Every Christian is under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in his own life and in human society. Means and methods used for the improvement to society and the establishment of righteousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are carried out by individuals who have been regenerated by the saving grace of God in Christ Jesus. The Christian should oppose, in the spirit of Christ, every from a greed, selfishness, and vice. He should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the aged, the helpless, and the sick. Every Christian should seek to bring society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love. In order to promote these ends Christians should be ready to work with all men of good will in any good cause, always being careful to act in the spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ and His truth.

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It is the duty of Christians to seek peace with all men on principles of righteousness. In accordance with the Spirit and teaching of Christ they should do all in their power to promote peace.
The true remedy for the war spirit is the gospel of our Lord. The supreme need of the world is the acceptance of His teachings in all affairs of men and nations, and the practical application of His law of love.

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God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are contrary of His Word or not contained in it. The church and the State should be separate. Civil government being ordained of God, it is the duty of Christian to render loyal obedience thereto in all things not contrary to the revealed will of God. The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work. The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means alone for the pursuit of its ends. A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies the right of tree and unhindered access to God on the part of all men.

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