Our Beliefs and Ethos Statement

Ethos: the set of beliefs/ideas, about the behaviour and relationships of a person or group.

Sketty Community Church is made up of people who have confessed that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world and the Lord of their lives. We seek to put into daily practice the teachings, lifestyle and character of the one that we are graced to call a Friend.

1. What we believe: Many of us differ in our theological beliefs, so rather than focussing on our differences, we want to choose to focus on what unifies us as a church. Therefore, we hold onto the following Creed that was created to form the basis and foundational beliefs of Christians in the early church. (The word ‘creed’ comes from the Latin word credo, meaning ‘I believe and trust’.)

The Nicene Creed…

We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,

eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

of one Being with the Father;

through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,

was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

2. What we believe: as members of the Baptist family…

As members of the Baptist Union family, we adhere to the Basis of the Baptist Union Principles:

a) That our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is the sole and absolute authority in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and that each Church has liberty, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to interpret and administer His laws.

b) That Christian Baptism is the immersion in water into the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, of those who have professed repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ who ‘died for our sins according to the Scriptures; was buried and rose again the third day’.

c) That it is the duty of every disciple to bear personal witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to take part in the evangelisation of the world.

3. What we believe: the importance of the Bible…

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

2 Timothy 3 vs 16-17

We believe that the Holy Scriptures (in both Old and New Testaments), being inspired by God, have been given to us to reveal God’s heart for us and to guide us in the way we respond both to God and our neighbour, individually and collectively as a church.

We also understand that each person interprets the Bible differently, according to personality, upbringing, past church experience, and a whole array of other reasons. Therefore, we aim to be unified in our beliefs about primary issues (such as those mentioned in the creed above), but accept that for many secondary issues, we within the church may well hold differing interpretations.

4. What we believe: the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit…

When Jesus was leaving the disciples, he promised them that he would send the Holy Spirit as their helper (John 14-16). Later in Acts 2 we see that all those who believed in Jesus were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that the Holy Spirit plays the same role today as all those years ago. Jesus provides for those who accept His forgiving love with His Spirit which empowers, enables and equips us to live the way He wishes us to live. The Holy Spirit is literally the dynamite which explodes into creativity the life of Jesus within us.

How we aim to live out what we believe:

Not only do we believe that what we believe is important, we also believe that our beliefs should have an impact on the way we live. Jesus said that the purpose of his teachings was that wise would act upon them

(John 7:24). Obedience to the teachings of Jesus are an outward demonstration of our love for Him (John 14:15) and the basis of our discipleship (John 8:31).

The type of church we wish to be is informed by the following statements, the first made by Jesus Himself: “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ (Matthew 28 vs 37ff).  Given the importance that Jesus place on these ’commands’, it would be foolish, or even negligent, to ignore them. The challenge for us then as a church, is how to make meeting these commands applicable and relevant to the world around us.

Which leads us to the second statement which is found in Haggai 2 v 9, a verse which is found on the front wall as we enter the church building: ‘…in this place will I give peace’. For us, peace (shalom) is not limited to a warm cozy feeling that all is well with the world. It means much more, including wholeness, completeness, health and welfare. Which leads us to our final statement…

The third statement is the original hope of our church founders in 1912 that the church ‘meets the spiritual and social needs of young families that live in Tycoch’. That era may have passed, but the local community is still made up of people who have spiritual and social needs. We continue to believe that the good news of Jesus remains vitally important in helping people satisfy those needs.

In Appendix 1, we have incorporated these three strands into five Community Values that will shape future church activity and character.

Within our church community, there are those who have expressed a commitment to share in the responsibility for the running of the church. We identify them as ‘members’. However, there are no restrictions on anyone who holds a faith in Jesus to participate in our services including baptism and communion, or any other activities that the church holds.

And finally, if you are thinking about visiting our church, or even considering formally identifying with us…

We seek to love all who come to Sketty Community Church: those who come to find friendship; those who come to question; those who come to find healing or restoration; those who come to feel good about themselves; those who come to seek answers; those who come to… There is an endless list of reasons why people would wish to attend a church.

Whatever the reason, we wish to make all feel welcome, listened to and respected.

We are aware that you may bring something to us which we have not received before, or maybe you will hear different ideas from different folk within the church on a particular topic as we do not all hold the same ideas about all issues. An integral part of being in a community is accepting these differences in one another, accepting that we may hold a minority opinion and at the same time, not being judgemental or looking down on others for holding alternate views. As a church we wish to learn together, listen to each other, seek the mind of Jesus and stay ‘in love’ with one another.

We have repeated that we wish to love. But what does this mean? Does it mean that slushy, romantic love we see in Rom Coms? No. When we talk of love, we mean that self-sacrificing love that caused Jesus to die on a cross to defeat the ultimate price of sin that was forever hindering us from responding to and enjoying the goodness of God – death.

When we talk of love, we mean: being patient and kind; not being jealous or boastful or proud or rude, not demanding one’s own way; not being irritable or keeping a record of being wronged, not rejoicing about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out, never giving up on someone, never losing faith, is always hopeful, and endures regardless of circumstances.

This kind of love cannot be self-created. This kind of love cannot be sustained by any one individual in isolation from others. But this kind of love can become a reality if we allow the love of Jesus, by His Spirit, to flow through all of us as we worship together, learn together, laugh and cry together and supporting one another as we walk closely with Him.

March 2025