What We Believe

What We Believe

The International Fellowship is a ministry of Nanjing Grace Presbyterian Church.
We are a confessional Reformed Presbyterian congregation, standing in continuity with historic Presbyterianism and the Reformed tradition as articulated in:

• Westminster Confession of Faith

• Westminster Larger Catechism

• Westminster Shorter Catechism

Our theology is rooted in classical Reformed orthodoxy, shaped by the Puritan heritage, and informed by the teaching of Institutes of the Christian Religion.
We gladly stand within the broader confessional Presbyterian tradition.

What follows is a summary of our core convictions.

1. Scripture

We believe the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testaments is the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God, given by divine revelation.

Scripture alone is the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and life.
All doctrine, worship, and Christian obedience must be regulated by God’s Word.

We affirm the historic Christian understanding of biblical inerrancy as summarized in the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.

2. The Triune God and His Eternal Decree

We confess one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons:
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—equal in power and glory.

From all eternity, God freely and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass, according to the counsel of His will, for His own glory.
This eternal decree includes God’s sovereign purpose in creation, providence, and redemption.

3. Creation, Humanity, and the Fall

God created all things out of nothing by His Word and very good.
Humanity was created in the image of God, in righteousness and holiness, to glorify and enjoy Him.

Through Adam’s transgression, sin entered the world.
All humanity fell in Adam and is born guilty, corrupt, and wholly unable to turn to God apart from His sovereign grace.

4. God’s Covenant and the History of Redemption

God relates to humanity through covenant.

After the fall, God revealed the Covenant of Grace, whereby He freely offers salvation in Christ to sinners, promising life and salvation through faith in the Mediator.

This covenant is one in substance throughout redemptive history, administered in different ways, and fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
The children of believers belong to the visible covenant community and are rightful recipients of the covenant signs.

5. The Person and Work of Christ

Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became truly man while remaining truly God.

He lived a perfect and obedient life under the law, suffered and died a substitutionary atoning death for His people, rose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, and now reigns at the right hand of the Father.

Christ alone is the Mediator between God and man and the only Redeemer of the elect.

6. Salvation by Sovereign Grace

We believe that salvation is entirely the work of God’s free grace:

• by grace alone

• through faith alone

• in Christ alone

• according to Scripture alone

• to the glory of God alone

These are the historic Five Solas of the Reformation.

In accordance with the teaching of Scripture as systematized in classical Reformed theology, we also affirm the doctrines of grace commonly summarized as Calvinism:

• Total Depravity

• Unconditional Election

• Limited (Particular) Atonement

• Irresistible (Effectual) Grace

• Perseverance of the Saints

7. The Church, Sacraments, and Worship

The visible church is the covenant community of God’s people, gathered under the faithful preaching of the Word and the right administration of the sacraments.

Christ governs His church by His Word and Spirit through ordained elders.
We hold to a Presbyterian form of church government.

We recognize two sacraments instituted by Christ: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
In accordance with Reformed covenant theology, baptism is administered to professing believers and to the infants of believing parents, as a sign and seal of the covenant of grace and of their inclusion in the visible church.

Worship is to be regulated by Scripture and centered on the glory of God.

8. The Christian Life, Family, and Hope

Believers are called to live lives of repentance, faith, obedience, and holiness—not to earn salvation, but as grateful responses to God’s grace.

We emphasize the importance of family worship, Christian discipleship within the household, and the faithful transmission of the faith from one generation to the next.

We look forward to the bodily resurrection, the final judgment, and the life everlasting in the new heavens and the new earth.