Beliefs
Mission
Our mission:
Following Christ's commission to make disciples of all nations and extending his hand of compassion following the Biblical mandate to exercise pure religion of caring for the poor and needy especially the orphaned and widowed. We do this now through a more focused approach with our Mercy Children’s Home, Mercy Christian Academy, Mercy Baptist Church, pastoral equipping, and various community outreach ministries in Kenya/East Africa through led by our boots on the ground Bys family missionaries in Kenya.
Our beliefs:
Doctrine of Scripture. The Bible is God’s unique revelation to mankind, the inspired, infallible Word of God. As such, it is the supreme and final authority and without error in what it teaches and affirms in its original languages. No other writings are vested with such divine authority.
Doctrine of God. There is only one true God. He exists eternally as three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — each fully God of the same essence, yet each personally distinct from the other. The term Christians have coined to describe holy God is "the Trinity". This truth comes from Holy Scripture, the Bible. God is the creator of everything. God is sovereign over everything.
Doctrine of Sin. Everyone, regardless of race, gender, social class, or intellectual ability, is created in God’s image and for communion with God. But because of sin, that relationship was broken and all of humanity was separated from God, the source of all life. Because of the fall, everyone deserves God’s judgment, we all are inheritors of the first man Adam's sin. We all have sinned and need saving.
Doctrine of Salvation. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and God gives salvation and eternal life to those who trust in him. Salvation cannot be earned through personal goodness or human effort. It is a gift that is received by repentance and faith in Christ and his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. All those saved are born of God's Spirit.
Doctrine of Christ. Jesus Christ called the Son is the second person of triune God, in time was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary — he is God that came into human flesh. Always fully God called the Son, but became also fully man. He lived a sinless human life, yet willingly took upon himself our sins by dying in our place and on our behalf, providing his blood payment for us. He rose bodily, victorious over death. He ascended to Heaven and is at the right hand of the Father as the believer’s advocate and mediator. Some unknown day, he will return to consummate history and to fulfill the eternal plan of God, as rightful Judge and Lord over all creation.
Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, the third Person of triune God, convicts the world of sin and gives new life to those who trust in Jesus. He is not a force, but a person of God. The Spirit regenerates believers to new life. He indwells all believers and is available to empower them to lead Christ-like lives. The Spirit gives them spiritual gifts with which to serve fellow believers and reach out to a lost and needy world.
Doctrine of Judgment. At the final judgment, after Christ's return and end of his millennial reign on earth, unbelievers will be separated from God by the Son, bound and cast into hell forever. Believers will be received into God’s loving presence and will be forever rewarded with joy, joined to God the Son as His forever Bride, eternal heirs to the Kingdom of God as his family.
Doctrine of the Church. All who repent from sin and trust in Jesus alone for their salvation and call Him LORD, are members of the body of Christ, the one true church universal. Spiritual unity is to be expressed among Christians by acceptance and love of one another across ethnic, cultural, socio-economic, national, generational, gender, and denominational lines. The local church is a group of believers of any size who gather for worship, prayer, instruction, encouragement, mutual accountability, community with each other, and as a witness to the world for Christ.
Doctrine of Baptism. Baptism is not a requirement for Salvation, but the ritual of water baptism is following Christ's example commanded of all new believers, given by another believer. It is an act of obedience to God that we follow soon after coming to faith that shows we belong to Jesus done a new believer. It is a public profession of faith in Christ that you have died to your old life living for sin, and are raised up a new person in Christ now living by the Spirit at peace with God. It identifies you as a Christ follower. Like the Lord's Supper, it is one of the two commanded ordinances for all true Believers to follow as a unique identification that you belong to Him.
Mercy Ministries - AFM Africa has a more detailed doctrinal statement than above, yet we understand that there is room for differing interpretations in what we consider the “non-essentials". The above statement of faith, we consider the essentials of Christian faith.
Thus, it is possible to be a member of "the Church" even though you may not agree with the full doctrinal statement of Mercy Ministries.
We welcome all members of the Body of Christ to join with us in prayer, encouragement and/or financial support of our mission to fulfill the call of Christ. Yet every staff member, or long-term* missionary we send, or who we partner with to any significant extent, will be asked to submit to our more detailed theological beliefs.
*anything more than a month long visit or mission trip
Click Full Doctrinal Statement above to download and read which can also be found our OUR DOCUMENTS page.