We are also an affiliate of Living Word Christian Churches of Cebu International, Inc. and a part of Communion of Christian Ministries in the Philippines. ✨ WHO WE ARE ✨
As a church, we envision to develop Christ likeness in our lives, to deepen and strengthen our walk with Him through prayer, fellowship, and discipleship, and to fulfil the great commission that God has bestowed in us. By God’s g
race, it is our fervent prayer that we will be able to: (a) share the gospel or God’s word; (b) build a community of believers through prayer, Bible studies and discipleship; and (c) send out individuals to make disciples. To God be the glory!
✨ BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MINISTRY ✨
The Burning Bush Christian Ministries adheres to a highest commitment to biblical principles governing its existence. The 12-point philosophy of ministry serves as its foundational principles as it does its affairs and decisions while waiting upon the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. The Church and everything in it including the life and property of every member belongs to God for God is the creator and provider of all things (Genesis 1; 1 Corinthians 6:20; Philippians 4:19)
2. The Church will live by grace through faith on the holistic work of the triune God, who exists in three persons - The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit - each performs different, yet holistic roles in the salvation and spiritual growth of every member (Matthew 18:19-20; Genesis 1; Matthew 1:21; John 16:13)
3. The Church is the body of Jesus Christ and therefore should do things according to His will and plan should grow spiritually and numerically as God wills (Colossians 1:18; Matthew 28:19-20; 1 Corinthians 3:7)
4. The Church will depend on the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit as it studies His words and fulfills its biblical mandate (John 14:26; Matthew 28:19-20)
5. The Church is united in Christ Jesus, and every member should make every effort to maintain such unity. (John 17:22-23; Ephesians 4:3)
6. The Church will live by His word alone, and should make His word the supreme authority over all its affairs and decisions (Matthew 4:4; Timothy 3:16-17)
7. The Church exists to exalt the Lord, equip the saints, evangelize the lost, and make disciples for Christ Jesus. (1 Corinthians 10:31; Ephesians 4:11-16; Acts 1:8;) Matthew 28:19-20)
8. The Church ministry of worship is to exalt God by living a holy life, giving praise and thanksgiving, singing and making melody, and participating in the biblical ordinances such as baptism and communion. (Colossians 3:17; Hebrews 13:15; Ephesians 5:19; Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-24)
9. Each member of the Church who has genuinely accepted Jesus Christ as his/her Lord and Savior is a disciple of Jesus Christ, and is therefore expected to obey everything that He has taught in His words. (John 15:20; Matthew 28:19-20)
10. The Church’s ministry of fellowship will be sharing together by encouraging one another, counselling, disciplining, giving, and helping. (Hebrews 10:24-25; 1 Thessalonians 5:14; Galatians 6:1-4; 1 John 3:16-17)
11. Prayer is the lifeline of the Church, and every member should not neglect it. (Ephesians 6:18; Acts 2:42)
12. The Church’s ministry of prayer will be calling on the Lord by confession, adoration, and intercession. (1 John 1:9; Ephesians 3:20-21; Philippians 4:6-7)
✨ STATEMENT OF FAITH ✨
1. The Holy Scriptures: We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the verbally inspired Word of God in its entirety, 66 books composing of the old and New Testaments, the final authority for faith and life, without error in the original writings and infallible (2 Timothy 3:16-17; Matthew 5:18; 2 Peter 1:20-21; John 16:12-13).
2. The Triune God: We believe in one triune God, eternally existing in three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit co-external in being co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory and having the same attributes and perfections (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Corinthians 13:14)
3. God the Son:
• We believe that the eternal son of God became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He, the Lord Jesus Christ, might reveal God and redeem the sinful men (John 1:1-2, 14; Luke 1:35; Isaiah 9:6-7)
• We believe that he accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice; and that our justification is made sure by His literal physical resurrection from the dead (Romans 3:24-25; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 2:24)
• We believe that He ascended to heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, he fulfils the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate (acts 1:9-11; Hebrews 7:25, 9:24; Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1-2)
• We believe in the literal, physical, and personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ to establish the Messianic Kingdom on earth for 1,000 years in fulfillment of the promises to Israel; and that before this he will come for His bride the Church, the dead in Christ to be resurrected and those alive to be translated into the glorified state (Kingdom – Isaiah 11:1-6, 32:1-20; 65:17-25; Psalms 2:6-9; 72; 2 Samuel 7:12-16; Jeremiah 31:38-40; 33:15 Daniel 7:13-14; Micah 4:1-8; Zechariah 9:10; 14:9-11; Luke 1:31-33; Matthew 19:28; Acts 15:15-17; Church – John 14:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 4:13-17, 5:9-10; Revelation 3:10).
4. God the Holy Spirit: We believe that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, though Omnipresent from all eternity, took up His abode in the world in a special sense on the day of Pentecost according to the divine promise, dwells in every believer, and by His baptism which occurs at conversion unites all believers to Christ in one body, and He, as the Indwelling One, is the source of all power and all acceptable worship and service to God (John 14:16-17; 16:7-15; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 12:12-13)
5. Man: We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and that man is totally depraved and thus of himself utterly unable to remedy his lost condition (Genesis 1:26-27; Ephesians 2:1-3; Romans 3:22-23, 5:12)
6. Salvation: The Full Work:
• We believe that it is absolutely essential for man to be born again, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, in which he is no longer conformed to the world system but redirected to the things of the Spirit, in order to be saved, and that the only way to salvation is to turn in genuine faith from the heart to Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Saviour (John 3:3-5; Titus 3:5-7; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ezekiel 36:25-27; 2 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Peter 1:23; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5; John 1:12-13; Romans 10:9-10)
• We believe in the necessity of the empowering by the Holy Spirit (also called baptism in the Holy Spirit, used here in a stricter sense) for service with the usual, though not necessary, evidence of speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. This second work of the Holy Spirit (also involving other gifts) is distinct from His indwelling at the same time of regeneration although both occur at the same time (Matthew 3:11; John 20-21-23; Acts 1:18; 2:4; 8:12-17; 19:1-7)
• We believe in the necessity for continual infilling of the Holy Spirit, the further work of the Holy Spirit, for continual victorious living and for fresh charge of power appropriate to the diverse challenges of our walk to perfect conformity with the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 4:8-12, 31; Ephesians 5:18; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 8:14, 29-30)
7. The Church:
• We believe that the Church, which is the body and espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of born again persons, not any specific organization (Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:25-27; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; 2 Corinthians 11:2)
• We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament (Acts 14:27; 20:17; 20:28-32; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11)
• We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has left two ordinances to be observed by the Church in commemoration of His person and work. The one is baptism by immersion in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The other is the partaking of the Lord’s supper (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41; 2:46; 16:33; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32)
• We believe that the true members of the body of Christ, the Church, can rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s word and will exhibit in their lives the character of Christlikeness, such as righteousness, holiness, and love (1 John 5:11-13; Romans 8:15-16; Titus 2:11-14; Matthew 7:20-23; John 13:35; 1 John 2:5-6, 3:14; Ephesians 2:8-10; James 2:17, 26; Galatians 5:22-23)
• We believe in the operation of the gifts of the Spirit in the Church for the edification of the body and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 16:17-18; John 14:12-14; 1 Corinthians 12:14; Romans 12:4-8; Ephesians 4:7-13)
• We believe that the True Church of Jesus Christ is the One Church of history, begun in Pentecost and different from Israel, related not by organizational ties but by a vital life in the Spirit founded upon the basic doctrinal faith of the apostles continued through the ages by the superintendence of God. There is one Father, one Lord, one Lord, one Spirit, one faith, one body, one baptism, and one hope of calling (Ephesians 4:1-16; Acts 2:41; Galatians 1:8-9; Jude)
8. The Resurrection: We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46; John 5:28-29, 11:25-26; Revelation 20:6,13)
9. The Great Commission: We believe that it is the obligation of the saved to witness by life and by word to the truths of the Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all mankind (Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20; 1 Peter 2:9-10; Matthew 28:18-20)
