Aims, Beliefs and Working Principles

As the Scripture Union family throughout the world, we accept and proclaim the historic truths of the Christian faith, including the following:

We hold that the Lord our God is one,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and that He fulfils his sovereign purposes – in creation, revelation, redemption, judgement, and the coming of his kingdom -by calling out from the world a people united to himself and to each other in love.

We acknowledge that though God made us
in his own likeness and image, conferring on us dignity and worth and enabling us to respond to himself, we now are members of a fallen race; we have sinned and come short of his glory.

We believe that the Father
has shown us his holy love in giving Jesus Christ, his only Son, for us, while through our sinfulness and guilt, we were subject to his wrath and condemnation; and has shown his grace by putting sinners right with himself when they place their trust in his Son.

We confess Jesus Christ
as Lord and God;
as truly human, born of the virgin Mary;
as servant, sinless, full of grace and truth;
as our only Mediator and Saviour, dying on the cross in our place, representing us to God, redeeming us from the grip, guilt and punishment of sin;
as Victor over Satan and all his forces, rising from death with a glorious body, being taken up to be with his Father, one day returning personally in glory and judgement to establish his kingdom.

We believe in the Holy Spirit
who convicts the world of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness and judgement;
who makes the death of Christ effective to sinners, declaring that they must now turn to Christ in repentance, and directing their trust towards the Lord Jesus Christ;
who through the new birth makes us partake in the life of the risen Christ, and
who is present within all believers, illuminating their minds to grasp the truth of Scripture, producing in them his fruit, granting to them his gifts, and empowering them for service in the world.

The Scriptures
We believe that the Old and New Testament Scriptures are God-breathed, since their writers spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit; hence are fully trustworthy in all that they affirm; and
are our highest authority for faith and life.

The Church and its Mission
We recognise the Church
as the body of Christ held together and growing up in him; both as a total fellowship throughout the world, and as the local congregation in which believers gather.
We acknowledge the commission of Christ
to proclaim the Good News to all people, making them disciples, and teaching them to obey him.

We acknowledge the command of Christ
to love our neighbours, resulting in service to the church and society, in seeking reconciliation for all with God and their fellows, in proclaiming liberty from every kind of oppression; and
in spreading Christ’s justice in an unjust world…until he comes again.