A Church is a gathering together of Christians called through the gospel to be ruled by God’s Word. Gathering together is essential for spiritual growth because when we meet together three vital conversations take place: We meet together to speak to each other and encourage each other in our faith. Secondly, we gather together to speak to God in prayer. Prayer is described in the Bible as the chief exercise of faith. And thirdly, and, most importantly, we gather together to hear God speak to us through the reading and explanation of His Word.

• There is only One Church. This is described in the Bible as the countless millions gathered around God’s throne adoring and worshipping Him. This is sometimes called the Universal Church.
• The Church on earth is a small local representation of that heavenly gathering.
• All Churches that are centred on the gospel of Jesus Christ are part of that heavenly Church.
• Churches are free to come together in associations for mutual support and encouragement but these should never be referred to as a ‘Church’. These associations are just structural arrangements for mutual benefit and are best called denominations.
• Christ Church Umhlanga and Ballito Bible Church are two examples of the local expressions of that Universal Church. Both of these Churches are members of the denomination that is called ‘the Church of England in South Africa’ (C.E.S.A).
• The Gospel Partnership is not a cult and therefore we do not think that we alone have the truth. We happily accept that there are other Churches around us who belong to Jesus Christ which are also true expressions of His Heavenly Church.
• Nevertheless, we are saddened by the lack of Bible teaching in many Churches and make it our aim to keep the Bible at the centre of all we do.
• We are distinctly different from what is generally understood to be ‘Charismatic Christianity’. There is great variation within the Charismatic stream of Christianity and therefore what is said here is unavoidably generalising to some degree. We do not think that the Charismatic Churches are not Christian. We love them as our brothers and sisters in Christ. However, we are not persuaded from the Bible that their emphasis on emotionalism as being a sign of the Spirit is a healthy one. The Bible teaches emphatically that we should not seek any revelation from God that comes in addition to the Bible. Jesus is God's full and final revelation to us and His word taught to us by His apostles needs no supplementing.
• We are also not a “traditional church”. The gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to change although the message that we teach does not. The Church that is ruled by the gospel will always be a changing church. At the same time we have much to learn from faithful Christians who have gone before us. We hold to traditions that are still helpful in our context. We emphasise Church History and regularly teach it in our ‘Doctrine Slots’.
• The Church on earth is a work-in-progress. It is not finished and any Church is a mixture of those who truly know Jesus as Lord and those who only pay lip service to Him. That will always be the case until Jesus returns and, in His own words, ‘separates the dross from the silver’.