Plainly Wyspa Odnowa · Nowa Sól
What we
actually
believe
In plain words, without terms you would have to look up. You do not have to agree with any of it to come and listen.
We are a congregation of the Pentecostal Church in the Republic of Poland and we share its confession of faith. Below we describe it in our own words. The full official text is at kz.pl.
The Bible
We believe the Scriptures, Old and New Testament, are the inspired Word of God and the highest measure of faith and life. Which means that when the Bible says something different from us, we are the ones who are wrong.
God
We believe in one God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Not three gods, and not three names for one person. It is a mystery we cannot fully explain, and we do not pretend we can.
Jesus
We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, was born of the virgin Mary, died on the cross for the sins of people, rose on the third day and is alive. This is the centre of everything we believe. Without it the rest does not matter.
Salvation
We believe nobody can earn forgiveness. It comes by grace, through faith in Jesus. There is no checklist of conditions and no threshold of good deeds above which God starts listening.
Baptism
We baptise by immersion in water, and only people who decide for themselves, consciously. We do not baptise infants; instead we bless children and pray for them.
The Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit works today as he worked in the first church, and that the gifts the New Testament describes have not expired. That is where the word Pentecostal comes from. In practice it means someone at a service may pray in a way you have not seen before. Nobody will expect it of you.
The church
The church is people, not a building. The house on Wyspianskiego is only where we meet.
What is ahead
We believe Jesus will return, that there will be resurrection and judgement, and that life does not end at death. We do not know dates and we do not spend time calculating them.