Bethany School Faith Statement

BETHANY SCHOOL PHILOSOPHY

Bethany School is a ministry of Bethany Church of Long Beach, California and has been established as an outreach to help families raise their children to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and to help the Christian young person train for service and leadership for their Lord, family, and church community.

We believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God All truth, in every subject, is based upon what Scripture teaches. Bible is taught as a part of our Curriculum. Bible is integrated into every class to help the student see the true relationship between God and everything He has created.

FAITH STATEMENT

We recognize the authority of the Bible as the Word of God. We do not recognize the authority of creeds as issued by men as authoritative and binding, but we do offer in all humility and sincerity the following Statement of Faith.

THE BIBLE

We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as inspired of God and inerrant in the original writings. This means that all facts (theological, doctrinal, historical, numerical, chronological, scientific,etc).that Scripture intends to affirm are exempt from error in whole and in part. The Scriptures are the supreme and final authority in faith and life. By this we mean that the Spirit of God has exerted supernatural influence on all writers and that guarantees the trustworthiness of their canonical writings. (II Timothy 3:16. II Peter 1:21)

GOD

We believe in One God, eternally existing in Three Persons: God the Father; God the Son; and God the Holy spirit; yet being only One God. We believe in God the Father, Creator of heaven and earth, perfect in holiness, infinite in wisdom, and measureless in power. We rejoice that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves and keeps all who trust His Son for salvation.

JESUS CHRIST

We believe in Jesus Christ the second person of the god head, co-equal and co-eternal with God. God's only begotten Son, born of a virgin, sinless in His life: that He died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, as a substitutionary sacrifice, that all who believe in Him are justified on the grounds of His shed blood; that He not only died on the cross for our sins, but that He is now at the right hand of God the Father, acting as our High Priest and our Advocate before the Father; that He is coming again in power and great glory to set up His Millennial Kingdom upon the earth.

HOLY SPIRIT
We believe in the Person of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the God head, co-equal and co-eternal with God, who came from the Father to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and judgment; to regenerate, sanctify, and seal forever those who have been born again through faith in Jesus Christ.

SALVATION

We believe that each individual is born in sin, and therefore, is a sinner by nature, having nothing whereby he might justify himself before God the Father; that each individual must, therefore, accept the death of Jesus Christ on the cross as for themselves, and must ask His forgiveness for their sins; that having accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior they are spiritually born again and are thereafter children of God and members of the family of God for time and eternity.

THE CHURCH

We believe that the church universal is composed of all born again believers, beginning at the day of Pentecost and continuing through the end of this present age, and that in heaven the church universal will be the bride of Christ; that the local church is composed of born again believers who have voluntarily united together for the purpose of worshiping God, ministering to the saints (fellow believers), evangelizing the world, and discipling new believers.

BETHANY SCHOOL DISTINCTIVES

We believe that our distinctives are scripturally sound; (1) the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ as our living Lord and Savior; (2) the supreme authority of the scriptures; (3) the competency of the individual in direct approach to God; (4) the priesthood of all believers; (5) the necessity of a born again church membership; (6) the symbolic ordinance of believers baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper; (7) the autonomy of the local church and its fellowship with other Baptist churches; (8) the separation of Church and State; (9) ultimate authority rests with the congregation which means equal rights to all; (10) a world-wide program of missionary and evangelistic activity in obedience to the command of scripture.

WE BELIEVE THE BIBLE TEACHES:

1. Man was created by God, in His image, in a perfect state. (Gen. 1:27)

2. Man willfully sinned and separated himself from God. (Gen. 3:6; Rom.. 3:23)

3. God, because of His love for man, sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the Cross to pay for the penalty of sin. (Rom. 5:8; I Peter 3)

4. To accept this payment for sin man must confess his sins and accept Christ into his life. (John 1:12; Rom.. 10:13)

5. When man accepts Christ into his life the Holy Spirit indwells him and becomes his spiritual teacher. (Acts 1:8; Eph. 1:13-14)

6. God’s Word is the ultimate authority for the Christian and is the ultimate truth. (II Tim. 3:16)

We also believe that the education process is God-ordained and directly given to the parents. The Christian school is simply an extension of the home and therefore it is vital for the home and school to work together.

The education process is used by the Holy Spirit to bring the student into fellowship with God, to develop a Christian mind set and to train in godly living, so that he can fulfill God’s total purpose for his life. The student must develop a personal relationship with God. spiritually, (I Cor. 2:14-16), mentally (Dan. 1:3-4; Phil 4:7-9), physically (Gen.. 1:26-29; I Cor. 6:13-20), and socially (Romans 12:17-21.) The students must view all truth as God’s truth and integrate and interpret everything from a Biblical perspective. We believe Christian education equips students with skills and knowledge that culminates in practical life applications (wisdom). We strive to give an education that is spiritually, morally, and academically excellent.

Our goal is to develop disciplined, motivated students, empowered by the Holy Spirit to enjoy God and do His will in their life.

OUR MISSION

Believe------In God

Achieve----Academically

Succeed----In Life

ALL students at Bethany School can and will learn

ALL students at Bethany School will read at or above grade level and use
reading and writing as tools for learning in all areas.

ALL activities will be evaluated according to their effect on spiritual growth
and student achievement. Those that are working will be maintained; those that are not will be discontinued.