What we believe

ES is an interdenominational group: that is, we are made up of people from all sorts of church backgrounds, and plenty of people who have no church background at all. What follows is a list of some of the fundamental truths of Christianity as found in the Bible, which we believe, seek to live by and teach. It is known as our Doctrinal Basis, and we share it with over 60 other groups like us around Australia who join together as the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES).

AFES in turn shares the same beliefs with all the member groups of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), which is represented on University campuses in over 140 countries worldwide. This, in a nutshell, is what we believe:

• The divine inspiration and infallibility of Holy Scripture as originally given and its supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
• The unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the Godhead.
• The universal sinfulness and guilt of humanity since the fall, rendering men and women subject to God’s wrath and condemnation.
• The conception of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit and his birth by the Virgin Mary.
• Redemption from the guilt, penalty and power of sin only though the sacrificial death, as our representative and substitute, of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God.
• The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
• The necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit to make the death of Christ effective in the individual sinner, granting him or her repentance towards God, and faith in Jesus Christ.
• The indwelling and work of the Holy Spirit in the believer.
• The expectation of the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Please contact us or come along to one of our meetings if you would like to find out more about these things or ask us why we think they’re so important. People are required to agree with this Doctrinal Basis to become a member of ES.