About Us
What is Christianity?
The Christian faith is all about Jesus Christ. Because of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done, if we believe in Him and trust in Him as our Saviour, we can have the freedom to live our lives to the full now, and we can have life forever with God.
We believe that God created human beings in His own image. We believe that we are made for more than just survival; God created us to thrive in a beautiful relationship with Him and with others. And because He made us and He loves us, He knows the best way for us to live. But we have rejected him, and all around us we see a broken world, where people suffer, where our world is being damaged, where people hurt each other, and where God is forgotten. But this is not what God wants. And, to put things right, he sent Jesus into the world.
Who is Jesus?
Jesus is the Son of God who became human; God Himself, entering the world as a human being.
He is our Saviour; he has come to heal and save any and every person who will put their trust in Him.
He is our Teacher; he shows us a better way to live, and in the Bible (God’s Word to us) we learn of all the amazing teaching and promises of God.
He is our Friend; Jesus knows us, cares for us, helps us, protects us, and loves us more than words could ever express.
He is our King; in fact he is the King of Kings. When he lived on earth, Jesus proved this by healing people, calming storms – even by raising the dead. By doing these things, the King was giving a glimpse of life in His future Kingdom. A perfect place, with no suffering, fear or death. It’s the world we all long for.
What did Jesus Do?
Jesus came to call humanity back to God and to give us healing and hope. But when he came, many people rejected him, as we still do now. We think we’ll be happier making our own rules and living outside His Kingdom. Jesus called our rejection of God “sin”. Sin damages our lives; it causes great suffering and injustice in the world around us, and it will eventually leave us separated from the joy of being in God’s Kingdom. God won’t let those who reject the King live with Him, so we face what Jesus called hell. An existence without anything good, forever.
People rejected Jesus so violently that they killed Him by nailing Him to a cross. But His death wasn’t a mistake by God – it was a masterstroke. On the cross, Jesus was cut off from God’s friendship and goodness, and He chose to experience hell – all so that we don’t have to. The sinless King died to take our place, to take the punishment that our sins deserve. Jesus did that to open the way for us to come into His Kingdom.
Three days after His execution, His tomb was found to be empty. Over the next few weeks many ate with Jesus. Dozens spoke with Him. Hundreds saw Him. Jesus the King could not be contained by death. He had risen from the dead!
What Does it Mean for Us Today?
Today, right now, Jesus is inviting people to come into His Kingdom. Rather than rejecting Him, we can turn from making our own rules and living outside His Kingdom, and follow Jesus instead.
Jesus tells us to “repent and believe the good news”. Repent means to turn around, to live with Jesus in charge instead of ourselves. Believe means to trust that Jesus has done everything needed to give us a place in His Kingdom.
Living with Jesus as King isn’t always easy. His followers will be rejected, just as He was. But they also live a life of deep security, satisfaction and joy. And we live this life together as part of His Church, where we seek to love God and love our neighbour more and more. It is not always easy, but it is amazing because being a Christian means that now we can know God and His forgiveness, we are helped by Him, and we are looking forward to the day when Jesus the King returns, when he will finally establish his loving Kingdom forever.
Jesus offers all this to anyone who repents and believes.
Will you accept his offer?
What is the Free Church?
We are made up of a wide range of different people, of all ages and from different social and religious backgrounds, with different gifts and abilities, who are followers of Jesus. As we depend on God, we can love Him, love each other, and love everyone around us. Our church communities are for everyone – you will be most welcome whether you are a Christian or not, if you have faith or are searching for answers, feel lost, alone, or are simply inquisitive!
We have a network of around 67 congregations all across Southern Africa and we gather at services every week to worship God, but our Christian faith affects all of our life, not just a Sunday at church.
We believe that the Bible is God’s Word and that it should be central in all that we do. It tells us about Him, about the world in which we live, about ourselves and, most importantly, about the good news of Jesus and how he has come to rescue us from sin and death. Everything from our patterns of worship to our church structures seeks to reflect clear Biblical teaching.
Our mission is not to grow an organisation. Nor is it to become just another club or group within the community. We exist because of Jesus Christ. We want to fulfil his commission to us to “make disciples”. That means we share his message so that men, women, boys and girls would know, love, follow, worship, confess and serve Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. It is the only message that gives life, a life described by Jesus as lived to the full (John 10:10) and eternal (John 17:3).
A Free Church Worship Service
When we meet together for public worship, our services are straightforward – the Bible is very central. We pray and sing to God together as part of our worship. The preaching and teaching is always focused on what God says in the Bible, because we believe it remains a living and active word from God for today.
We love meeting together for our church services because we are part of a community together – we worship, learn, love, forgive, succeed and fail together – with Christ at the centre of our community.
Our aim is to worship and learn more about our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as well as growing more like him in our day-to-day lives.
What Does the Free Church Actually Do?
The central focus of our worship is Jesus, and we seek to proclaim his life, death and resurrection. Because the Bible is the word of God, it has an important place in our lives. At each service, it is read and explained by the minister so that we are better-equipped to be followers of Jesus in our everyday lives, together and apart.
We believe that prayer changes things, and many congregations meet during the week for a time of prayer and Bible study.
We try to share the message of Jesus with everyone and to show his care and compassion in practical ways in our communities and further afield, throughout the world.
Although most of our services take place on a Sunday, there are many activities and small groups taking place throughout the week – these vary from congregation to congregation. Some congregations have cafes, youth groups and other forms of community outreach, and these more informal settings are a great way to get to know others and grow together.
As followers of Jesus, we have given our whole lives to him. He wants to transform us from the inside out so that in our day-to-day lives, we love God first and then love others before ourselves. It means that, with God’s help, we fight against being selfish, greedy, mean, judgmental and every other sin in our hearts, and we want to see a society that is being changed by God’s love and power. We live to serve God in our neighbourhoods, workspaces and communities by serving others, and sharing his values of love, justice and equality.
How is The Free Church Structured?
One of the great needs of our day is the need for connection, for a sense of belonging. As a church we believe that every congregation is responsible for the spread of the good news in its own location, and yet we believe that every local congregation is connected to every other, comprising one church, belonging together. The Free Church expresses that connection in a Presbyterian system. That means that each local congregation is led by a group of elders (the New Testament Greek word for elder is presbyter, hence ‘Presbyterian’), at least one of whom has been trained and given specific responsibilities for teaching and preaching. Together the local elders are known as the Kirk Session. Each local Kirk Session is represented at a regional level at a meeting called the Presbytery, and each Presbytery is represented at a national level at the annual General Assembly. In this way the Free Church seeks to ensure that we share a common vision, are able to offer support, and remain accountable to one another as members together of the Body of Christ, the Church.
What Does The Free Church Teach?
The Free Church of Southern Africa is Aligned with the Free Church of Scotland and our congregations are united in our theological teaching, our evangelistic focus and our desire to serve our God in our local communities. The Bible is central to our teaching. Ever since the earliest days of the church, Christians have laid out their beliefs in brief ‘creeds’ or ’confessions’ in an attempt to summarise essential Christian truths and to guard the church from error. These statements are always secondary to the Bible but they are enormously helpful.
A full summary of our teaching is found in the Westminster Confession of Faith.
Core Beliefs and Ethos
The Free Church of Southern Africa is aligned with the Free Church of Scotland and our congregations are united in our theological teaching, our evangelistic focus and our desire to serve our God in our local communities. The main emphasis of our beliefs can be summarised in the five headings below:
A Bible Church
Perhaps the most obvious feature of the Free Church is the centrality of the Bible in all that we do. The Free Church believes that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Consequently, everything from our patterns of worship to our church structures seeks to reflect clear Biblical teaching. That’s why, for example, in our worship we sing only the truths of the Bible, hear them read, explained, and applied to our lives in a sermon, and pray for God’s promises in the Bible to be fulfilled in our various circumstances.
A Gospel Church
The central focus of the whole Bible is to be found in a person – Jesus Christ. Because the Free Church is a Bible Church it is also a Jesus-centred Church, a Gospel Church. Of course, the Free Church is historic. It traces its roots to 1843 and the struggle of the Scottish church to remain ‘free’ from State interference, beyond that to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, and beyond that again to the Early Church. However, at the heart of the identity of the Free Church of Southern Africa and the Free Church of Scotland is a passion for sharing and living the good news about Jesus Christ – the gospel. So, in all our congregations each Sunday you will hear the same wonderful message explained from the Bible and applied to everyday life: Jesus Christ, both fully God and fully human, came into the world to seek out and rescue lost, sinful men and women, by bearing their guilt and condemnation on his Cross and rising again to life in victory over sin and death and hell. Because of him Christians live transformed lives. It is this message, far more than any historic or cultural distinctive, that defines us. This is what we are about.
A Mission Church
The gospel message is for everyone. Jesus commanded his church to ‘go and make disciples of all nations’ (Matthew 28:19). The Free Church of Southern Africa takes that command seriously and seeks to bring the gospel to every person in Southern Africa, and in partnership with other churches, to the whole world, through:
• The work of over 67 local churches across Southern Africa
• A growing commitment to planting new churches to reach new people
• A far reaching programme of international missionary work in Southern Africa
• A comprehensive summer camp programme for children and young people from across the country and from all backgrounds
• A theological seminary in the heart of Southern Africa, training men and women for gospel work and Christian service in our local congregations and throughout the world.
A Contemporary Church
Another result of being a Bible Church and a Gospel Church is that we are a Contemporary Church. The gospel is a ‘change-agent’, bringing new life and fresh challenges to both the church and our society in every age. That means that while the Free Church continues to prize its heritage and traditions, it also feels compelled to work creatively to bring the good news about Jesus to bear on each generation, convinced that the timeless message of the gospel speaks to your life with up-to-the-minute relevance and power.
A Connected Church
One of the great needs of our day is the need for connection, for a sense of belonging. As a church we believe that every congregation is responsible for the spread of the good news in its own location, and yet we believe that every local congregation is connected to every other, comprising one church, belonging together. The Free Church expresses that connection in a Presbyterian system. That means that each local congregation is led by a group of elders (the New Testament Greek word for elder is presbyter, hence ‘Presbyterian’), at least one of whom has been trained and given specific responsibilities for teaching and preaching. Together the local elders are known as the Kirk Session. Each local Kirk Session is represented at a regional level at a meeting called the Presbytery, and each Presbytery is represented at a national level at the annual General Assembly. In this way the Free Church seeks to ensure that we share a common vision, are able to offer support, and remain accountable to one another as members together of the Body of Christ, the church.
Our mission is not to grow an organisation. Nor is it to become just another club or group within the community. We exist because of Jesus Christ. We want to fulfil his commission to us to ‘make disciples’. That means we share his message so that men, women, boys and girls who would know, love, follow, worship, confess and serve Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. It is the only message that gives life, a life described by Jesus as lived to the full (John 10:10) and eternal (John 17:3).
Westminster Confession of Faith
Ever since the earliest days of the church, Christians have laid out their beliefs in brief ‘creeds’ or ’confessions’ in an attempt to summarise essential Christian truths and to guard the church from error. These statements are always secondary to the Bible but they are enormously helpful. A full summary of our teaching is found in the Westminster Confession of Faith.
How We Worship
Worship in the Free Church features simple Biblical praise.
Some of our churches historically sing unaccompanied Psalms but most have chosen to add Biblical hymns with simple accompaniment.
Singing God’s truth, whether Psalms or other Biblical praise, is a truly enriching experience and is a way of absorbing his Word into our hearts and allowing it to nourish us.
The central focus of our worship is the Lord Jesus Christ who is the “Word made flesh”.
At our services, and indeed in the whole of our lives, we believe that our worship must be guided and helped by the Holy Spirit.
