Our statement of faith
Emmanuel Christian School is an evangelical Christian school. Every member of staff subscribes to this statement, and it shapes what is taught and how the school is run.
| 1 | There is one God, who exists eternally in three distinct but equal persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He is the almighty Creator, Saviour and Judge, who sustains everything according to his sovereign will for His own glory. |
| 2 | The Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin and lived a sinless life in obedience to the Father. He died on the cross in the place of sinners, bearing God’s punishment for their sin. He rose from the dead and in His resurrection body ascended to heaven, where He is now exalted as Lord of all. |
| 3 | The Holy Spirit has been sent from heaven to glorify Christ and to apply the work of salvation. He convicts sinners, imparts spiritual life and gives a true understanding of the Scriptures. He indwells each believer, bringing assurance of salvation, producing increasing likeness to Christ and empowering for service and mission. |
| 4 | God has revealed Himself in the Bible. Every word was inspired by God through human authors, so that the Bible as originally given is in its entirety the Word of God, without error and fully reliable in fact and doctrine. The Bible alone speaks with final authority and is always sufficient for all matters of belief and practice. |
| 5 | All men and women, being created in the image of God, have inherent and equal dignity and worth. Their greatest purpose is to love, obey and worship God. As a result of the fall of our first parents, every aspect of human nature has been corrupted and all are without spiritual life, guilty sinners and hostile to God. Everyone is therefore under the just condemnation of God and needs to be born again, forgiven and reconciled to God in order to know Him and please Him. |
| 6 | Salvation is entirely a work of God’s grace and cannot be earned or deserved. It has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ and is offered to all in the Gospel. God in his love forgives sinners whom He calls and regenerates, granting them repentance and faith. All who believe are justified by faith alone, adopted into the family of God and receive eternal life. |
| 7 | The Lord Jesus Christ will return to raise the dead and judge the world in righteousness. The wicked will be sent to eternal punishment and the righteous will be welcomed into a life of eternal joy in fellowship with God. |
What this means day to day
A statement of faith on a website tells you very little on its own. What it looks like in a school is more useful.
- The Bible is taught as true, and taught properly, with attention to what it actually says.
- We hold to the biblical account of creation, and pupils are taught it. They are also taught the scientific theories they will meet at GCSE and beyond, accurately and in full, because a pupil who cannot give a fair account of a view they do not hold has not been educated in it.
- Worship happens daily. It is not performance, and children are not pressured into professions of faith.
- Article 5 is the one that shapes the ordinary school day most. Every child in this building carries inherent and equal dignity because of how they were made, not because of how they behave, how quickly they learn, or how easy they are to teach. That is why a child who has got something badly wrong is still treated with respect while it is put right.
Other faiths, and none
We admit children from families who do not share our beliefs, and they are treated no differently once they are here. Nobody is required to profess faith, and nobody is thought less of for not having it.
From Year 7 pupils study the major world religions. We teach them as their adherents would recognise them, not as caricatures to be knocked down. Pupils should be able to explain what a Muslim, a Hindu or an atheist believes and why they find it convincing. Understanding a view properly is a precondition of disagreeing with it honestly.
If you are considering the school and are not a Christian family, come and talk to us. It is a conversation we have often and are glad to have.
Faith and life in modern Britain
We actively promote the values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. This is not a box we tick alongside our Christian convictions. It follows directly from what we believe about people: if every person carries the image of God, then every person is owed respect, including those who disagree with us profoundly.
Pupils here will meet views that conflict with what they are taught at home and at school. We would rather they met them in a classroom, explained fairly by a teacher who knows them, than for the first time at eighteen with nobody to talk it through with.
Staff and the statement
Every member of staff at Emmanuel, teaching and support alike, is a Christian and subscribes to the statement of faith above. Appointments are made on that basis as well as on professional competence, and the requirement is stated in every advertisement.
This is not incidental to how the school works. A child is as likely to be shaped by the adult who helps them at lunchtime as by the one who teaches them algebra.
All appointments are subject to safer recruitment checks, including an enhanced DBS check.
