About Berean
Our Pastor
Peter Berry is the founding and current pastor of Berean Baptist Church. Since c. 2003 he has faithfully preached the Gospel and taught the Bible in Oshawa. His heart is to be among the people sharing the love of Christ with the lost.
Our Mission
- Belonging: to belong and grow together in love as members of God’s family
- Maturity: to enable all believers to grow to become more Christ-like
- Worship: to magnify God in worship through singing
- Service: to equip members to use their gifts and abilities to serve others
- Evangelism: to bring the lost to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through local outreach and foreign missions
“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” – Matthew 22:37-39
“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” – James 1:27
Our Beliefs
The Scriptures
WE BELIEVE in the authority and sufficiency of the Holy Bible, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, as originally written; that it was verbally and plenarily inspired and is the product of Spirit-controlled men, and therefore is infallible and inerrant in all matters of which it speaks.
WE BELIEVE the Bible to be the true centre of Christian unity and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creed, and opinions shall be tried.
2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21
The True God
WE BELIEVE there is one and only true God, infinite Spirit, the Maker and supreme Ruler of Heaven and Earth; inexpressibly glorious in holiness, and worthy of all possible honour, confidence, and love; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in every divine perfection and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.
Exodus 20:2-3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Revelation 4:11
The Lord Jesus Christ
WE BELIEVE in the essential deity, humanity, and the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and that all the Scriptures from first to last centre around Him, His person and work, His sacrificial death upon the cross, bodily resurrection, triumphant ascension and His coming again. He is Saviour of all who believe and is at present the Intercessor of all His people at the right and of the Father and is to be the Judge of all men.
Genesis 1:26; 3:22; 11:6-8; Isaiah 63:8-10; Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 12:29; John 1:1-4; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Hebrews 1:1-3; Revelation 1:4-6.
The Holy Spirit
WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature; that He was active in the creation; that in His relation to the unbelieving world He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled; that He convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; that He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony; that He is the agent in the new birth; that He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies, and helps the believer.
WE BELIEVE that the sign/revelatory gifts of the Holy Spirit have fulfilled their purpose and are not applicable to the work of the Holy Spirit today.
John 14:16-17; Matthew 28:19; Hebrews 9:14; John 14:26; Luke 1:35; Genesis 1:1-3; John 16:8-11; Acts 5:30-32; John 3:5-6; Ephesians 1:13-14; Mark 1:8; John 1:33; Acts 11:16; Luke 24:49; Romans 8:14, 16, 26-27; 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 28-30; 13:8-10; 14:1-40; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Hebrews 2:2-4
Satan, the Devil
WE BELIEVE in the reality and personality of Satan, the Devil; and that he was created by God as an angel but through pride and rebellion became the enemy of his Creator; that he became the unholy god of this age and the ruler of all the powers of darkness and is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the Lake of Fire.
Matthew 4:1-11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 20:10
The Creation
WE BELIEVE the Biblical account of the creation of the physical universe, angels, and humanity; that this account is neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of the direct, immediate creative acts of God without any evolutionary process; that Adam and Eve were created by a direct work of God and not from previously existing forms of life; and that all people are descended from the historical Adam and Eve, first parents of the entire human race.
Genesis 1; 2; Colossians 1:16, 17; John 1:3
Gender & Marriage
WE BELIEVE that our Creator established human gender biologically in fixed, binary categories: male and female. Seeking to confuse or change the God-given distinction of the two genders violates God’s creative design and revealed will.
In light of God’s creative design, WE BELIEVE that the Bible teaches that marriage is the joining of one man and one woman and that sexual intimacy is to be expressed only within the bonds of a Biblically defined marriage. Any other form of marriage or sexual intimacy is immoral and a perversion of God’s gracious will.
Genesis 2:18, 24-25; Matthew 19:4-6; Romans 1:24-29; 7:2; 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20; 7:1-5; Ephesians 5:22-33; Hebrews 13:4
The Fall and Total Depravity of Man
WE BELIEVE man, originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, fell from his high and holy estate through voluntary disobedience, by eating the forbidden fruit, and in consequence, the threatened penalty of death was then and there inflicted, so that he totally lost all spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, and subject to the power of the Devil. The spiritual death of man and the total corruption of human nature has been transmitted to the entire human race, the man Christ Jesus alone excepted; and hence every child of Adam is born into the world with a sinful nature.
Genesis 1:26; 2:17; 6:5; Psalm 14:1-3; 51:5; Isaiah 64:6; Jeremiah 17:9; John 3:6; 5:40; 6:53; Romans 3:12-19; Ephesians 2:1-3; 1 Timothy 5:6; 1 John 3:8.
Salvation
WE BELIEVE that the salvation of sinners is divinely initiated and wholly of grace through the mediatorial offices of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who, by the appointment of the Father, voluntarily took upon Himself our nature, yet without sin, and honoured the divine law by His personal obedience, thus qualifying Himself to be our Saviour; that by the shedding of His blood in His death He fully satisfied the just demands of a holy and righteous God regarding sin; that His sacrifice consisted not in setting us an example by His death as a martyr, but was a voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner’s place, the Just dying for the unjust, Christ the Lord bearing our sins in His own body on the tree; that having risen from the dead He is now enthroned in Heaven, and uniting in His wonderful person the tenderest sympathies with divine perfection, He is in every way qualified to be a suitable, a compassionate, and an all-sufficient Saviour.
WE BELIEVE that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition of salvation. Repentance is a change of mind and purpose toward God prompted by the Holy Spirit and is an integral part of saving faith.
Jonah 2:9; Ephesians 2:8; Acts 15:11; Romans 3:24-25; John 3:16; Matthew 18:11; Philippians 2:7-8; Hebrews 2:14-17; Isaiah 53:4-7; 1 John 4:10; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24