Foundations of faith

Sola scriptura - only the Scriptures. The Bible is the inspired Word of God, Inerrant divine revelation.

Sola gratia - only by grace we inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

Sola fide - only faith.

Solus Christus - only Christ.

The justification can be received: sola gratia, sola fide, solus Christus.

Only by grace, only by faith, only through Christ.

As for the Scriptures, we recognize the canon of 66 books of the Bible which does not include Apocrypha. We believe that the moral standards set out in the Bible, the ten commandments of the Old Testament, and the love commandment of the New Testament are unchangeable rules for Christians in the modern world.

Our faith is expressed by faith confessions inherited from early Christianity and used by traditional denominations - the Apostles creed, fully accepting its twelve articles. As part of church services on a regular basis we use the Lord's prayer, the words of blessings God gave Moses (Numbers 6:24-26), and the apostolic blessing (2 Corinthians 13:13).

WHAT UNITES US
We believe in one church of Christ or the Body of Christ through all ages. We admit that like a living organism it cannot remain static and completely unchangeable. In order to retain vitality the church must grow and develop by following the leading of the good Shepherd - Lord Jesus. At the same time we should not ignore the overall development of humankind and even though the principles of God remain the same through all eternity the methods He uses today can be different from the ones used in the past.

We completely dissociate ourselves from sectarian statements like "we are the only true followers of Christ". We believe the church of Christ is also beyond the borders of "Prieka Vests" and membership in our church does not guarantee that the person is saved.

We believe that "the true church are all people, here and there in all places of the world from the rising of the sun till sunset who truly believe in Christ, all those who have one Gospel, one Christ, one baptism and sacrament and who are led by one Holy Spirit, even though their ceremonies may differ" - (Catechism of the Catholic Church).

We strictly object to enticing members from another church to our church because we hold that "the existence of Church... is dependent only on true presence of Jesus Christ: ubi Christus, ibi ecclesia! (Where Christ is, Church is!) But Christ is present in His Word... and His sacrament" (Zasse, Hermanis. Kas ir Luterisms?) Therefore our task is to serve God and people in such a way and with such a gift that we have received from God, trying to bring the Gospel message to the people who need it or who previously have not known it.

We believe the teaching that every believer has the opportunity to personally experience the Holy Spirit and His gifts that World Council of Church recognized as truly Christian. But we firmly stand on the above-mentioned principle of sola scriptura which means that every spiritual experience or feeling should be examined in the light of the Scriptures which is the highest authority in testing all spiritual manifestations.

We believe that the greatest miracle is "when an unbeliever becomes a believer or a heretic comes to the truth", that is, when a human being is born from above or passes from death to life which happens when he opens his heart to Christ as His Lord and Savior.

We believe that every believer has the right to receive personal religious experience of God. We consider turning away from sin to God to be the foundational experience in a human's way to God. That experience is not the end of the human life but only a solid foundation for daily walk in faith and obedience to God. Church is an irreplaceable helper in a person's further spiritual growth.

We believe that every Christian is called to be in a "full-time ministry" as a disciple of Jesus and a witness of His salvation. We completely agree to Z. Hermanis who sees Christianity as "a way of life in truth, a life in worship, obedience of faith, and fellowship". (Zasse, Hermanis. Kas ir Luterisms?)

BAPTISM
We do not practice the adult baptism as opposite to the baptism of infants. We just baptize only those persons who are able to and actually have made personal commitment to Christ by faith. We practice baptism by immersion, considering that:

• this was the way the Church practiced it in the early centuries of Christianity;
• this is the basic meaning of the Greek word ‘baptizo' used in the Bible;
• this is the best way to portray the symbolic death to the former life, union with Christ in His death and burial, and resurrection to a new life.

Ro 6:4 For in baptism we were buried with Him in death so that like Christ was raised from the dead by His Father's glory we would also live renewed lives.

THE HOLY COMMUNION
We consider the Holy Communion to be an important sacrament, however, we prefer using the word ‘institution' instead of the word ‘sacrament', thus emphasizing the character of the ritual which is done by Church in obedience to Christ's command.

HOLIDAYS
Like the whole Christian Church we celebrate the holidays of the Church year, for example, three great holidays - Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. Of course, we also conduct our services on the first day of a week - Sunday, in remembrance of the Lord.

WHY FREE CHURCH?
Christian church "Prieka Vests" is a community of Christian people that is grounded in the traditional Christian truths, having revised the insignificant and specific to each denomination rites, have stayed with the significant and meaningful foundation. According to its constitution the church "Prieka Vests" is a democratic church. The reason why we are a free church, unlike hundreds of other churches who are part of a union, denomination or Church, is not because of theological conflicts or differences but due to purely historical circumstances and rapid changes in the society.

The fast change of the state system in Latvia at the end of 1980-ies and the beginning of 1990-ies affected the church, as well. In the context of national and spiritual awakening when part of society was insisting on its rights of the freedom of consciousness and fair dialogue in the matters of their experience and faith, not everyone in society, including church, was ready for the changes. As a result of these events which are shortly described in History of our church new Christian churches were established. Still, regardless the differences which basically relate to changes in outward form, the foundation and contents have remained traditionally Christian.

WHAT ABOUT THE DIFFERENCES?
We believe that worship and serving God includes the whole man as a harmonious personality. That is probably the reason why "an outside opinion" as a characteristic feature of our church (the attention is usually drawn to outward expressions) usually mentions the fact that during worship we do not hide our joy about the Lord but let it freely flow. Thus the human intellect, emotions, and body can join the spirit and will in order to bring glory to Creator harmoniously as a whole personality. At the same time we fully admit and practice that deep spiritual experiences may take place in peace and silence, without outward emotional expressions.