Emmanuel Church is evangelical. The word has a long history, but has most simply been defined as ‘a Bible person’ and ‘a gospel person’. We want Emmanuel to be a Bible church and a gospel church.

In describing us as a Bible church, we really talking about how we know what we know as Christians and why we believe what we believe. In The Thirty-nine Articles, which is the basis for the doctrine of the Church of England, the Bible is described as ‘God’s word written’: it’s what God says to us. That’s why it is our ‘supreme authority’, and everything we do as a church is to be measured against what he has told us in the Bible. To quote Christian writer and leader John Stott, ‘we should be ready to modify, or even abandon, any or all of our cherished beliefs if they can be shown to be unbiblical’.

To be a gospel church means holding fast to certain key truths about human nature and salvation, and holding fast to them not for the sake of theological smugness, but because they are ‘good news’ to proclaim to a lost world. At the cross of Christ – the son of God who died in our place, taking the punishment we deserve, and who triumphed over death – God did all that was needed to win our forgiveness and eternal life. We believe that God has placed us here in Bramcote to share this gospel with our neighbours and friends.