The Holy Bible is God’s revelation to us. It was fully inspired by God, was written by Men and is without error. It is the truth and standard by which we are to live and one day be judged (Proverbs 30:5-6; Romans 2:12-16; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:21).
There is only one living and true God and He has eternally revealed Himself as Trinity -Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18). He has distinct personal attributes, but is without division of nature, essence or being. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience (Psalm 83:18; Romans 1:20; Ephesians 4:4-6; Revelation 4:11).
Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, lived a perfect life, died on the cross as payment for our sins, rose from the dead three days later, ascended to heaven, and will return to fulfill His redemptive mission (Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8).
Salvation is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It is an experience by which a person allows Christ to take control of his or her life and trusts in Jesus alone for the forgiveness of sin and provision of eternal life (Romans 3:23, 10:9-10). By placing your faith in Christ, you can be saved from eternal condemnation and you are promised a full and eternal life with Him (Romans 6:23). At salvation, you receive the Holy Spirit in your life to help you live the life He desires.
GOD
There is one God, who exists eternally in three distinct but equal persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God is unchangeable in his holiness, justice, wisdom and love. He is the almighty Creator, Savior and Judge who sustains and governs all things according to his sovereign will for his own glory.
The BIBLE
God has revealed himself in the Bible, which consists of the Old and New Testaments alone. 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.
THE HUMAN CONDITION
People are made in the spiritual image of God and are the supreme object of God’s creation and God’s love. As a result of the fall of our first parents, every aspect of human nature has been corrupted and all men and women are guilty sinners separated from God. Every person is therefore under the just condemnation of God. Only through personal repentance of sin and a faith commitment to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord can they be forgiven, “saved,” made sons and daughters of God and inherit eternal life in His presence.
JESUS CHRIST
Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is co-equal with the Father. In the flesh, He was both human and divine. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people by dying on a cross. He arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death and His authority to give eternal life to all who will repent and receive Him by faith as Savior and Lord. He ascended to Heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our King, High Priest and Advocate.
SALVATION
Salvation is entirely a work of God’s grace and cannot be earned or deserved. God has graciously provided salvation through Jesus Christ who died on the cross as our substitute in payment for our sin. All who place their faith in Jesus Christ have their sin forgiven; they are justified in God’s sight and saved from their fallen condition by God’s grace alone. They are, thus, reconciled with God and granted eternal life with Him. They have become a “new creation” and will live forever in God’s Kingdom.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is co-equal with the Father and Jesus Christ. In all that He does the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He is present in the world to convince people of their need for the Savior and to draw them to Him. He brings believers from spiritual death to spiritual life guaranteed for eternity. He also lives in every Christian from the moment he/she receives Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. He provides the Christian with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth and guidance in doing what is right in order to become like Christ (called sanctification). As Christians, we seek to live daily under His control.
THE CHURCH
The universal Church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The universal church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances: Baptism is a symbol of union with Christ and is used to signify the entry into his Church but it does not the means of salvation. The Lord’s Supper is a commemoration of Christ’s sacrifice offered once for all. The purposes of the local church are worship, instruction, fellowship, evangelism, discipleship and ministry to the community and missions abroad.
CHRIST’S RETURN and ETERNITY
We believe in the personal, bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will return to earth to complete the establishment of God’s eternal reign over all creation, after which he will renew both heaven and earth according to his great design. People are created to exist forever. We will either exist eternally separated from God by sin or eternally in fellowship with and in the presence of God through forgiveness and salvation.
Our churches follow the teaching of the Holy Bible. Through prayer and the leading of the Holy Spirit, our Head Pastor works with the Leadership team to recruit those individuals who are called into “Kingdom service.” Prerequisites include adherence to 1 Timothy 3:2-7.
While God is our first and foremost love, we understand that He appoints those to rule under His sovereignty here on Earth.
As such, and as a church in France, we adhere to the French administration by following the formalities under the law, including taking minutes, having church members vote at an annual meeting for the leaders proposed by the Leadership Team.
These churches are not ours. They are God’s and His alone. He raised up leaders to steward them and help care for his sheep.
Each church has a number of different leadership roles, all ultimately reporting back to the Leadership teams at either the Nice or Saint Paul churches respectively. Pastor James Arnold, the Head Pastor, is the President of these teams.
In the interest of safety for our little ones, who are God’s precious gift to us, we do enforce rules for children.
James Arnold – Head Pastor and President
James is the pastor for the church in Nice and St Paul. James and his wife Jen with their five kids moved to the Côte d’Azur in 2008 and if you are in the neighborhood (Nice or Saint Paul) they would love to meet you and welcome you into the area. They have come from Denton, Texas where James was the Missions Pastor at Denton Bible Church for 15 years and also the teaching Pastor at Grace Bible Church, one of the nearby church plants in Sanger Texas.
Dave Stevenson – Secretary
Dave arrived in the South of France from Northern Ireland in 2011. He was being obedient to a call from God to come and serve with Pastor James and the two International churches on the Cote D’Azur. He had spent time in the teaching profession early on his working life before looking at the options to serve others through the hospitality industry. Consequently he worked in 5 star and 4 star hotels in Ireland before obeying the call to come to France. Since then his roles have been primarily in serving and hospitality. For 10 years he served as Treasurer of the church before taking a much needed break. His passion is to see people growing in their faith and he has a strong passion now for teaching God’s Word and discipling younger believers. But most of all his desire is to serve. He started his own ministry just two years ago called Barnabas Gloves which seeks to meet people’s need as a Ministry of Helps. Now he seeks to serve in the church in the same way.
Doug Neihart – Treasurer
Doug and his wife Mo arrived in France, just in time for Covid lockdown. This American couple loves spending their time in God’s word, hiking, and traveling. Having lived in Asia for a decade, they bring strong ex-pat experience.
John Paul Mokski
John Paul and his wife Véronique arrived in Nice in 2020 after spending 6 years in Berlin. They love life in the south of France! Being from two different cultures, they raised an international son. Both love to learn, travel, hike and enjoy good food and friends.