Golden City Alliance Fellowship (GCAF) started as a church extension service from City Alliance Church in 1987 led by Pastor Ruben Ang and founding elder Alonzo Chiong along with fifty people. By God’s grace in less than a year, GCAF was commissioned to be a church. We are part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance of the Philippines (CAMACOP), which is known internationally as Christian and Missionary Alliance.
Our Statement of Faith
Article One: The Word of God
The Bible, composed of the Canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, is God’s revelation, and, as originally given, is the fully and verbally inspired Word of God. It is without error in all that it affirms and constitutes the ultimate authority for faith and practice.
Since the Scriptures are the ultimate and decisive standard of faith, all creeds, theological teachings and traditions are subordinate to them.
We believe that God’s intentions are revealed through the Spirit-led authorial intent of the Bible. This authorial intent is the supreme and accurate interpretation by which a believer must strive to understand in order to test all claims about what is true and what is right. (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Article Two: Concerning God
- The One True God. There is only one true and living God, eternal, almighty, unchangeable, holy, faithful, and gracious. He is perfect in his character and in all his ways. As a self-communicating being, he has revealed himself as the sovereign Creator upholder and provider of all things, but above all, as the saving God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
B. The Triune God. The one true God is revealed in the Scriptures as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the three distinctions within the Godhead. These three persons share one divine nature: hence, they are not three gods, but one: co-eternal, co-substantial and co-equal.
Article Three: Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ, who became man, was born of the Virgin Mary. Existing with God the Father, and having become man, he has two natures – the divine and the human, which are inseparably united in one person. Thus, Jesus Christ is true God and also true man.
He suffered and died under Pontius Pilate as a substitutionary sacrifice to provide salvation for mankind. He rose again on the third day, and ascended into heaven where he is now seated at God’s right hand of power, ruling over all things and interceding for us as advocate and High Priest, until He comes again to establish his kingdom upon the earth.
Article Four: The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is a divine person, the executive of the Godhead, the Comforter who indwells, guides and empowers the believer for victorious living and effective service.
He calls and keeps the Church in faith and holiness and convicts the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.
Article Five: Man, Sin and Guilt
By his direct act, God created man in his image and likeness. Created in God’s image, man possesses infinite worth and dignity.
Man is a free moral being, capable of obeying or disobeying God. In the exercise of his freedom, man chose his own selfish way. Thus, he fell into sin and incurred physical and spiritual death, which is a separation from God.
Through the disobedience of the first man, Adam, sin and guilt were transmitted to all his descendants. Thus, all human beings are born with a sinful nature and separated from the life of God.
Nevertheless, after man’s disobedience, God’s image remains in him, though in its distorted form. By virtue of this, man still reflects some degree of truth, beauty and goodness in his art, culture and religion.
Through this corruption (Romans 5:12), man is incapable of being righteous that even his outward religious grandstanding is detestable to God (Isaiah 64:6) because apart from faith no one can please the Him. (Hebrews 11:6)
Article Six: Salvation
Salvation cannot be obtained by means of good works, religious ceremony, or human merit, but only by God’s grace through the redemption of Jesus Christ. It is received by faith in Christ, the only Savior and mediator between sinful man and the holy God.
Upon repentance from sin and the exercise of faith in Christ, the believer is justified in God’s sight, adopted into God’s household, is born again, and united to Christ, through whose merit alone he is accepted before God.
We believe in God’s unconditional election, before the foundation of this world, for those who would come to the saving faith of Jesus Christ. This election is based on His perfect love and foreknowledge of everything that would come to pass. (Romans 8:28-30; 9:11, Ephesians 1:5,11)
Infants and severely handicapped persons with minds incapable of comprehending the gospel may also receive this free gift of God and be saved. (They are exempted from the declaration of Romans 1:19-20. Imbeciles and babies do not have the capacity to put their faith in Jesus.)
We believe that the death and resurrection of Christ which ushers in salvation from sin and death is given to all men but only those who respond shows the evidence of their election from eternity past and as elect will have this God-given capability to irresistibly respond in faith. (John 5:21, 1 Peter 1:3, Colossians 2:13)
We believe that the authenticity of the elect’s faith is evident in their works. The elect may stumble for a season, but the genuineness of their faith will assure perseverance until the end thus ensuring the unconditional and eternal security of their election. (Philippians 1:6, 1 Peter 1:5, John 17:11, Hebrews 7:25)
Article Seven: The Church
The Church is the community of believers from all cultures, tribes, and languages. The universal church transcends all historical, national, cultural, and personal distinctions. The concrete expression of the universal church is a local body of believers through whom, by proclamation and by good deeds, the boundaries of the universal church are extended.
The Church is called to belong to Jesus Christ, to confess and proclaim his Lordship among all peoples. Thus, it is commissioned to:
1. Make disciples of all nations and to integrate the same into local congregations;
2. Proclaim the uniqueness and finality of Christ as mediator between God and man;
3. Manifest God’s sovereign rule through Gospel proclamation and acts of justice,
righteousness, mercy and peace.
We believe in the equality of God’s image and likeness among men and women (Genesis 1:27), yet they are to fulfill different roles within the local church. Men who are spiritually qualified according to scriptures and are called by God, are to be servant leaders having the role of pastor-elder in the ministry of the Word. Women are not to fulfill leadership position over men nor participate in the ministry of preaching and teaching over men. They are encouraged to appropriate their God-given gifts to encourage and edify the body of Christ and share the Gospel. Mature women may take the role of preacher/teacher over other women, youth and kids. (1 Timothy 3:1-12)
The Sacraments. The two sacraments commanded to be observed are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They are the outward signs of God’s invisible grace of forgiveness, new life and grace. Baptism symbolizes the believers’ identification with Christ in his death and resurrection and expresses his resolve to die to sin, and the world and be loyal to Christ his Lord.
The Lord’s Supper is to be observed continually in this age to proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes, keep alive the remembrance of Jesus, and renew the believers’ life through the benefits from the broken body and shed blood of Christ. The one loaf of bread which is broken into pieces is a picture of the unity and diversity within the body of Christ.
(***We use the word ordinance instead of sacrament. The word sacrament is often associated with the Roman Catholic church who defines it as rituals that convey grace. Ordinances is the preferred term because baptism and the Lord’s supper is “ordained” by Christ.)
Article Eight: Sanctification and the Power for Service
The experience of sanctification is the highest point in the believer’s search for a holy and useful life for God, and is wrought after the experience of conversion as the believers consecrates his fully to God’s will. However, he must constantly walk in God’s light, obeying him explicitly so that he may continually experience the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit.
We believe that the Holy Spirit is dwelling within the life of a person during conversion as a seal of the salvation (Ephesians 1:13). Simultaneously, the receiving of the designated spiritual gifts from the Holy Spirit happens for the person’s discovery and honing (1 Corinthians 12:11; 14:26).
- Spiritual gifts mainly function as an edification of the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12)
- Spiritual gifts include the miraculous gifts (tongues, healing, etc.) but every expression of these gifts is to be validated and tested by the authority of the pastors and elders through the lens of God’s word. (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
We believe in the believer’s constant desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit which empowers the believer towards holiness evident in a life characterized by the fruit of the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18-20, Galatians 5:22-23)
Article Nine: Divine Healing and Health
In his mercy, power and sovereign will, God can heal the sick for his glory and for the spiritual benefit of the healed person. There is a close connection between physical, emotional and spiritual health and full obedience to the will of God.
There is also a close relation between forgiveness of sin and the healing of the body. Thus, based on the atoning death of Jesus Christ, the believer can trust God for the healing of his body. The anointing with oil and praying for the sick by the elders of the church, as set forth in the fifth chapter of James, is to be practiced.
Article Ten: Christian Hope and the Life to Come
The Christian hope is founded on the anticipation that God our Father will accomplish his eternal purpose in history and brings all things to their consummation in Christ. In the end, Christ will come personally and visibly to establish God’s rule over all things. He will ultimately overcome evil, death, sorrow and pain.
At his coming, Christ will call believers to eternal life that they may enjoy his presence and reign with him forever. On the other hand, unbelievers will be judged for their sins and suffer everlasting punishment.
This hope, sealed by the Holy Spirit in our hearts, is a holy motive for consecrated living and faithful stewardship of earthly possessions.
Our Vision
“Christ transformed communities where people live righteously, justly, peacefully and abundantly.”
Our Mission
To WIN people from all walks of life to a relationship with Jesus Christ, INTEGRATE them to a WIDER group, DISCIPLE them to Christ-like obedience, EMPOWER them to make disciple makers for people to REJOICE in worship.”
The purpose of our church is summarized in a single sentence based on two key Scriptures: “We believe that a great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission brings present and eternal joy to our lives.”
The Great Commandment:
Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…soul…and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40
The Great Commission:
Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I assure you, I will be with you always to the very end of age.” Matthew 28:19-20
To “Love God with all your heart” is “WORSHIP”
To “Love your neighbor as yourself” is “SERVICE”
To “Go…make disciples” is “EVANGELISM”
To “Baptize…” is to “INCORPORATE INTO FELLOWSHIP”
To “Teach them to obey everything Jesus has commanded” is “DISCIPLESHIP”