ActiveChristianity.org by Brunstad Christian Church explores how God’s Word challenges and empowers us to live 100% according to His will, so we no longer need to fall in sin, but can come to a life of victory.
ActiveChristianity.org by Brunstad Christian Church explores how God’s Word challenges and empowers us to live 100% according to His will, so we no longer need to fall in sin, but can come to a life of victory.
Our faith in God’s Word has shaped who we are and what we believe. The Scriptures are not ambiguous when they say that a normal Christian life should be a life of victory over sin, and we believe it! This is absolutely possible by the power of the Holy Spirit. Just listen to what Paul writes to the Romans: “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!” Romans 6:14-15.
In other words, coming to a victorious life is fully possible—and living in sin is completely unnecessary! We can become true disciples of Jesus Christ, who have fulfilled the conditions He set, and now follow Him on the new and living way to eternal life. Is this true? Thousands of people among us can answer with a resounding: YES! Not only do we believe it, but we also experience it personally through the help of the Holy Spirit.
We believe in the Almighty God, in His Son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God and is the sole basis of our faith. The forgiveness of sins, baptism and the Lord’s Supper (communion) are the fundamental elements of our faith. According to God’s Word, we should “bear fruits worthy of repentance” after we have received the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 3:8; Acts 26:20)
We believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that He was born of the virgin Mary, and that He rose from the dead on the third day, as it says in the Bible. The Bible also teaches that Jesus Christ was a man like us, born “of the seed of David.”
In Hebrews 4:15 it says, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Understanding that Jesus denied sin when He was tempted, gives us faith in complete victory over the sin in our own lives.
Jesus overcame in every temptation through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Hebrews 4:15-16) Therefore, we believe that when we also are tempted to do what is wrong in God’s eyes, we can get power to deny ourselves and overcome. (Romans 6:1-2) We believe in victory over all conscious sin, and in spiritual growth and development in all that is good, just as the Bible tells us.
After being converted and receiving the forgiveness of sins, the Bible tells us there is a way to go as disciples in Jesus’ footsteps. This is the way of obedience to the Holy Spirit, leading to transformation and divine nature. (2 Peter 1:4) The Bible calls this process sanctification.
We believe that the spiritual fellowship that grows up between those who live in accordance with the light and guidance in God’s Word, is the church, also called the body of Christ, with Christ as the head. All those who live their lives “crucified with Christ” belong to Him and are a part of this body—regardless of time or place, race, background, culture or tradition. (1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 4:15-16).
We practice baptism of believers, that is, adult baptism. Baptism is “the answer of a good conscience toward God.” 1 Peter 3:21. Baptism doesn’t remove sin, but by being baptized we testify before God and people that we want to live a new life. We enter a covenant, an agreement, with God, that from now on we no longer want to live according to our own will, but live for Him and do His will.
Communion is a gathering where we examine ourselves and remember the great work of salvation that Jesus did for us, and the work that He wants to do in us.
Communion is also a confession. We confess that we share in the same death as Jesus did in our daily lives; death over the sin that lives in our human nature. By sharing one bread we testify that we are all members of one and the same body.
“The Lord Jesus … took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.
“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.” 1 Corinthians 10:16-17.
For more detailed information about Brunstad Christian Church, visit the official website bcc.no.
Johan Oscar Smith was born in Norway in 1871 and is considered the founder of Brunstad Christian Church. While carefully studying the Bible, it became clear to him that the first Christians were gripped of a love for Christ and faith in a life of transformation. This inspired Johan Oscar Smith so that, two thousand years after Jesus’ death, he found the same faith that was in the beginning.
Johan O. Smith dedicated his life to God at the age of 26. From the time Smith began receiving these revelations from God, he began talking with people. He felt that it was imperative for him to share with others what God taught him. His efforts did not produce immediate results; in the religious circles in Norway at the time, there were plenty of charismatic and popular preachers who gathered far more people than the teaching about Christ manifest in the flesh did. Smith was neither interested in holding back the truth in order to draw many people, nor in putting on a great show to attract attention to himself. “God longs for people who will live before His face. There are already plenty of those who live before people,” he wrote to his brother on April 29, 1909.
By 1910 between 50 and 60 people in Eastern and Southern Norway had joined him. This was the start of Brunstad Christian Church. Through Johan O. Smith’s travels in the navy, his teachings took root in many places along Norway’s coast. Today there are churches in about 20 locations throughout Norway.
During the 1930s the church was established in Denmark and Sweden, and by the 1950s the church’s message had spread to most countries in Europe. Since the mid-1960s, there have been established churches throughout Canada and the United States.
The church came to Latin America, Asia and Australasia in the 1970s and to many countries in Africa in the 1980s.
As early as the 1970s the church had a good relationship with underground Christians in many Eastern European countries, but the circumstances made missionary trips there difficult. After the fall of Communism in the early 1990s, however, mission work in Eastern Europe accelerated and the church has gained a solid root in many countries in this area.
The church today has congregations in more than 65 countries on all continents.
“I have not gathered people to myself, but to Christ who is the Head of the church.” Johan O. Smith said this on his 70th birthday, and that remains a unique characteristic of Brunstad Christian Church. Smith realized early on that belonging to religious organizations doesn’t ensure salvation. With the Bible as his foundation, Smith therefore taught that the church is the Body of Christ, where all the members themselves must have a connection with the Head—Jesus Christ—to be saved. When each individual has a personal relationship with the head, they also have unity—fellowship—with each other. Through all these years, our leaders have never tried to build anything centered on themselves, but God has given the church growth.