What We Believe

The following are the core beliefs of IGM (Ibom Global Missions) based on the foundational truths taught in the bible. All of our teaching and ministry is rooted in and flows out of these biblical doctrines.

We believe that the scripture is the Word of God put in written form. The first was by God himself in giving of the Ten Commandment (Exod. 31:18, 32:16, 34:1, 28). Further writings were done by other holy men like Moses (Deut. 31:9-13, Deut. 31:24-26), Joshua (Josh. 24:26, Isa. 30:8), Jeremiah (Jer. 30:2, Jer. 36:2-4, 27-31; 51:60), Paul (I Cori. 14:37, 2 Pet. 3:2) and many more other holy men as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21). The ultimate author of the scripture is God Himself, but He allows inspired men to express it in their own language and style. We believe that the authority of the scripture means that all the words in the scripture are God’s word (2 Tim. 3:16, 1 kings 14:18, Zech. 7:7, Matt. 1:22, Acts 2:16-17). Therefore, to disbelieve or disobey any of the words in the scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God. We believe that the inerrancy of the scripture means that the scripture in the original manuscript is without error. Since God is the author of the scripture (2 Tim. 3:16) and God cannot lie (2 Sam. 7:28, Titus 1:2, Heb. 6:18), therefore all words in the scripture are completely true and without error of any kind (Num. 23:19, Psa. 12:6; 119:89, 96, Matt. 24:35).

We believe in the clarity of the scripture in that the meaning of the text can be clear to the ordinary reader when approached in faith and with humility even if they meet particular points of difficulty here and there. We must state that not all part of the scripture is able to be understood easily because of our sin nature (2 Pet. 3:15-16) but the scripture is said to be in such a way that the simple can understand it and be made wise by it (Psa. 19:7; 119:130). Thus, the clarity of scripture means that the scripture is written in such a way that its teachings are able to be understood by all who read it seeking God’s help and being willing to follow it. We believe that the bible is very necessary for knowing the gospel, for maintaining spiritual life and for knowing God’s will. Salvation comes only through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:13-17; John 3:16; Acts 4:12; 1 Tim. 2:5-6) as clearly stated in the scripture. The scripture is also necessary for maintaining spiritual life (Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4; Deut. 32:47; 1 Pet. 2:2). God has not revealed everything to us, but He has revealed enough for us to know His will through the scripture (Deut. 29:29; 2 Tim. 3:16) so that we can meditate and walk on them (Psa. 1:1; 119:1). We believe that the scripture is sufficient in that it contains all the words of God he intended for his people to have at each stage of the redemptive history, and that it now contains all the word of God we need for salvation (2 Tim. 3:15; Jam. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23), for trusting him perfectly and for obeying him perfectly (2 Tim. 3:16-17, Psa. 119:1).

We believe in the Trinity which is that God eternally exist as three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God. This is partially revealed in the Old Testament at creation (Gen.1:2-3, 26; 3:22; Psa. 45:6-7; Psa. 110:1; Isa 61:1, 63:10; Mal 3:1-2). There is a more complete revelation of the Trinity in the New Testament (Matt. 3:16-17, 28:19; 1 Cor. 12:4-6; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6). We can summarize the Trinity as: God is three persons (John 1:1-2, 17:24; John 14:26; Rom. 8:27; John 16:7); each person in the trinity is fully God (John 1:1-4; John 20:27-28, Phi. 2:5-6; Acts 5:3-4; 1 Cor. 3:16); and there is one God (Deut. 6:4-5; Isa. 45:5-6; 1 Tim. 2:5; Rom. 3:30).

We believe that God the Father has revealed himself to us to be known in our hearts (Rom. 1:19) and ultimately through Jesus Christ (Matt. 11:27; Heb. 1:3; John 14:7-9). This kind of knowledge of God is not found through human wisdom (1 Cor. 1:21, 2:14, 4:3-4; John1:18). However, we can never fully understand God because we are finite and limited and He is infinite (Psa. 145:3, 147:5, 139:6; Isa. 55:9; Job 26:14). This is refreshing to know that we can never finish knowing God and there is so much to discover about Him. Even though we cannot exhaustively know God, we can know true things about God. We can know that God is love (1 John 4:8), that God is light (1 John1:5), that God is Spirit (John 4:24), that God is righteous (Rom. 3:26) and so on.

We believe that God created the universe and He made it out of nothing through His spoken word (Gen. 1:1-3; Psa. 33:6,9; John 1:3; Heb. 11:3). He created both the visible planet and the invisible forces (Col. 1:16); the heavens and the earth, the seas and everything in them (Rev. 4:11; Acts 14:15). We also believe that God created Adam in a very special and personal way unlike other creations (Gen. 2:7; 21-22) and that the Son and Holy Spirit were involved in the creation (Gen. 1:1-3; John 1:3; Col. 1:16; Job 33:4; Psa. 104:30). We also believe that God created the universe in six days and rested on the seventh day (Gen 2:2-3; Exod. 20:8-11).

We believe that God in eternity past, in the counsel of His own will, ordained everything that will happen; yet in no sense is God the author of sin; nor is human responsibility removed (Gen. 50:20, 45:5; Psa. 103:19; 66:7; Pro. 21:1; Matt. 5:45; Gal. 1:15). We believe that divine providence is the means by and through which God governs all things in the universe (Heb 1:3; Col 1:17, Acts 17:28). We believe that God sometimes works directly to accomplish His will through supernatural means called miracles. A typical example is the conversion of Paul on his way to Damascus (Acts 9). These are events that are contrary to the normal causes of nature where God directly intervenes. We believe that God is still doing miracles in our generation. (Pro. 16:9; Matt. 11:4-5; Luke 4:36-41; John 4:45; Acts 12:5-7).

We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God from the beginning (John 1:1; Rom. 9:5; Heb. 1:8; 2 Pet. 1:1) and fully man (Luke 1:35, Gen. 3:15; Gal 4:4-5; Luke 2:7) in one person and will be so forever (Heb. 13:8). Thus, we believe that incarnation is the act of God the Son whereby He took to Himself a human nature (Phi. 2:5-8). We believe that Jesus lived on earth bodily as outlined by the life and ministry of Jesus Christ in the Gospels (the whole books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John); died on the cross to pay for our sins (Rom. 5:8; 2 Cor. 5:21; Isa. 53:21) and resurrected on the third day (Matt. 28:1-20; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-53; John 20:1-21:25). He is now seated at the right hand of the Father (Heb. 12:2). We believe that Jesus died on the cross and paid for our sins; a concept mostly referred to as atonement (John 3:16; Rom. 3:25). Through this, He brought salvation to mankind through the shedding of His blood (Heb. 2:17, 9:23, 25-26, 10:4).

We believe that The Holy Spirit is the third person in the Trinity, and He is fully God (Matt. 3:16-17, 28:19; 1 Cor. 12:4-6; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6; Acts 5:3-4). There are so many works of the Holy Spirit and some of them are: He gives life (Psa. 104:30; Job 34:14-15; John 3:6-7, 6:63; 2 Cor. 3:6); He gives power for service (Deut. 34:9; Matt. 3:16; Luke 4:14; Acts 1:8; 4:8); He convicts the world of sin and righteousness and brings purification (John 16:8-11; Acts 7:51); He directs God’s people (Matt. 4:1; Acts 8:29; 13:2; Rom. 8:14); He gives assurance (Rom. 8:16; 1 John 3:24); He teaches (John 14:26; 16:13; Luke 12:12). We believe that in regeneration, God imparts new spiritual life to us through His Holy Spirit; an act commonly called to be ‘Born Again’ (John 3:3-8; 1:13; Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13). We believe that the nine fruit of the Holy Spirit listed in Gal. 5:22-23 is an evidence of the Holy Spirit in us. It is a singular fruit and can be manifested in every believer as we yield to the Holy Spirit in our lives. We also believe that spiritual gifts (any ability that is empowered by the Holy Spirit and used in any ministry of the church) have been given to every believer to equip the church for works of ministry and that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still at work in the Church today (1 Cor. 1:7; 12: 8-10, 28; Rom. 12:6-8; Eph. 4:11).

We believe that God created man (male and female) in His own image (Gen. 1:27, 5:2). God made us for His own glory (Isa. 43:7; Eph. 1:11-12; 1 Cor. 10:31). He created us to be like Him and to represent Him (Gen. 1:26; 9:6; Jam. 3:9). God made man to have the freedom to choose (Gen. 2:15-17, 3:1-3; Deut. 30:19). We believe that Man disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3) which we typically call ‘The Fall’. The fall brought sin into the world (Rom. 5:12, 13-14, 18-19) and we are counted guilty because of Adam’s sin (Rom. 5:12-21) and we have inherited corruption, a sinful nature because of Adam’s sin (Psa. 51:5, 58:3; Eph. 2:3). Ultimately, the fall separated us from God and brought death to mankind (Gen. 2:17). We believe that God created man and woman as unique biological persons made to complete each other in marriage. We believe that God created the institution of marriage between one man and one woman in holy matrimony. We believe that marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female. (Gen. 2:24; Mat. 19:5-6; Mar. 10:6-9; Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Cor. 6:9.)

We believe that salvation in only through the finish work of Jesus Christ. We believe that predestination is an act of God before creation in which He chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merits in them, but only because of His sovereign good pleasure (Acts 13:48; Rom. 8:28-30; 9:11-13; Eph. 1:12; 1 Thess. 1:4-5; 2 Thess. 5:21). We also believe that adoption is an act of God whereby He makes us members of His family (John 1:12; Rom. 8:14-17, 23; Gal. 3:23-26, 4:4-7). We believe that repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere desire to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ while saving faith is when we trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God (Acts 20:21; 2 Cor. 7:9-10; Isa. 55:6-7; John 3:16, 1:12).

We believe that justification is an instantaneous legal act of God in which he thinks of our sins as forgiven and Jesus Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us and declares us to be righteous in His sight (Rom. 8:30; 3:26; 5:1; Gal. 2:16) while sanctification is a progressive work of God and man that makes more and more free from sin and more and more like Jesus Christ in our live (1 Cor. 6:11; Acts 20:32; 2 Cor. 3:18; Col 3:10). We believe that perseverance of the saints means that all those who are truly born again will be kept by God’s power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives, and only those who persevere until the end have been truly born again (John 6:38-40; 10:27-29; 3:36; Rom. 8:1; Eph. 1:13-14; Phil. 1:6; John 8:31-32; Matt. 10:22; Col. 1:22-23) while glorification is the final stage of redemption when believers will receive perfect resurrected bodies at His second coming (Rom. 8:23-24; 8:17,30; 1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Thess. 4:14-17; John 6:39-40).

We believe that the church is the community of all true believers for all time (Eph. 5:25; 1:22-23). We believe that Jesus is building the Church himself and the Church is His (Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:47). We believe that Jesus is the head of the Church, and He knows those who are His (Eph. 5:23; 2 Tim. 2:19). There are three primary missions of the Church, and they are: corporate worship of God (Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:16-19); nurture fellow believers (Col. 1:28; Eph. 4:12-13); and evangelize the world (Matt. 28:19; Acts 11:29) and every believer is encouraged to be part of local church (Acts 2:42-47; Heb. 10:25). We believe that there is a close connection between the church and the kingdom of God. As people get born again, they become heirs of the kingdom (Rom. 8:17) and part of the universal church, the body of Christ (Eph. 5:23). The kingdom speaks to the reign of a King (God) and we the church will be used by God to make His will be done on earth as it is in heaven in every sphere of life (Matt. 6:9-10) and eventually Jesus will return, and his reign will extend over every creation and other world religions; and they will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord (1 Cor. 15:24-28; Phil. 2:10-11).

We believe that baptism is appropriately administered by the local Church to only to those who give a believable profession of faith in Jesus Christ. This is what we call believer’s baptism, and it should be done by immersion (Mark 1:5, 10; John 3:23; Acts 8:36-39; Rom. 6:3-4; Col. 2:12; Acts 2:41; 8:12; 16:14-15). We also believe that the Lord’s Supper is an ordinance that should be observed by believers on regular basis as a sign of continuing fellowship with Jesus Christ (Matt. 26:26-29; 1 Cor. 11:23).

We believe that there will be a sudden, personal, visible and bodily return of Jesus Christ to the earth (Matt. 24:44; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; 1 Thess. 4:16; Heb. 9:28; James 5:8; 2 Pet. 3:10; 1 John 3:2; Rev. 1:7, 22:20). Nobody knows when He will return and as believers, we should eagerly await His return (Matt. 25:13; Mark 13:32-33; Phil. 3:20; 1 Cor. 16:22; Rev. 22:20; Titus 2:12-13). We believe that there will be a great final judgment of believers and unbelievers as we stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ in resurrected bodies and hear Him proclaim the eternal destiny (Rev. 20:11-15; Acts 17:30-31; Rom. 2:5; Matt. 10:15; 11:22, 24; Heb. 6:2; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). We also believe that it is appointed to every man once to die and after that judgment and at the return of Jesus the dead will be raised to life with a resurrected body and the living believer will be transformed as well with glorified body (Heb. 9:27; 1 Cor. 15:51-56; John 11:24; Heb. 11:35; Luke 23:43). We believe that after the final judgment, believers will enter into full enjoyment of life in the presence of God forever (Matt. 25:34; Rev. 22:3) and there will be new heaven and new earth (a physical place and not a state of the mind) and we will live with God there (Isa. 65:17; 66:22; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1-2). Hell is a place of eternal conscious punishment for the wicked including the devil and his demons (Matt. 25:30, 41, 46; Mark 9:43, 48; Luke 16:22-24; Rev. 14:9-11; 19:3; 20:10).