BIBLE-BASED, GOSPEL-CENTRED, SPIRIT-LED
Cornerstone is a multi-cultural community of Christ-followers and seekers from 55 nations. A member congregation of The Evangelical Church (TEC) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Cornerstone partners internationally with New Covenant Ministries International (NCMI). Our weekly worship meeting is a vibrant celebration of the good news of Jesus. Newcomers are always welcome. If you are looking for a Bible-based, Holy Spirit-led Christian church in Abu Dhabi, we hope these pages provide a helpful insight into our passion for Christ and authentic Christian community.
Cornerstone is a non-denominational Christian church named after a biblical term for Jesus Christ, the “cornerstone” of the Christian faith. Sometimes people ask us if we are part of another church or grouping of churches called Cornerstone - we aren't. Cornerstone in Abu Dhabi is an autonomous, eldership-led local church that, for accountability, relates to an international network of church planters and leaders - friends with whom we regularly partner in ministry ventures, at home and overseas.
The fellowship that became Cornerstone began life as a house church in Abu Dhabi on September 16, 2005 - an initiative of the leaders of Well Of Life Church in Dubai. Cornerstone was established as a separate local church, with its own identity and eldership structure, on January 4, 2008. In the years since then, as we have grown from church plant to established city church, our name has served as a constant reminder that Jesus is the head of the church and the person around whom all our activities should be structured - we build upwards and outwards in alignment with our cornerstone, with his Word as our plumbline and his Spirit as our guide.
Church life at Cornerstone is best understood through terms such as "community" and "family" rather than "institution" or "organisation". In our desire for authentic Christian community, we value genuine friendships over functional relationships. Above all, through our core activities of worship and mission, we want people to encounter the living God. Our primary motivation in all things is love, summed up by our motto, "To the city, the nation and the world, with love."
In addition to faith-based worship activities, Cornerstone offers life skills training to the wider community in the form of courses on understanding the Christian faith, marriage, marriage preparation, parenting, health and well-being, best business practices, and personal financial management. We work with foreign embassies in the UAE to provide support for their citizens in challenging circumstances. Internationally, through our network of partner churches and recognised organisations, we contribute to humanitarian assistance in crisis-hit areas, as needs arise.
Eldership Team
We believe the purpose of biblical leadership is to facilitate a genuine relationship between God and people so that out of life-transforming encounters with the living God people will engage with him in lifestyles of worship and witness. Biblical leadership should help people know God, understand their identity and destiny in him, and respond to God's calling of them to serve him in a new kind of priesthood - one that consists not only of leaders but of all believers.
So the role of Cornerstone's leadership team is, through the preaching of the gospel of Christ, to introduce people to Jesus and to teach, equip and empower all believers in the practical application of God's Word, so that the good news of Christ is proclaimed through their lives, not only in what they say, but also in what they do. This preparing of God's people for works of service is the essence of biblical discipleship. The resulting dynamic in church life is that over time the barrier between "the pulpit" and "the pew" is broken down, spectators become participants and people who were once audience members are transformed into active players in the advance of God's kingdom through his church.
Statement
Of Faith
Foundational Doctrines
For Fellowship
WE BELIEVE:
...in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in their original writing as fully inspired of God, and accept them as the final authority for faith and life;
...in one God eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
...that the Lord Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and is true God and true man;
...that God created man in his image, that man sinned and thereby incurred the penalty of death, physical and spiritual; and that all human beings inherit a sinful nature, which issues in actual transgression involving personal guilt;
...that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, a substitutionary sacrifice according to the scriptures, and that all who believe and trust in him are justified on the grounds of his shed blood;
...in the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, his ascension into heaven, and his present life as our High Priest and Advocate;
...in the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ;
...in the personality of the Holy Spirit, his regenerating work and abiding presence in the true believer - that the Holy Spirit indwells all true believers and that he has been sent to be the Comforter and Empowerer of the Christian Church, to produce the fruit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to scripture;
...that all who repent of their sin and receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God;
...that all Christians are called to a life of holiness, devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and service to him;
...in the resurrection of both the just and the unjust, the eternal blessedness of the redeemed and the eternal banishment from God of those who have rejected the offer of salvation;
... that the whole company of those who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, been redeemed by him and regenerated by the Holy Spirit, form one true Church, and that the local church on earth should take its character from this concept. Therefore the new birth and personal confession of faith in Christ are essentials of Church membership;
... in the priesthood of all believers;
... that the ascended Christ has given various ministries or ministers to the Church in order to bring all believers to the place of Christian maturity;
... that the Lord Jesus Christ appointed two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's table (Lord's supper, communion), to be observed as acts of obedience and as a perpetual witness to the cardinal facts of the Christian faith; that baptism is the immersion of the believer in water as a confession of identification with Christ in burial and resurrection; and that the Lord's table is partaking of the bread and the cup as symbols of the Saviour's broken body and shed blood, in remembrance of his sacrificial death until his return.
VISION
INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY
We believe God's plans and purposes for Cornerstone go far beyond our Sunday morning meetings and venue. We are a community and a family that is called to be:
An “epistle of Christ” – a letter from Jesus Christ and an expression of his personality (his love, grace, wisdom, power and authority) to the city of Abu Dhabi, the nation of the UAE and the wider world into which our members are called (2 Cor 3:3; Acts 1:8);
A city on a hill and light in the darkness (Matt 5:14-16; Isaiah 62:1);
A house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:7; Mark 11:17);
Read the biblical values that have helped shape the culture of our church.
NCMI
Partnership
New Covenant Ministries International (NCMI) is a trans-local ministry team, with an apostolic heart, that is comprised of men and women who, through partnership, help pastors/elders build their local churches in doing the work of Jesus Christ’s Kingdom in their areas. Cornerstone International relates to NCMI for accountability and partnership.