What We Believe

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." - A.W. Tozer

Core Beliefs

The Scriptures

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

God

There is one and only one living and true God. …The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

God the Father

There is one and only one living and true God. …The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

God the Son

Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. …He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross, He made provision for the redemption of men from sin.

God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. …He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. …He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

Man

Man is the special creation of God, in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. …By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. … The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore every person of every race possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.

Salvation

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification.

Baptism & the Lord's Supper

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water. …It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.
The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members … memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

Stewardship

God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual;
 all that we have and are we owe to Him.
Christians have a spiritual debtorship to the whole world,
a holy trusteeship in the gospel,
and a binding stewardship in their possessions.
They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their
 time, talents, and material possessions.

Family

God has ordained the family as the foundational
 institution of human society. It is composed of
persons related to one another by marriage, blood or adoption.
Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman
 in covenant commitment for a lifetime. …
The husband and wife are of equal worth
 before God, since both are created in God’s image. …
 A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved
the church. He has the God-given responsibility
 to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family.
 A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant
leadership of her husband even as the church willingly
 submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in
 the image of God as is her husband and
thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility
to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in
 managing the household and nurturing the next generation.
Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing
 and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate
to their children God’s pattern for marriage….

God's Purpose of Grace

Election is the gracious purpose of God,
according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies,
 and glorifies sinners. …All true believers endure to the end.
Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified
 by His Spirit will never fall away from the state of grace,
but shall persevere to the end.

The Church

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ
 is an autonomous local congregation of baptized
believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship
 of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ;
governed by His laws; exercising the gifts, rights, and
privileges invested in them by His Word; and seeking to
 extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.
Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ
 through democratic processes. In such a congregation each
 member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord.
Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both
 men and women are gifted for service in the church,
 the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

Evangelism & Missions

It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and every
church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations…
to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness
undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony
 with the gospel of Christ.

The Lord's Day

The first day of the week is the Lord’s Day. …
It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the
 dead and should be employed in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion.

Last Things

God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring
 the world to its appropriate end. …Jesus Christ will return
 personally and visibly…the dead will be raised; and Christ
will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will
be consigned to Hell. …The righteous… will receive their
reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.

Education

Christianity is the faith of enlightenment and intelligence. I
n Jesus Christ abide all the treasures of wisdom
 and knowledge. All sound learning is, therefore, a part
 of our Christian heritage. The new birth opens all
human faculties and creates a thirst for knowledge.
Moreover, the cause of education in the Kingdom of Christ is
co-ordinate with the causes of missions and general benevolence …
In Christian education, there should be a proper balance between
 academic freedom and academic responsibility. …The freedom
of a teacher in a Christian school, college, or seminary is limited
by the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ, by the authoritative nature
 of the Scriptures, and by the distinct purpose for which the school exists.

Cooperation

Christ’s people should … organize such associations and
 conventions as may best secure cooperation for the
great objects of the Kingdom of God. Such organizations
 have no authority over one another or over the churches. …
Cooperation is desirable between the various Christian
denominations, when the end to be attained is itself justified,
and when such cooperation involves no violation of conscience
or compromise of loyalty to Christ and His Word as revealed in the
New Testament.

The Christian & the Social Order

All Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of
Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society.  Means
 and methods used for the improvement of society and the
establishment of righteousness among men can be truly
and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the
regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God
in Jesus Christ. In the spirit of Christ, Christians should
oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and
 all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality,
and pornography. We should work to provide for the orphaned,
the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, and the sick.
We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity
of all human life from conception to natural death…

Religious Liberty

Church and state should be separate. The state owes to
 every church protection and full freedom in
the pursuit of its spiritual ends. …
A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal.
Our Constitution & Bylaws contain multiple references to The Baptist Faith & Message from the Southern Baptist Convention.  
You can read the BF&M here.

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