What We Believe

The Baptist Faith and Message

SCRIPTURE
The 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. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy.

GOD
There is one and only one living and true God who exists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He is all-powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise.

JESUS
We believe that Jesus is the Son of God, was born of a virgin, was wholly God and wholly man, lived a sinless life, died in our place as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind, was buried, arose bodily from the grave, and ascended into Heaven.

HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that God the Holy Spirit is active in convincing unbelievers of their need for salvation, and is the Comforter and Guide Who lives in every believer.

MAN
We believe that man is a special creation of God, made in His image, but that through the sin of the first man, Adam, mankind fell so that all men are sinners and need salvation.

SALVATION
We believe that salvation is a gift received through repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

THE CHURCH
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers with the Lord Jesus Christ as the Head.

ORDINANCES
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 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 believers remember the death of the Lord Jesus and anticipate His second coming. The bread is symbolic of His body and the juice represents His blood.

EVANGELISM
It is the duty of every born again follower of Jesus Christ and of every church to endeavor to make disciples of all men everywhere. It is the command of Christ for every believer to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by personal effort and by all other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.

For a complete doctrinal statement, refer to The Baptist Faith and Message 2000.