First Baptist Church
Our Beliefs...
XIV. The Church
We believe that a local church is an organized congregation of immersed believers,
associated by covenant of faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the ordinances
of Christ; governed by His laws; and exercising the gifts, rights and privileges
invested in them by His Word; that its officers are pastors and deacons, whose
qualifications, claims and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures. We believe
the true mission of the church is the faithful witnessing of Christ to all men
as we have opportunity. We hold that the local church has the absolute right of
self-government free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or
organizations; and that the one and only Superintendent is Christ through the
Holy Spirit; that it is Scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other
in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the gospel; that each local
church is the sole judge of the measure and method of its cooperation; that on
all matters of membership, of polity, of government, of discipline, of benevolence,
the will of the local church is final. 1 Corinthians 11:2; Acts 20:17-28; 1 Tim.
3:1-13; Acts 2:41, 42.
We believe in the unity of all New Testament believers in the Church which is
the Body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12, 13; Ephesians 1:22, 23; 3:1-6; 4:11;
5:23; Colossians 1:18; Acts 15:13-18.
XV. Baptism and the Lord's Supper
We believe that Christian baptism is the single immersion of a believer in water
to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our identification with the crucified,
buried and risen Savior, through Whom we died to sin and rose to a new life; that
baptism is to be performed under the authority of the local church; and that it
is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership.
We believe that the Lord's Supper is the commemoration of His death until He come,
and should be preceded always by solemn self-examination. We believe that the
Biblical order of the ordinances is baptism first and then the Lord's Supper,
and that participants in the Lord's Supper should be immersed believers. Acts
8:36, 38, 39; John 3:23; Romans 6:3-5; Matthew 3:16; Colossians 2:12; 1 Corinthians
11:23-28; Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:41, 42.
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