The First Baptist Church is a community of believers. We seek to mold our lives after the heart of God as revealed in Jesus Christ and to be His hands, His feet and His voice in missions and ministry. Led by the Spirit of God to follow Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and having entered into the fellowship of the Spirit through His Church, we, the members of the Church, prayerfully make this covenant with one another and with our Heavenly Father. We respect all faith traditions, but we shall cherish our heritage as free Baptist Christians.
First Baptist Church has five values which guide its policy, plans, and ministry. They are:
Baptist
Family
Christ Likeness
Faithful Servants
Prayer
We Shall Hold Dear These Principles
- Bible Freedom: Under the Lordship of Christ, the individual and the church, using the best and most scholarly tools of inquiry, are both free and obligated to study and obey Christ as revealed in the Scripture.
- Soul Freedom: We believe in the inherent right and responsibility of every person to deal with God without the imposition of creed, the interference of clergy, or the intervention of civil government.
- Church Freedom: The church is free, under the Lordship of Christ, to determine its membership and leadership, to order its worship and work, to ordain whom the members perceive as gifted for ministry, male or female, and to participate in the larger Body of Christ
- Religious Freedom: We believe in freedom OF religion, freedom FOR religion, and freedom FROM religion, insisting upon complete and absolute separation of church and state and freedom from religious dictates.
Our Heartfelt Beliefs
- As a group of gathered believers, we understand ourselves to be a part of a family of faith. Therefore, we shall love, forgive, advise, encourage, serve, and pray for one another, always in the spirit of being sisters and brothers in Christ.
- Jesus Christ shall be our model for Living. We recognize that none of us shall ever attain His Perfection; yet, we shall always strive to grow in likeness of him. His heart shall be our guide for the way we minister, organize ourselves, conduct our business, and treat others.
- We believe that the church is the body of Christ on earth; therefore, we are the hands, feet and voice of Christ. Knowing this about ourselves, we shall be satisfied with nothing less than being leaders in Christian service. We can only accomplish this goal by serving more. Jesus Christ is our example. We know that we serve Christ himself when we minister to the least, the last, the lost, and the overlooked.
- We believe that on our own we are not strong enough, wise enough, nor good enough to accomplish our mission as a church. Therefore we trust in God’s strength, God’s wisdom, and God’s righteousness to empower us. Only through prayer do we accomplish our mission as a church.