Here
at Grace Baptist Church, we hold to the
fundamental doctrines of the Independent
Baptist faith. Below is the
description of our beliefs.
Bible
| God
| Jesus
Christ | Holy
Spirit
| Man
| Separation
| Justification
Church
| Ordinances
| Tithe
and Offerings
|
We believe in
the Scriptures of the Old and New
Testaments as verbally inspired by God and
inerrant in the original writings (and
preserved in the English language in the
KJV) and that they are of supreme and
final authority in faith and life.
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We believe in
one God, eternal, omnipotence, omniscient,
omnipresent, manifesting Himself in three
persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -
one in nature, attributes, power and
glory.
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We believe that
the Lord Jesus Christ was begotten by the
Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary and
that He is true God and true man.
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We believe that
the Holy Spirit is a divine Person - the
Administrator of the Godhead - convincing
of sin, revealing Christ, teaching truth,
restraining evil, energizing believers in
prayer, worship and service, and is ever
present in the believer as Comforter and
Helper.
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We believe that
man was created in the image of God; that
he sinned and thereby incurred not only
physical death but also that spiritual
death which is separation from God; and
that all human beings are born with a
sinful nature, and in the case of those
who reach moral responsibility become
sinners in thought, word and deed.
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We believe in
separation from all worldly practices and
in whole-hearted devotion to the cause of
Christ as the only scriptural basis for a
happy and useful life.
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We believe that
the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures as a
representative and substitutionary
sacrifice and rose again for our
justification; and that all who believe in
Him are justified on the ground of His
shed blood and are saved by grace through
faith wholly apart from human merit and
works.
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We believe that
a church of Christ is a congregation of
baptized believers associated by a
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 the Lord;
that it's officers of ordination are
pastors and deacons, whose qualifications,
claims and duties are clearly defined in
the Scriptures. We believe the true
mission of the church is found in the
Great Commission, to make individual
disciples, to build up the church, and to
teach and instruct them as He has
commanded. We do not believe in the
reversal of this order. 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. We believe
it is scriptural for true churches to
cooperate with each other in contending
for the faith and for the furtherance of
the Gospel. We also believe it is
scriptural that every church is the sole
and only judge of the measure and method
of its cooperation. On all matters
of membership, of policy, of government,
of discipline, of benevolence, the will of
the local church is final.
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We believe that
Christian baptism is the immersion in
water of a believer, in the name of the
Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
with the authority of the local church to
show forth in a solemn and beautiful
emblem, our faith in the crucified,
buried, and risen Savior. That it is
a prerequisite to the privilege of a
church relation to the Lord's Supper in
which the members of a church by the
sacred use of unleavened bread and fruit
of the vine are to commemorate together
the dying love of Christ, preceded always
by solemn self-examination.
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| Tithe
and Offering |
We believe a
church is to be supported only by the
tithes and offerings of God's people. |
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