We Believe: 

1.  That the Bible, being composed of both the Old and New Testaments,  is the inspired Word of God and is our sole authority for doctrine and practice.  We believe that the King James translation is the most accurate translation we have today.  II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20-21 

2.  That the God of Heaven is the creator and sustainer of the universe and that He works all things according to the good pleasure of  His sovereign will.  Isaiah 14:25; Ephesians 1:11 

3.  That all mankind are dead in trespasses and sins and are worthy of eternal punishment in Hell except for the sovereign grace of God.   Romans 3:10-23 and   Ephesians 2:6-10 

4.  That by God’s sovereign grace and mercy, elect sinners are predestined to eternal life and are redeemed and justified by the blood of Christ alone.  John 3:16; Romans 3:24; Ephesians 1:4-7; and Colossians 1:13-14 

5.  That Jesus Christ died for the sins of His people alone and they shall all be regenerated in time by the Holy Spirit, enabled to hear the Gospel of their salvations and caused to have faith in Christ as their Savior.  John 3:3 & 5; John 5:25; John 6:37 & 44; John 10:26-28; John 17:2 

6.  That all who are saved should be baptized, unite with a New Testament Baptist church, strive to live godly lives and witness to the world that we live in until Christ Jesus our Lord comes again.  Acts 2:37-47; I Thessalonians 1:2-10 

7.  That there is to be a resurrection of the bodies both of the saved and the unsaved at which time the saved shall receive glorified bodies that shall enable them to enjoy eternal Glory with their Savior, while the unsaved are resurrected in their old bodies and shall be punished with everlasting destruction.  Matthew 25:32-46; John 5:28-29; I Corinthians 15:12-58:  II Thessalonians 1:7-10

 

Our doctrines and our practices, we believe, are well grounded in the Word of God which is our final authority for our Faith and Practice.  No human document is perfect, yet we are in basic agreement with both the London Confession of Faith of 1644 and of 1689.  

 

 Our History 

We believe our doctrines are in harmony with the basic doctrines taught by the Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles.  They were preserved and practiced by the ancient Waldenses, Lollards, Albigenses, Novations, Donatists, and others who worshiped God independent of the Roman Catholic system all through the bloody centuries of Pagan and Roman persecution prior to the Protestant Reformation.  During these times, these people were often described as Ana-Baptists, meaning “rebaptizers,” because they refused to recognize Roman Catholic baptism. 

Our Baptist fathers were never connected with the Roman Catholic system and therefore we are not Protestants.  That system of theology which came to be known as Reformed theology or Calvinism closely resembled what our Baptist fore parents had already been teaching since the days of Jesus Christ Himself and the Apostles. 

In the 1830’s a major division developed in the Baptist family.  Those Baptists holding to the general atonement theory and supporting missions as a means of saving lost sinners came to be known as New School or Missionary Baptists.  Those Baptists holding the doctrine of particular redemption (or limited atonement) and salvation by free and sovereign grace came to be known as Old School, or Primitive Baptists.   

 

Our Practices 

As Primitive Baptists, we believe in the simple New Testament pattern of public worship.  Services consist of hymn singing, prayer and preaching.   Musical instruments are not used in our services since there is no New Testament command or precedent for their use.  Furthermore, the use of instruments is undesirable in that it tends to bring in carnal entertainment as a substitute for the real melody of the heart. (See Ephesians 5:19.) 

While we believe in Bible Study, we do not have Sunday Schools or other auxiliaries because of the absence of a New Testament command or precedent.  Sunday Schools are modern in origin, not existing in the gospel church for almost 1800 years.  Primitive Baptists believe that the gospel minister is the only public teacher of the Word of God authorized by Jesus Christ, the Head of His Church.  Private instruction of children is the responsibility of the heads of the households. (See Ephesians 6:4.)  Further objections to the Sunday school system of today can be raised on the grounds that it is contrary to the teaching of the Apostle Paul in I Timothy 2:11-12, “Let your women learn in silence with all subjection, but I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” (See also I Corinthians 14:34-35.)

 

Our Ordinances 

We believe that Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the only two ordinances prescribed for the New Testament Church.  We practice the washing of the saints’ feet as an example given by the Lord of Christian humility. (See Matthew 26:26-28, 28:18-20, John 13:3-17, I Timothy 5:10, I Peter 3:21.)

 

Our View of the Church 

We believe that a New Testament church is a local assembly of regenerated, baptized believers constituted by the authority of Jesus Christ teaching His doctrines and following the pattern of the first century churches.  We believe such a church is “the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (I Tim.3:15)  Such a church is a spiritual home, a refuge for born again believers in Jesus Christ who, striving to live godly and soberly in this present evil world, have been bonded to Christ and to one another by the Holy Spirit.  These, having been baptized on the profession of their faith in Jesus Christ, have joined themselves together to live in compliance with the doctrine which is according to godliness: to attend constantly upon the public worship services, to minister to their fellow saints, and to be holy and just in their everyday dealings in the world which they live.  Only in this manner can believers properly glorify their Father in heaven and Jesus Christ their Savior and King, which is the sole purpose of a true New Testament church.

 

Our View of Evangelism  

We believe in Biblical evangelism.  As in the early church, “they (the saints) went everywhere preaching the Word” (Acts 8:4), so we believe that today, the saints of God are to be witnesses for their Savior wherever they find themselves in the world.  It is our conviction that the only scriptural bases for Biblical evangelism are the doctrines of free and sovereign grace.  We do not believe that the Gospel is a means of regeneration, but that it is the means of conversion for the quickened soul. We believe that according to the commandment given by our Lord in Matt.28:18-20 that the ministers of the churches of Jesus Christ are to go wherever they are led of the Lord, preaching the Gospel, baptizing believers, organizing them into New Testament Baptist churches and teaching them to observe all the commandments to us by Christ Jesus and His Apostles.