Wickland Baptist Church's mission is
to:
Honor God through worship and service to Him in our
everyday lives,
(John 4:24, Romans
12:1-2)Help the physical and spiritual
needs of our community,
(Matthew 5:34-38,
Titus 3:14)
Herald the Good News of
salvation through Jesus Christ alone, and
(Acts 4:12,
Romans 10:9-15)
Heed the great Commission to
make disciples of all nations through the teaching and preaching
of God's Holy word.
(Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8)
What We
Believe
VISION STATEMENT
Serving
Christ, Showing the Way
PURPOSE
STATEMENT
The purpose of this body shall be to provide regular
opportunities for public worship, to sustain the ordinances,
doctrines, ethics, and disciplines set forth in the New
Testament for the local church; to nurture its members through a
program of Christian Education; to channel its offerings to the
support of the objects of the Redeemer’s Kingdom; and to preach
and propagate among all people the gospel of the Revelation of
God through Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
The Scriptures
We believe that the Holy
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, for its matter.
Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It
reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is,
and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of
Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human
conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All
Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of
divine revelation.
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God
We believe there is
one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent,
spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver,
and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all
other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His
perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and
future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To
Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The
eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without
division of nature, essence, or being.
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God The
Father
We believe that God as Father reigns with
providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow
of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His
grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all
wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God
through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude
toward all men.
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God the Son
We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God and
is the divinely appointed mediator between God and man. He was
conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary taking
upon Himself human nature, yet with out sin. He perfectly
fulfilled the Law, and suffered and died a substitutionary death
upon the cross for the salvation of sinners. He was buried, and
rose again the third day, and ascended to His Father, where He
lives to make intercession for His people until He returns
again.
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God The
Holy Spirit
We believe The Holy Spirit is the Spirit
of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the
Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand
truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and
effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes
every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian
character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts
by which they serve God through His church. He seals the
believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the
Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into
the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and
empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and
service.
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The Nature of Humanity
We believe Man is the
special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them
male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift
of gender is thus part of the goodness of God's creation. In the
beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator
with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against
God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation
of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his
original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an
environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are
capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under
condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy
fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of
God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God
created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man;
therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and
is worthy of respect and Christian love.
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Salvation
We believe that
Salvation is only by the grace of God and involves the
redemption of the whole person, and is offered freely to all who
accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior by faith, who by His own
blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. There is no
salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior
and Lord.
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The Church
We believe that a New
Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local
congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in
the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two
ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the
gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and
seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each
congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through
democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is
responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural
officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are
gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is
limited to men as qualified by Scripture. The New Testament
speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes
all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe,
and tongue, and people, and nation.
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Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
We believe that
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 Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the
burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness
of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the
final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is
prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the
Lord's Supper.
We believe that the
Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of
the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the
vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His
second coming.
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The Lord's Day
We believe that the
first day of the week is the Lord's Day. It is a Christian
institution for regular observance. It commemorates the
resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include
exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and
private. Activities on the Lord's Day should be commensurate
with the Christian's conscience under the Lordship of Jesus
Christ.
Complete Statement of
Faith can be found at
http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp
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