What Do American Baptists Believe?

• We believe and worship the triune God of the Bible, who is eternally one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our loving, holy God is the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of the universe, and He created us in His image to be in a faithful relationship with Him. 

 
• We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God, and our Lord and Savior. By placing our faith in Him we are assured of an eternal relationship with a loving God. We believe what Christ said of himself: "I am the way the truth and the life, and no man comes to the Father except by me." (John 14:6)

 
• We believe in the Bible as the divinely inspired record of God's actions in history, and that it is trustworthy, authoritative, and the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice. We believe what Bible says about itself... 

   "The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is right. It is God's way of making us well prepared at every point, fully equipped to do good to everyone." (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

• We believe that everyone falls short of being the kind of person God wants us to be, and that this separates us from holy God. We believe Christ's death and resurrection has paid for our sins, making us clean before God. Those who believe and trust in Christ's sacrifice, and commit themselves to Him are forgiven of their sins, adopted into God's family. Christ called this being "born again." (Being born again doesn't make you perfect, of course. It just means that we constantly try to be the loving people God expects us to be, knowing God forgives when we fail and confess it to Him in prayer.)

 
• We believe that for those who trust in Jesus, God provides His personal empowering presence, the Holy Spirit, to live in us. God's Spirit guides and transform us to be more like Jesus in our attitudes, behaviors and thought. His Spirit is evidence that we belong to God's family.

 
• We believe that those who place their faith in Jesus and commit their life to Him should undergo "believer's baptism." This is a public ceremony where believers in Jesus profess their faith in Him by being immersed under water to symbolize the forgiveness of their sins, and the new life they have in Him. 

 
• We believe in the celebration of the Lord's Supper (also called Communion, Holy Communion, the Eucharist) by members of God's family. Through eating the bread and drinking from the cup, we remember and celebrate Jesus' death, sacrifice, and gift of salvation for the world. In our church, all followers of Jesus are invited to join in the Lord's Supper. 

 
• We believe we are to regularly gather together as a church family to meet with God, worship God, and to celebrate His salvation through Jesus Christ. We at MWBC hold our worship services on Sunday mornings. 

 
• We believe that Jesus will return one day to completely do away with evil, to transform creation, and to resurrect His followers from the dead so that they may be with Him forever. That is the blessed hope that all creation longs for, and to which He is working towards.

 
• We believe that as Christians, we should be a people of works and charity. This is not because we are "earning our way to salvation," because Christ's sacrifice has saved us completely, but as a loving response to the love Christ has shown us.

 
• We believe that all followers of Jesus, pastor and people, are able to approach God directly and minister in His name. That is why we at MWBC believe that we are here to "glorify Christ and love one another." 

 
• We believe that as God's people, and out of loving gratitude for what He has done for us, we are to bring the Good News of Jesus to others through our loving deeds and our words. God desires all people to know Him and to be in His family, and we are called to model in our lives and proclaim with our mouths that truth. We are called to witness at home, in our neighborhoods, and around the world to the saving grace of Jesus Christ, calling on all people and institutions to act justly, to love with mercy, and to walk humbly with God.