First Baptist Church Stratford, IA
    First Baptist Church     Stratford, IA  

Statement of Faith 

We believe:

 •  in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as ​verbally inspired of God and inerrant in the original writing and that they are of supreme and final authority in faith and life. (II Timothy 3:16-17; I Peter 1:21; Psalm 12:6-7)

 

•  in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Ex 20:2-3; Matthew 28:19; I Corinthians 8:6)

 

•  that Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit and born of Mary, a virgin, and is true God and true man. (Is 7:14; Luke 1:35; Gal 4:4)

 

•  that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood. (Is 53:4-11; Acts 13:38-39; Rom 3:24-25, 4:5, 5:1, 8, 9, 6:23; II Cor 5:19-21)

 

•  in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, in His ascension into Heaven, and in His present life there as High Priest and Advocate. (Matt 28:1-7; Acts 1:8-11; I Cor 15:4-9; Heb 4:14-16)

 

• that the Holy Spirit baptizes, seals, and indwells every believer at the moment of salvation and that the Holy Spirit empowers every believer for holy living. We believe that the Holy Spirit today bestows service gifts upon believers for the edification of believers. (Eph. 1:13, 2:20, 4:11-12, 5:18; Rom 8:9, 12:6-8, I Cor 12:13, 13:8 – 13; Heb 2:3, 4)

 

•  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, that all human beings are born with a sinful nature and are sinners in thought, word, and deed. (Gen. 1:26-27, 3:1-6; Rom 3:10-13, 5:12,19, Titus 1:15-16)

 

• that all that receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God (John 1:12, 13, 3:3-16; Acts 16:31; Eph 2:8-9)

 

•  in the eternal security of the believer; that it is impossible for one born into the family of God ever to be lost. (John 6:39, 49, 10:28-29; Rom 8:35-39; Jude 1)

 

• in “that blessed hope”: the personal, premillenial, pretribulational and imminent return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, when the Church will be “gathered together unto Him.” (John 14:1-3; I Thess 4:13-18; I Cor 15:51-58; II Thess 2:1-13)

 

• in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, the everlasting blessedness of the saved, and the everlasting punishment of the lost. (Matt 25:31-46; Luke 16:19-31; I Thess 4:13-18; Rev 21:1-8)

 

• that a local New Testament Church is an organized body of believers immersed upon a credible confession of faith in Jesus Christ, having two offices (pastors and deacons), congregational in polity, autonomous in nature, banded together for work, worship, and the proclamation of the Gospel. We further believe that the local has the absolute right of self- government, free from interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations. (Matt 28:18-29; Acts 2:41-42; I Cor 12:13; Eph 1:22-23; I Tim 3; I Pet 5:1-3)

 

• that the Scriptural ordinances of the church are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper and are to be administered by the local church. We believe that Baptism, by immersion, should be administered to believers only as a symbol of their belief in the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and as a testimony to the world of that belief and of their death, burial and resurrection with Him. We believe that the Lord’s Supper should be partaken of by all believers to show forth His death, “till He come.” (Matt 28:18-20; Acts 2:41-47, 8:26-39; I Cor 11:23-28; Col 2:12)

 

• that all men everywhere are lost and that the command to go and preach the Gospel to the world is clear and unmistakable and that this commission was given to the churches. Following New Testament precedent example, we believe that all missionary endeavors should be under the ultimate sponsorship of the local church. (Matt 28:18-20; Acts 13)

 

• that the civil government is of divine appointment for the interest and good of human society. We believe that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed except only in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Lord of conscience, the coming Prince of the Kings of the earth. (I Tim 2:1-3; Acts 5:29; Rom 13:1-5)

 

These Articles of Faith do not exhaust the extent of our faith. The Bible is the sole and final source of all that we believe. We believe that the foregoing Articles of Faith accurately represent the teaching of the Bible, and therefore are binding upon all members (and guests or regular attenders who participate or take part in any activity of the church.)

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First Baptist Church
1400 Highway 175
Stratford, IA 50249

Phone: +1 515 8382152 +1 515 8382152

E-mail: Pastor@FBCStratfordIowa.com

 

 

 

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