We consider ourselves to be truly blessed and are so very grateful to God that He has brought you today to Faith Community Baptist Church. We trust God will use our fellowship to further His purpose of displaying His eternal glory. It is our prayer today that your passions will be drawn to our blessed Savior and the focus of life for you as well will always be the glories of our God. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:36).It is our prayer that the contents of this section will give you a sense of the nature, character and distinctives of our fellowship. We hope and pray that you will take the time to read over the material presented here to get to know us a little better. Early in the history of the church, it was once stated that in essentials we must be united, in non-essentials we should give room for disagreement, and that in all things we must have charity with one another. We as a church, desiring to unite under one head, the Lord Jesus Christ, have sought to flesh out this principle as a body. We desire to come together around certain Biblical distinctives. Knowing that in all things we will not agree and seeking to be loving in all things, we do hold certain truths from the word of God together.
The following we would present as a listing of theological distinctives we hold as a body, that we believe accurately characterize our commitments:
We are Evangelical
The Cambridge Declaration opens with these words, In the course of history words change. In our day this has happened to the word “evangelical.” In the past it served as a bond of unity between Christians from a wide diversity of church traditions. Historic evangelicalism was confessional. To say that you are evangelical in a day such as ours is almost in some sense to say everything and hence say nothing at all. The word “evangelical” is so common on the lips of those in today’s church that one can be almost anything and still consider himself to be evangelical! The root of the word evangelical is the word evangel, meaning “good news.” To say that we are evangelical is to say that we are committed to the truth of the Biblical gospel – the message of the good news of God’s redeeming grace found in Jesus Christ alone. We confess along with those of various traditions in the history of the church of Jesus Christ, the truthfulness and enduring presence of the gospel which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). As a church we are evangelical – committed to the historic and Biblical gospel of Jesus Christ.
We are Reformed
To say that we are Reformed may bring up several images in the minds of different people. Let us simply say that as a Reformed church we see ourselves first as being indebted to those who have gone before us. In the history of the church in the early part of the 16th century, an event swept through the halls of the church that left her forever changed. The darkness that had once engulfed the light of the gospel through the perversions of the Roman Catholic Church through the centuries, had been lifted by the grace of Almighty God through the efforts of men the likes of Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli and others. We stand on their shoulders and remain committed to the gospel they loved and preached.
Furthermore, as a Reformed church, we stand committed to the great truths of the gospel that were recovered in the aforementioned period. These truths are laid out in detail in the Doctrinal Affirmations section. We seek as a church to stand on the authority of Scripture alone, the proclaim the gospel message of salvation by grace alone, to hold before men the complete sufficiency of Christ alone, to call them to trust in Him by faith alone, and live all of life to the glory of God alone.
We are Reforming
To say that we are reformed may give the impression to some that we are finished or have arrived at our destination. This is far from the case! Being committed to the authority of the Scriptures we are fully aware that what God has begun in us as a body of believers in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is far from complete. You might say, we are a work in progress. We are to be ever reforming ourselves by the grace of God in accordance with the word of God. This is an ongoing process, that continues to unfold before us as we dig deeper in to the treasure of the Holy Scriptures.
We are God-Centered
This is another way of saying that we are committed to God-centered worship, living Coram Deo – before the face of God, in all that we say and do. We seek as a church to have a God-centered ministry, God-centered worship and to live God-centered lives with one another and before a watching world. God has not only communicated to us who we are to worship (Him, as He has revealed Himself in the text of Scripture), how we are to worship (in the manner He has laid out in His word), but further why we are to worship in this way (so that as men watch our lives of worship they will be moved to glorify God in the day of visitation) (1Pet 2:9-12).
We are Elder-Led
Being committed to the authority of the Scripture for all of life, we are committed to the Biblical pattern for leadership in the church as well. God has chosen and so ordained that His Son would give as a gift to the church that bears His holy name, men that would serve together in shepherding His precious sheep. We are committed to a Biblical pattern of church leadership, where God exercises His rule of His church through a plurality of men chosen by Him and acknowledged by the congregation, to exercise His authority in the church in accordance with the word of God. These men are to Be on guard for (themselves) and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made (them) overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. (Acts 20:28). You can read more concerning our commitment to an elder-led church in the section following on our pastors.
We are Truth-Driven
You will find that most of our times together revolve around the Scriptures. We see the learning of the word as essential if we are ever to grow into the body of Christ that we are called to be. As the Apostle Paul instructed the church of the Ephesians, He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (Eph 4:11-16).
Believing that all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work we seek to make instruction in the word central to everything we do as a body (2 Tim 3:16-17). Opportunities for Bible study are available on Sunday mornings, evenings, and throughout the week in group and on an individual basis. You can find out more about our current studies by contacting the church office.
We are One-Another-Oriented
Though fellowship, true koinonia or partnership, is experienced in worship and the study of the Scriptures, we further seek to focus our attention on the unity of the body in monthly times of fellowship together. Every third Sunday our regular evening service has as its emphasis – fellowship. This involves times of prayer, song, the reading of Scripture, participating together in the Lord’s table, followed by a fellowship meal provided by the members of the church. What rich times these have proved to be in the life of our church!
God has not called us as His children to live in isolation. We as believers are called, even commanded in the Scriptures to come together. Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near (Hebrews 10:24-25). The day is certainly drawing near! In the words of the Apostle Paul. . .it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed (Romans 13:11). At Faith Community Baptist Church, we believe that our commitment to one-another is fundamentally a Biblical matter. We cannot just “go it alone!”. We must have one-another!
We are Missions-Minded
The central theme that runs throughout the ages and on into eternity in the heart of God, is that His eternal, magnificent, and inexhaustible glory be display throughout all creation for the joy of all peoples in the salvation of those He has chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. It is God’s intention to put His glory on display throughout the nations and we seek to join Him in that endeavor by proclaiming the gospel of His redeeming grace in Christ alone. What a joy it will be one day to join with men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation and sing to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever (Rev 5:9-14).
We are Prayer Saturated
And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31). This boldness we desire as a church, and it will not come without the move and work of the Spirit of God. The mind filled with the word, without the heart filled with the spirit of prayer, will move the lips to speak with little “boldness” the word that has been learned! To encourage and model this commitment to prayer we have structured our Sunday evening worship service around the themes of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication in song, Scripture, and prayer, along with a time of proclamation.
We are Associational
We are a Southern Baptist congregation. We are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. These are voluntary associations and do not hold authority over the autonomy of our local assembly in which we are overseen by our pastors. We seek affiliation and association with like minded churches for the greater propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the edification of His church. We believe as it states in the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith that as each church, and all the members of it, are bound to pray continually for the good and prosperity of all the churches of Christ, in all places, and upon all occasions to further every one within the bounds of their places and callings, in the exercise of their gifts and graces, so the churches, when planted by the providence of God, so as they may enjoy opportunity and advantage for it, ought to hold communion among themselves, for their peace, increase of love, and mutual edification.
