Question 33: Where did the Baptist church get its founding principles from?

Answer: From the Bible! The Word of God provides the charter for New Testament churches and how they should operate. Although there are many passages that help to define God’s plan for His Church, probably the most helpful in Acts 2:42-47. This passage defines how God will build the church: “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. ⁴³And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. ⁴⁴And all that believed were together, and had all things common; ⁴⁵And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. ⁴⁶And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, ⁴⁷Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

According to the Bible, we believe that the local church is the agency through which God has chosen to accomplish His work in the world. A New Testament Baptist church is an organized body of baptized believers, immersed upon a credible confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, having two offices (pastor and deacon), congregational in policy, autonomous in nature, and banded together for work, worship, edification, the observance of the ordinances and the worldwide fulfillment of the Great Commission. We believe that the local church, under Christ’s headship, is to be free from any external hierarchy and should not associate itself with any ecumenical endeavor, neo-orthodoxy, new evangelicalism, or any such efforts to compromise the Truth. (Acts 2:41-47; Ephesians 3:10; Matthew 28:18-20; I Timothy 3; I Peter 5:1-3; Ephesians 1:22; Romans 16:17; II Corinthians 6:14-17; I Timothy 6:3-5)