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GOD'S
PURPOSE OF GRACE
Election is the gracious purpose of God according
to which He regenerates sanctifies and glorifies
sinners. It is consistent with the free agency
of man and comprehends all the means in connection
with the end. It is a glorious display of
God's sovereign goodness and is infinitely
wise holy and unchangeable. It excludes boasting
and promotes humility. All true believers
endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted
in Christ and sanctified by His Spirit will
never fall away from the state of grace but
shall persevere to the end. Believers may
fall into sin through neglect and temptation
whereby they grieve the Spirit impair their
graces and comforts bring reproach on the
cause of Christ and temporal judgments on
themselves yet they shall be kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation.
THE
CHURCH
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ
is a local body of baptized believers who
are associated by covenant in the faith and
fellowship of the gospel observing the two
ordinances of Christ committed to His teachings
exercising the gifts rights and privileges
invested in them by His Word and seeking to
extend the gospel to the ends of the Earth.
This church is an autonomous body operating
through democratic processes under the Lordship
of Jesus Christ. In such a congregation members
are equally responsible. Its Scriptural officers
are pastors and deacons. The New Testament
speaks also of the church as the body of Christ
which includes all of the redeemed of all
the ages.
BAPTISM
AND THE LORD'S SUPPER
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 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. 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.
THE LORD'S DAY
The first day of the week is the Lord's Day.
It is a Christian institution for regular
observances. It commemorates the resurrection
of Christ from the dead and should be employed
in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion
both public and private and by refraining
from worldly amusements and resting from secular
employments work of necessity and mercy only
being expected.
THE
KINGDOM
The Kingdom of God includes both His general
sovereignty over the universe and His particular
kingship over men who willfully acknowledge
Him as King. Particularly the Kingdom is the
realm of salvation into which men enter by
trustful childlike commitment to Jesus Christ.
Christians ought to pray and to labour that
the Kingdom may come and God's will be done
on earth. The full consummation of the Kingdom
awaits the return of Jesus Christ and the
end of this age.
LAST
THINGS
God in His own time and in His own way will
bring the world to its appropriate end. According
to His promise Jesus Christ will return personally
and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead
will be raised; and Christ will judge all
men in righteousness. The unrighteous will
be consigned to Hell the place of everlasting
punishment. The righteous in their resurrection
and glorified bodies will receive their reward
and will dwell forever in Heaven with the
Lord.
EVANGELISM AND MISSION
It is the duty and privilege of every follower
of Christ and of every church of the Lord
Jesus Christ to endeavour to make disciples
of all nations. The new birth of man's spirit
by God's Holy Spirit means the birth of love
for others. Missionary effort on the part
of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity
of the regenerate life and is expressly and
repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ.
It is the duty of every child of God to seek
constantly to win the lost to Christ by personal
effort and by all other methods in harmony
with the gospel of Christ.
EDUCATION
The cause of education in the Kingdom of Christ
is co-ordinate with the causes of missions
and general benevolence and should receive
along with these the liberal support of the
churches. An adequate system of Christian
schools is necessary to a complete spiritual
program for Christ's people. In Christian
education there should be a proper balance
between academic freedom and academic responsibility.
Freedom in any orderly relationship of human
life is always limited and never absolute.
The freedom of a teacher in a Christian school
college or seminary is limited by pre-eminence
of Jesus Christ by the authoritative nature
of the Scriptures and by the distinct purpose
for which the school exists.
STEWARDSHIP
God is the source of all blessings temporal
and spiritual; all that we have and are we
owe to Him. Christians have a spiritual debtorship
to the whole world a holy trusteeship in the
gospel and a binding stewardship in their
possessions. They are therefore under obligation
to serve Him with their time talents and material
possessions; and should recognize all these
as entrusted to them to use for the glory
of God and for helping others. According to
the Scriptures Christians should contribute
of their means cheerfully regularly systematically
proportionately and liberally for the advancement
of the Redeemer's cause on earth.
COOPERATION
Christ's people should as occasion requires
organize such associations and conventions
as may best secure cooperation for the great
objects of the Kingdom of God. Such organizations
have no authority over one another or over
the churches. They are voluntary and advisory
bodies designed to elicit combine and direct
the energies of our people in the most effective
manner. Members of New Testament churches
should cooperate with one another in carrying
forward the missionary educational and benevolent
ministries for the extension of Christ's Kingdom.
Christian unity in the New Testament sense
is spiritual harmony and voluntary cooperation
for common ends by various groups of Christ's
people. Cooperation is desirable between the
various Christian denominations when the end
to be attained is itself justified and when
such cooperation involves no violation of
conscience or compromise of loyalty to Christ
and His Word as revealed in the New Testament.
THE CHRISTIAN AND
THE SOCIAL ORDER
Every Christian is under obligation to seek
to make the will of Christ supreme in his
own life and in human society. Means and methods
used for the improvement of society and the
establishment of righteousness among men can
be truly and permanently helpful only when
they are rooted in the regeneration of the
individual by the saving grace of God in Christ
Jesus. The Christian should oppose in the
spirit of Christ every form of greed selfishness
and vice. He should work to provide for the
orphaned the needy the aged the helpless and
the sick. Every Christian should seek to bring
industry government and society as a whole
under the sway of the principles of righteousness
truth and brotherly love. In order to promote
these ends Christians should be ready to work
with all men of good will in any good cause
always being careful to act in the spirit
of love without compromising their loyalty
to Christ and His truth.
PEACE
AND WAR
It
is the duty of Christians to seek peace with
all men on principles of righteousness. In
accordance with the spirit and teachings of
Christ they should do all in their power to
put an end to war. The true remedy for the
war spirit is the gospel of our Lord. The
supreme need of the world is the acceptance
of His teachings in all the affairs of men
and nations and the practical application
of His law of love.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
God alone is Lord of the conscience and He
has left it free from the doctrines and commandments
of men which are contrary to His Word or not
contained in it. Church and state should be
separate. The state owes to every church protection
and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual
ends. In providing for such freedom no ecclesiastical
group or denomination should be favored by
the state more than others. Civil government
being ordained of God it is the duty of Christians
to render loyal obedience thereto in all things
not contrary to the revealed will of God.
The church should not resort to the civil
power to carry on its work. The gospel of
Christ contemplates spiritual means alone
for the pursuit of its ends. The state has
no right to impose penalties for religious
opinions of any kind. The state has no right
to impose taxes for the support of any form
of religion. A free church in a free state
is the Christian ideal and this implies the
right of free and unhindered access to God
on the part of all men and the right to form
and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion
without interference by the civil power
The above Statement of Faith
is copywritten 2003 by the Canadian
Convention of Southern Baptists
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