First Baptist Church
of North Wilkesboro

What Makes Us Baptists? (Hint: It’s NOT Dunking)

 

There are four guiding principles (aka Fragile Freedoms) that define what makes a traditional Baptist.  These Four Fragile Freedoms are: (definitions are taken from The Baptist Identity: Four Fragile Freedoms: Walter B. Shurden, Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Macon, GA: 2013)

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1. Bible Freedom is the historic Baptist affirmation that the Bible, under the Lordship of Christ, must be central in the life of the individual and church and that Christians, with the best and most scholarly tools of inquiry, are both free and obligated study and obey the Scripture.  (We are all able and required to interpret and apply the meaning of scripture for ourselves)

 

2. Soul Freedom is the historic Baptist affirmation of the inalienable right and responsibility of every person to deal with God without the imposition of creed, the interference of clergy, or the intervention of civil government.  (We each must make a free and conscious decision to follow Christ as Lord—or not)

 

3. Church Freedom is the historic Baptist affirmation that local churches are free, under the Lordship of Christ to determine their own membership and leadership, to order their worship and work, to ordain whom they perceive to be gifted for ministry—male or female—and to participate in the larger Body of Christ, of whose unity and mission Baptists are proudly a part.  (There is no presbytery, synod, district supervisor, or bishop who oversees the worship, work, staffing or functioning of the local church.  Each is its own freestanding entity)

 

4. Religious Freedom is the historic Baptist affirmation of freedom OF religion, freedom FOR religion, and freedom FROM religion by insisting that Caesar is not Christ and Christ is not Caesar. (We believe the separation of church and state is better for both entities)

 

Due to these freedoms, there are many different expressions of what it means to be Baptist.  Baptist churches span the spectrum of theological understanding as well as worship styles.  The traditional Baptist stance is to “agree to disagree” if there are differences and to remain unified in Building the Kingdom of God.  There are certainly varied beliefs and perspectives about the bible and religion within our church, but we strive mightily to love and accept one another.   UNITY does not equal SAMENESS.

WE ACCEPT NEW MEMBERS upon profession of faith, and our church does baptize by immersion.  We also accept members upon transfer of letter from other Baptist churches.  We differ from some other Baptist churches in that we  also ACCEPT Christians as new members who have been baptized in other denominations in modes other than immersion. We do require a cognizant profession of faith to accompany the baptism (for example, if a person were sprinkled as an infant but went through confirmation classes at age 12, that would be acceptable)

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