The 4 Fragile Freedoms

The belief that the Bible is the absolute authority and is completely sufficient in all that it teaches and asserts for the life of the believer is non-negotiable and therefore foundational.  Every Christian has the freedom to interpret and apply Scripture under the Lordship of Christ, the counsel of the Holy Spirit, and ideally within the context of a local community of believers. The church seeks to encourage, guide, guard, and nurture this process.

• Freedom under  the Lordship of Christ
• Freedom for  Obedience & Sanctification
• Freedom from Creedal affirmations
• Freedom of  Interpretation

We believe that each person is created in the image of and is accountable to God, having self-awareness, conscience, and choice. Under God, each person is responsible for their choices. Most importantly, the choice to respond in faith to the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Apart from creedal formulation, clergy, or government coercion, each individual has the responsibility, and the right to choose his/her commitment or lack thereof to Jesus Christ.

We affirm that a relationship with God the Father, through God the Son, by God the Holy Spirit, is a profoundly personal experience rooted and refined in the community of faith. This is often referred to as the “Priesthood of All Believers.”

Each and every person has the freedom and the right to choose to be a part of the family of faith in Jesus Christ or not. Furthermore, a choice to submit to His word and live a life in relationship with Him, worship of Him and joyful service to Him. A freedom that is free from government interference, clerical office or creedal formulations.

As ‘traditional’ Baptists, we believe the local church is the highest expression of the church and therefore is directly responsible to God for it’s worship, commitments, and organization.

Each church is free to ‘choose’ how, what and whom it chooses. Ministers, Deacons, associations, methods, worship styles, programming, affiliations, etc.

Informed and inspired by the Scriptures, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and held accountable through church discipline under the Lordship of Christ, each church has the responsibility to decide their membership, leadership, style of worship and ministry.

This responsibility is not the task of an association of churches, a clerical leader or other institutionalized authority structure or figure, rather, it is the sole responsibility of each local church.

The autonomy of the local church is a fragile, yet essential freedom.

“Religious liberty” is the freedom to believe and exercise or act upon religious conscience without unnecessary interference by the government.

Everyone should be able to worship (or not) as they feel led without unnecessary interference by the government.

The separation of church and state affords an important constitutional protection of religious freedom for all.

As Baptist, this can be summed up in the following three points:

• freedom of  religion
• freedom for  religion
• freedom from religion

Each church is free to choose who, when, where, how and to what degree it embodies its faith. It is essential that this freedom is to be exercised without the intrusion of the State; regardless of the makeup, or religious background of the faith community.