The Northwest Baptist Church affirms the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as its general statement of faith. Moreover, the following statements below are a more comprehensive explanation of our beliefs as to what distinguishes us as a congregation. While, therefore, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 does not exhaust the extent of our beliefs on all matters of faith and practice; it nevertheless defines our beliefs in those areas where this statement of faith has not specifically stated a position.
Moreover, the Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, and the proper conduct of mankind, is the sole and final source of all that we believe. For purposes of Northwest Baptist Church’s faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline, our Senior Pastor and Deacon Board are the Northwest Baptist Church’s final interpretive authority on the Bible’s meaning and application. We further hold to the following statements on marriage, gender, sexuality, the sanctity of human life, church discipline, and mediation.
1. The Bible: We believe that the Bible is the written word of God; by which men, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote exactly what God intended them to write. We believe that God's inspiration extends only to those sixty-six (66) books found within the Old and New Testaments. As such, we believe that the Bible is inspired in all parts, inerrant in all matters, and infallible as our authoritative rule of faith and practice.
2. The Trinity: We believe there is only one God, creator of the heavens earth, who has existed in one essence and three persons as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, from eternity past. All of the essential characteristics or attributes of divinity are equally distributed to each person of the Trinity, so that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exists equally and eternally as one God. We further believe that each person of the Trinity has distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
3. We believe in God the Father, who sovereignly governs and directs all things according to his providence and good will; who initiates the redemption of believers by his sovereign choice in salvation. We believe that he is eternally Father, and that he has sent God the Son, in whom he is well pleased, to be our only propitiation for sin.
4. We believe in God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is one person in two natures: truly divine and truly human; who is God and was with God in the beginning, and through whom all things were made; who was born of a virgin, crucified on a cross as a substitute for our sins, was raised bodily by the Spirit on the third day, and has ascended unto the Father where he intercedes on behalf of every believer. We further believe in the immanent return of Christ, to judge the quick and the dead.
5. We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who eternally precedes from both the Father and the Son; who calls and convicts every believer of their sin, enabling them to positively respond to the gospel call. We believe that the Holy Spirit is now God's presence among the church, empowering them for ministry, enabling them to overcome sin, and uniting them under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
6. We believe that the church of Jesus Christ is made up of all baptized believers, who are united in one body and in one Spirit, built upon the foundation of the prophets and the apostles, with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone; living in one hope, one faith, one baptism, and under the one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. We further believe that the pattern for all believers in the New Testament was that every believer who confessed faith in Christ and was baptized, joined in covenant with a local church, whereby they submitted to its leadership and served one another in love and good works.
7. Man: We believe that all men and women of every race were created in the image of God. We further believe that humans have fallen from their original state of perfection and are now by nature and choice sinful and lost, and do not possess any possible means to save themselves from their sins.
8. Salvation: We believe that salvation is the work of God. Moreover, we believe that salvation is based upon God's sovereign choice, according to his free will and not according to the works of men. Salvation is obtained by grace through faith, as the Holy Spirit enables men and women to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 16:14). By faith in Christ, all true believers have been baptized with the Holy Spirit at the moment of their conversion, by which they are now empowered to serve God by putting sin to death and by bearing spiritual fruit in keeping with their conversion (Galatians 5:22-26). They are further justified, adopted as sons and daughters of God, are being sanctified, and will be glorified when Christ returns.
9. We believe in the priesthood of all believers. Because Jesus has paid for all of our sins once and for all, and now sits at the right hand of the Father interceding as our one and only Mediator on behalf of all those who believe in his name, that there is no earthly mediator between God and man.
10. Ordinances: We believe that there are two Scriptural ordinances given to the local church: the baptism of believers by immersion and the Lord's Supper.
a. We believe that baptism is for believers only and that this one-time ordinance is done properly by immersing the whole person under water. We believe this is the first act of obedience on the part of every believer and that it symbolizes the destruction of the old man and our being raised to live in newness of life.
b. We believe that the Lord's Supper is a perpetual ordinance of the church, that it is only for those who have received Christ as Savior, who have been baptized by immersion, and who are not living in open and unconfessed and unrepentant sin. We further believe that the Lord's Supper signifies that the believer is in continual fellowship with both the universal and local church of Jesus Christ.
11. Marriage, Gender, and Sexuality
a. We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person.
b. We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture (Genesis 2:18-25). We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between one man and one woman who are married to each other (1 Corinthians 6:18; 7:2-5; Hebrews 13:4). We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between one man and one woman.
c. We believe that God has ordained marriage and defined it as the covenant relationship between a man, a woman, and Himself. Therefore, we support the position of Northwest Baptist Church that it will only recognize marriages between one unaltered biological man and one unaltered biological woman.
12. Statement on Life
a. We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life (Psalm 139).
13. Statement on Giving
a. We believe that every Christian, as a steward of that portion of God’s wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to financially support his local church.
b. We believe that God has established the tithe as a basis for giving, but that every Christian should also give other offerings sacrificially and cheerfully to the support of the church, the relief of those in need, and the spread of the Gospel.
c. We will commit to regularly give of our time, talents and treasures to the ministry of this fellowship for the sake of the kingdom by contributing cheerfully for the expenses of the church and the spread of the Gospel through all nations
(2 Corinthians 9:6-8; 1 Peter 4:10-11).
