We, the members of Longview Baptist Church, believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God and are the only authoritative standard of religious faith and practice. In order to secure a more perfect understanding among ourselves respecting the great doctrines therein revealed, we profess our belief in the following distinctive teachings based on the Scripture references found in the Appendix:
The Scriptures: The Holy Bible was written by individuals who were divinely inspired and is the record of God’s revelation of Himself to humanity. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth for its matter. It reveals the principles by which God judges us; and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.
God: There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
– God the Father: God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all people.
– God the Son: Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself the demands and necessities of human nature and identifying Himself completely with humankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of people from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, partaking of the nature of God and of humans, and in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and humans. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.
– God the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. He inspired holy individuals of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables people to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He calls people to the Savior, and effects regeneration. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the assurance of God to bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.
Humanity: Humans were created by the special act of God, in His own image, and is the crowning work of His creation. In the beginning humanity was innocent of sin and was endowed by the Creator with freedom of choice. By free choice humanity sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan humans transgressed the command of God, and fell from original innocence; whereby posterity inherits a nature and an environment inclined toward sin, and as soon as they are capable of moral action become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring humanity into His holy fellowship and enable humans to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created humanity in His own image, and in that Christ died for humanity; therefore every person possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
Salvation: Salvation involves the redemption of the whole person, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.
– Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
– Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Savior. Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer into a relationship of peace and favor with God.
– Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which believers are set apart to God’s purposes, and are enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual perfection through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person’s life.
– Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.
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 humans, 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 Savior, 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 a testimony to faith in the final resurrection of the dead.
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. All Christians are welcome at the table at Longview Baptist Church.
The Sabbath Day: The Sabbath day is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should be employed in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private.
The Kingdom: The Kingdom of God includes both His general sovereignty over the universe and His particular kingship over people who willfully acknowledge Him as King. Particularly the Kingdom is the realm of salvation into which people enter by trustful, childlike commitment to Jesus Christ. Christians ought to pray and to labor 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 humanity in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.
Evangelism and Missions: It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. The new birth of the human 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 directly related to the objective of the Great Commission and Great Commandment and therefore should receive the full support of the church, programmatically, financially, and spiritually.
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: Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in their own life and in human society. Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of righteousness among people 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. Christians should oppose in the spirit of Christ every form of greed, selfishness, and vice. They should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the aged, the helpless, and the sick. Christians should seek to bring industry, government, and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth, and love. In order to promote these ends Christians should be ready to work with all people 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 humanity 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 humanity 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 humans 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 people, and the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power.
Priesthood of the Believer: Priesthood of the believer means that every person is competent to go directly to God for forgiveness through repentance and faith and, therefore, needs neither individual nor church to dispense salvation. There is one mediator of God and people, Jesus Christ our Lord. Through God’s grace and upon acceptance of Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord, one has direct access to God through Christ as the High Priest. The Christian has entered into a royal priesthood and is privileged to minister for Christ to all. Christians are to share the faith they cherish and to serve in the name and spirit of their Lord. The priesthood of believers, therefore, means that all members serve as equals under God in the fellowship of the local church.
Because of their convictions about the priesthood of the believer, Baptists proclaim justification by faith, believer’s baptism, regenerate church membership, the church as a fellowship of believers in a spiritual democracy, private interpretation of the Scriptures, freedom of thought, religious liberty, separation of church and state, divine calling for every Christian’s occupation, and responsibility for extension of the Kingdom of God on the part of every Christian.
[The above Article is based upon the “Baptist Faith and Message,” a statement adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention on May 9, 1963, and has been adapted to agree with the traditional beliefs and practices of Longview Baptist Church.]
We are associated with the Raleigh Baptist Association (RBA) and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina (CBFNC).