What We Believe — A Complete Statement of Faith for First Baptist Church of Fenton

## What We Believe

First Baptist Church of Fenton is a church built on the Bible. Everything we do — how we preach, how we counsel, how we structure our ministries, how we approach every question — flows from what we believe Scripture teaches. This is not a list of requirements for attending. It is an honest statement of the convictions we hold and the theology we teach.

We believe doctrine matters. Not because we are interested in academic debates, but because what you believe about God shapes everything else — how you live, how you grieve, how you love, and where you find hope when life falls apart.

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## The Bible

We believe the Bible — both the Old and New Testaments — is the verbally inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God. Every word was breathed out by God through human authors, and as a result, Scripture is without error in all that it affirms (2 Timothy 3:16–17; 2 Peter 1:20–21). It is the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and practice. No human tradition, experience, or philosophy stands above it.

We preach the Bible expositionally — book by book, passage by passage — because we believe the goal of every sermon is not to say something interesting about the Bible, but to let the Bible say what it actually says.

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## God

We believe in one God who exists eternally in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person is fully and equally God, sharing the same divine essence, and yet each is personally distinct (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14). God is eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, holy, just, loving, merciful, and sovereign over all things. He is not a distant force or an impersonal principle. He is a personal God who speaks, acts, loves, and pursues.

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## Jesus Christ

We believe Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man — the eternal Son of God who took on human flesh through the virgin birth (John 1:1–14; Luke 1:35). He lived a perfectly sinless life, was crucified as the atoning sacrifice for human sin, was bodily raised from the dead on the third day, ascended into heaven, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. He will return personally, visibly, and bodily to judge the living and the dead and to establish His eternal kingdom (1 Corinthians 15:3–4; Acts 1:11; Revelation 22:12).

Jesus is not simply a great teacher or moral example. He is Lord and Savior — the only one through whom sinful human beings can be reconciled to a holy God (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).

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## The Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity — fully God — who convicts the world of sin, regenerates those who believe, and permanently indwells every true believer at the moment of salvation (John 16:8; Titus 3:5; Romans 8:9). The Spirit illuminates Scripture, produces spiritual fruit in the lives of believers, equips the church for ministry, and empowers Christians to live in obedience to God (Galatians 5:22–23; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 12).

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## Human Nature and Sin

We believe every human being is created in the image of God and therefore possesses inherent dignity and worth (Genesis 1:26–27). However, through the fall of Adam, all people are born with a sinful nature and are morally guilty before God (Romans 3:23; Romans 5:12). Sin is not merely poor behavior or ignorance — it is a fundamental rebellion against a holy God, and its consequence is spiritual death and eternal separation from Him (Romans 6:23).

This is not a pessimistic view of humanity. It is an honest one — and it is the very reason the gospel is such extraordinary good news.

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## Salvation

We believe salvation is entirely a gift from God, received through faith in Jesus Christ alone. It is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone — not by human effort, religious performance, moral achievement, or sacramental ritual (Ephesians 2:8–9; Romans 3:21–26). Salvation involves repentance — a genuine turning from sin — and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Those who are truly saved are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, declared righteous before God (justified), and will be preserved in saving faith to the end (Romans 8:28–39; John 10:28–29).

We do not believe anyone can earn or maintain their salvation through works. God saves sinners — completely and permanently.

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## The Church

We believe the local church is the primary means through which God works in the world today. The church is the body of Christ — a community of born-again believers who gather regularly for worship, biblical teaching, prayer, the ordinances, mutual accountability, and gospel mission (Acts 2:42–47; Hebrews 10:24–25).

First Baptist Church of Fenton is an independent, congregational church. We are governed locally by our pastors and elders, accountable to our congregation, and not answerable to any outside denominational structure. We practice believer's baptism by immersion and observe the Lord's Supper as ordinances given to the church by Christ.

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## Baptism and the Lord's Supper

We practice two ordinances that Christ instituted for the church:

**Baptism** is believer's baptism by immersion — the public declaration of personal faith in Jesus Christ. We do not baptize infants, because we believe baptism is an outward expression of an inward spiritual reality: the death of self, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to new life in Christ (Romans 6:3–4; Matthew 28:19). Baptism is not a means of salvation; it is a public testimony to salvation already received.

**The Lord's Supper** is a regular, solemn act of worship in which the congregation remembers the death of Christ, proclaims His resurrection, and anticipates His return (1 Corinthians 11:23–26). It is a memorial, not a re-sacrifice. We observe it with bread and cup as symbols of Christ's body and blood.

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## Marriage and Family

We believe marriage is a covenant between one man and one woman, instituted by God in creation and designed to reflect the relationship between Christ and His church (Genesis 2:24; Ephesians 5:22–33). We believe God created human beings as male and female, and that sexual intimacy is designed by God to be expressed only within the covenant of marriage.

We hold these convictions with conviction — and with compassion. Every person, regardless of background or struggle, is made in God's image and is welcome at FBC Fenton. The gospel is for everyone.

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## The Future

We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead — both the righteous and the unrighteous (John 5:28–29). Those who have trusted in Christ will be raised to eternal life in the new creation, where they will dwell with God forever. Those who have rejected Christ will face eternal conscious separation from God in judgment (Matthew 25:46; Revelation 20:11–15).

We believe in the personal, visible return of Jesus Christ to earth, though we hold our views on the specific timing and sequence of end-times events with appropriate humility. What we hold with certainty is this: Jesus is coming back. History has a destination. And our hope is not in this world.

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## A Living Faith

These beliefs are not merely doctrinal positions we hold on paper. They are the convictions we preach, live, counsel from, and build community around. They shape how we approach marriage, suffering, parenting, work, death, and every other dimension of human life.

If you have questions about what we believe — or about the Christian faith in general — we would genuinely love to talk with you.

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