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| Basic Beliefs |
The Scriptures
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a
perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any
mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trusthworthy. 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. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine
revelation.
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. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past,
present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love,
reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune 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 knowing, 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 men.
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 human
nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without
sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross
He made provision for the redemption of men 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, fully
God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. 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, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures.
Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Saviour, and effects regeneration. At the moment
of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. 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 guarantee that God will
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.
Man
Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the
crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God's creation. In the
beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free
choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan
man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity
inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral
action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man
into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human
personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man;
therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
Salvation
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ
as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest
sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no
salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
A. 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 Saviour.
B. 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 unto a relationship of peace and favor
with God.
C. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to
God's purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence
and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate
person's life.
D. 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, justifies, sanctifies, and
glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in
connection with the end. It is the 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,
and 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 an autonomous local congregation of baptized
believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two
ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them
by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates
under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is
responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While
both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as
qualified by Scripture.
The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed
of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.
Baptism & 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
Saviour, 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 his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church
ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper.
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.
The Lord's Day
The first day of the week is the Lord's Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It
commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and
spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord's Day should be commensurate with the
Christian's conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
The Kingdom
The Kingdom of God includes both His general sovereignty over the universe and His particular
kingship over men who willfully acknowledge Him as King. Particularly the Kingdom is the realm of
salvation into which men 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 men 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 & 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 man's 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. The Lord Jesus
Christ has commanded the preaching of the gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every child of God to
seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by
other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.
Education
Christianity is the faith of enlightenment and intelligence. In Jesus Christ abide all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. All sound learning is, therefore, a part of our Christian heritage. The new birth
opens all human faculties and creates a thirst for knowledge. Moreover, the cause of education in the
Kingdom of Christ is co-ordinate with the causes of missions and general benevolence, and should
receive along with these the liberal support of the churches. An adequate system of Christian education
is necessary to a complete spiritual program for Christ's people.
In Christian education there should be a proper balance between academic freedom and academic
responsibility. Freedom in any orderly relationship of human life is always limited and never absolute.
The freedom of a teacher in a Christian school, college, or seminary is limited by the pre-eminence of
Jesus Christ, by the authoritative nature of the Scriptures, and by the distinct purpose for which the
school exists.
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 & the Social Order
All Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in
human society. Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of
righteousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the
regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ. In the spirit of Christ,
Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual
immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography. We should work to provide for the
orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, and the sick. We should speak on behalf of
the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. Every
Christian should seek to bring industry, government, and society as a whole under the sway of the
principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love. In order to promote these ends Christians should
be ready to work with all men 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 men 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 men and nations, and the practical application of His law
of love. Christian people throughout the world should pray for the reign of the Prince of Peace.
Religious Liberty
God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of
men 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 men, and the right to
form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power.
Family
God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons
related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.
Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God's
unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman
in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to
biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.
The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God's image. The
marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ
loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A
wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly
submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to
him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the
household and nurturing the next generation.
Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to
demonstrate to their children God's pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and
moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make
choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.
| "Growing a Family of Faith" This statement describes who Maple Baptist Church is and what we are about. We are a family finding our kinship through God the Father's adopting us into His family through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Becoming a part of this family is by faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. The family of faith continues to grow in quantity and quality. Quantitative growth is experienced as God calls persons into the family of Maple. Qualitative growth is enjoyed in a growing relationship with God through which He daily conforms us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. |
| "Growing a Family of Faith" |