Welcome to Maple Baptist Church's online home. We hope you will find this site informative and inspiring. Inspiring as you get a taste of what God is doing in the
life of Maple Baptist Church. Informative in discovering who we are and what is happening in our church life through fellowship and worship. May God Bless you!
life of Maple Baptist Church. Informative in discovering who we are and what is happening in our church life through fellowship and worship. May God Bless you!
What We Believe
"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. read more>
"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. read more>
Maple
Baptist
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| website updated 6/06/2011 |
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 trustworthy. 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.
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 trustworthy. 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.
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