What We Teach

We believe that God is the Creator, Sustainer, and Righteous Ruler of the universe. He has revealed Himself in nature, and in the Scriptures of the Holy Bible as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: yet as one God.

He is God’s unique Son; the only one of a kind. The Scripture teaches that He is God revealed in flesh. In His Divine nature He is truly God and in His human nature truly man. He is the One once crucified for man’s sin, the now risen and glorified Savior and Lord who mediates between God and man and who gives us access to the Father through His intercession. None can come to the Father unless they come through Him. 

All of the attributes of God are ascribed to the Holy Spirit by the Scriptures. It is He who convicts and convinces men of their sin. He also convinces man of that which is right, and that a final day of judgment will come. He, it is, who comes to live in us at conversion, to open our understanding to the Scripture, and to lead us into the truth. 

God used holy men to write the Scriptures. They are, in both the Old and New Testaments, the very words God intended us to have. They are, as given by God, without error and are our only rule of faith and practice. We profit from them by learning the truth about many things: they also speak to us about wrong doing; they even correct us and get us back on course as well as instructing us in right living.

The most commonly used translation of the Bible at 1st Church is the NIV (2011), however, other translations may be used.

God created man in a state of innocence. Man, being tempted by Satan, yielded and willfully disobeyed God, becoming a sinner and incurring God’s judgment upon sin. All of Adam’s descendants inherit his fallen nature and thus have a natural inclination to sin. When one comes to an age of accountability, he is guilty of sinning before God and in need of salvation. 

God exercises a wise and benevolent providence over all beings and things. He maintains the laws of nature and performs special acts as the highest welfare of mankind and His created order of things require. 

Man receives pardon and forgiveness for his sins when he admits to God that he is a sinner, when in godly sorrow he turns from them and trusts in the work of Christ as redemption for his sin. This acceptance of God’s great salvation involves belief in Christ’s death on the cross as man’s substitute and the fact of God’s raising Him from the dead as predicted. It is a salvation by grace alone and not of works. 

It is God’s will that all be saved, but since man has the power of choice, God saves only those who repent of their sin and believe in the work of Christ on the cross. Those who refuse in this life to repent and believe have no later chance to be saved and thus condemn themselves to eternal damnation by their unbelief. 

We believe that there are strong grounds to hope that the saved will persevere unto the end and be saved because of the power of divine grace pledged for their support. Since man, however, continues to have free choice, it is possible because of temptations and the weakness of human flesh for him to forfeit his faith and be lost. 

We believe the Bible teaches two ordinances for the church to practice: Baptism in water by immersion, and the Lord’s Supper, to be perpetuated until His return. 

Free Will Baptists believe the Scriptures teach the resurrection of the bodies of all men, each in its own order; they that have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation. 

The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ, who ascended on high and sits at the right hand of God, will come again, glorify His saints, and judge the world.

While teachings from pastors may be influenced by their eschatological beliefs, as a whole, we do not adhere to a specific doctrine of eschatology. Whether your Pre-Millennial, Post-Millennial, or Amillennial, you are welcome here.

Free Will Baptist churches enjoy local church autonomy (self-governing). The local church is the highest authority in the denomination. Local churches voluntarily organize themselves into quarterly meetings, district, state, and national associations for the purpose of promoting the cause of Christ on the local, state, district, national, and world-wide level. 

Free Will Baptists believe that Jesus commanded the church to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. 

Both Scripture and nature as designed by God affirm the life-long, covenantal union of one man, being male as created by God, and one woman, being female as created by God, in a one-flesh relationship. This one-flesh relationship is emblematic of the union of Christ and His church. It is the sole and beautiful context of the divine plan for the marital relationship of man and woman as image-bearers of God, as well as the foundation for the family as the basic, divinely ordained unit of human society.

Violations of this one-flesh union, whether heterosexual or homosexual, premarital or extramarital, contravene the divine plan for the family and for the conception and rearing of children, bringing spiritual despair, guilt, and death to individuals and cultures.