We believe God is the Creator and the eternal Sustainer of all life.  He is Sovereign over all that is.  He is perfect in wisdom, complete in knowledge, absolute in authority, infinite in power, and just in all His judgments.  God is spotless in righteousness, all-sufficient in grace, and everlasting in mercy.  His love endures forever.  There is no other His equal.  He alone is God.  God has manifested Himself to man as three personalities: God the Father, God the Son, who is Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit.  We believe each of these manifestations to be God.  Yet, we believe God is one in essence.
 
 

 We believe Jesus to be the Son of God, the incarnation of God, and the Messiah of the Old Testament.  In the plan of God, Jesus not only lived a sinless life as an example for mankind, but he also became the substitutionary atonement for the sins of man.  By His atoning death, it is possible for sinful man to be reconciled to the Father.  By his physical resurrection from the dead, he illustrates His absolute authority over sin, evil, death, and hell.  We also believe that Jesus is going to physically return to judge all mankind, and will ultimately do away with evil once and for all.
 
 

 We believe the Holy Spirit to be the manifestation of God imparted in the life of all true believers.  We believe all Christians are thus possessed by the person of the Holy Spirit at the point of their salvation decision.  It is the desire of God that the Holy Spirit reign in the life of all of his believers.  The child of God cannot live obediently, apart from allowing the Spirit of God and His power to have control in his life.

We believe the Holy Spirit imparts at least one spiritual gift to every believer.  The purpose for these gifts is to equip believers for the edification of the church and the evangelizing of the world.  We believe the controversial gift of languages or “tongues” is for the purpose of crossing language barriers in the spreading of the Gospel and must be exhibited in strict accord with the teachings of the Bible, always with the presence of an interpreter.  Expressions of other controversial gifts are subject to the scrutiny of Scripture and the oversight of the spiritual leaders of the church.
 
 

 We believe that man is a sinner by nature.  This sin separates mankind from fellowship with a Holy God.  Thus, all men are in need of the Savior to reconcile them to the Father.  There is no man so great that he does not need the Savior. There is no man so morally destitute that the Savior cannot reach him.  However, this reconciliation can only occur when a man hears the Gospel of Christ, and decides to commit himself to trust God’s promise of salvation through Jesus Christ.
 
 

 We believe the Bible is God’s Word to men, verbally inspired, and without error.  As God’s Word, it is the only sufficient authority for rule of doctrine and practice.  The study of the Bible is profitable for all who would seek to learn its truths.  The Bible was never meant to be subject to man’s judgment, regarding its authority and validity.  Rather, as God’s Word, the Bible is the measure by which man will be judged by Holy God.
 
 

 We believe man’s salvation to be by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit of God draws people to faith by helping them to see themselves as sinners.  To find the relief from this convicting realization, a person is further brought to understand that Jesus’ death on the Cross of Calvary was the atonement for the sins of all mankind.  That person then decides to entrust himself to the Bible’s teachings that Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient to atone for all of his sin.  That atonement becomes efficient to any believer the moment he truly commits himself to trust Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  Upon making this decision, that person receives the forgiveness of sin, and the presence of Jesus (in the person of the Holy Spirit) into his heart and life.   He is thus made new by the power of the risen Christ.

We believe a person who truly entrusts himself to Christ in this way is a believer, eternally secure in his salvation.  As such, he will distinguish himself by illustrating a desire to follow Christ’s example of obedience to God.  The more one chooses to satisfy this desire for obedience and godliness, the more spiritually mature he becomes.

We also believe that at the return of Christ, those who have died as believers in Christ will be united with immortal bodies in a great resurrection from the grave.  Those who are believers and still alive at His return, will also be gathered together, receive new bodies, and join those dead in Christ to meet Him in the air.  Those who are true Christians will reap the rewards of their faithfulness and live with Jesus eternally in Heaven.  Those who are not Christians will also exist forever.  However, they will reap the condemnation of unbelief through an existence in a Christless eternity called Hell.

 We believe the Church to be the body of Christ through which He desires to manifest Himself, His purposes and His ways.  Stithton Baptist Church is a local manifestation of that Body.  The Body of Christ is made up of all true believers.  The local manifestation of that Body is composed of a local group of true believers who have,  under God’s leadership, joined in a mutual commitment of themselves, their gifts, their talents, and their resources, to the Lord, and to each other.  Their purpose is to honor their Lord and obey His directives through obedience to the Scriptures.

The church has two biblical offices.  The first is that of Shepherd or Pastor who serves as leader of the Church under Christ.  The second is that of Deacon who serves those needs of the body necessary for maintaining unity and corporate commitment.  We believe these two offices are to be held only by those men in the church who satisfy the biblical guidelines for those offices.
 
 

 The church has two biblical ordinances which they are to practice.  The first is baptism.  The second is the Lord’s Supper.  Baptism is the biblical means of professing faith in Christ.  It is a symbolic picture that represents burial to sin, cleansing from sin, and resurrection in Christ.  The only biblical method of baptism is immersion.

 The Lord’s Supper is also a symbolic gesture illustrating identification with the body of Christ, as he was made to be sin in the process of atonement, and with the Blood of Christ as it is the means of the cleansing of atonement.  These two ordinances are to be practiced by those who have a faith relationship with God.  These ordinances are necessary for the believer who desires to be obedient to the Lord.  These ordinances are not necessary for the seeker in the attaining of salvation.
 
 

 In other matters of belief which are not included in the above articles, Stithton Baptist Church agrees with the beliefs as printed in the Baptist Faith and Message as adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention, 1998.