What We Believe

Dortches Baptist Church supports the ministries of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), so the beliefs of most members would fit in with their mission goals and methods of interpreting scripture. For more information about what it means to be a CBF church, please visit their website at thefellowship.info. Excerpts below were taken directly from an article written by CBF leader Daniel Vestal.

“In setting out to describe what we believe, we must first acknowledge that we believe that Baptist have historically been a non-creedal people. Therefore, our church does not have a binding belief statement that members must subscribe to in order to belong to our fellowship. As explained by Daniel Vestal, “First, and most importantly, as Baptist, we are a confessional, non-creedal people, choosing to place our confidence in the Bible itself rather than in human-made statements about the Bible. Church history is replete with examples of ways in which the Kingdom of God has been wounded through the misuse of creedal statements. Recent events in Southern Baptist life shows clearly how confessions of faith can be used as creedal documents to enforce conformity and to codify particular interpretations of Scripture.”

 

The membership of Dortches Baptist Church affirms the basic Baptist principles expressed by the CBF Mission Statement:

All Christians are called to be co-laborers in the task of fulfilling our Lord’s Great Commission. We believe that the Bible teaches:

  • God is the one triune God, Creator of all people in God’s own image.
  • All people are separated from God by sin.
  • Christ is the savior and redeemer for all peoples.
  • The Holy Spirit convicts and converts all who believe in Christ, teaches the church in the voice of the Living Christ, and empowers the church and all believers for the mission of Christ in the world.
  • Christ calls us to minister redemptively to the spiritual, physical, and social needs of individuals and
    communities.
  • Every believer and every church is responsible for sharing the Gospel with all people.

 

We also affirm alongside CBF the basic Baptist principles that have historically shaped the tradition, best expressed in the following four freedoms:

  • Soul Freedom – We believe in the priesthood of all believers. We affirm the freedom and responsibility
    of every person to relate directly to God without the imposition of creed or the control of clergy or
    government.
  • Bible Freedom – We believe in the authority of Scripture. We believe the Bible, under the Lordship of
    Christ, is central to the life of the individual and the church. We affirm the freedom and right of every
    Christian to interpret and apply scripture under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
  • Church Freedom – We believe in the autonomy of every local church. We believe Baptist churches
    are free, under the Lordship of Christ, to determine their membership and leadership, to order their
    worship and work, to ordain whomever they perceive as gifted for ministry, and to participate as they
    deem appropriate in the larger Body of Christ.
  • Religious Freedom – We believe in freedom of religion, freedom for religion, and freedom from
    religion. We support the separation of church and state.

 

Most of all, we believe that if you come to our church with an open mind, heart, and soul, receptive to the movement of the Spirit, that you will find not only a worshipful fellowship of love and acceptance, but you just may have a real encounter with the Living Christ. Come give us a try one Sunday morning and see if God is leading you to be a part of us!